Top 5 Physio Recommended Exercises For Runners.

Squats:

The squat is a power exercise that can strengthen quads, glutes and stabilise core muscles. The best thing about this exercise is that is can be done anywhere and can also be modified to suit your needs and ability. Start with just a regular squat, see how many times you can squat non stop until it starts to burn. When you’ve reached your limit use that number as your rep count and continue on to complete another 2 sets. As you become stronger you can add weights, change it up to single legged squats or wide leg etc. There’s a huge amount you can do to target specific areas of need.

Glute Bridges:

Glute bridges are a great exercise for toughening up glutes, quads and hamstrings; simply lie on your back, keep both feet flat to the floor and raise your hips off the ground into the ‘bridge’ position. Lower and repeat. Try to aim for around 3 sets of 15-20 reps. If they feel too easy, swap to one legged glute bridges by straightening one leg out and keeping it off the ground and then lifting with the glutes again. It should feel more intense around the glute area.

One Legged Calf Raises:

These are another easy exercise you can do that doesn’t require a great deal of space and are really beneficial for strengthening these super important muscles for running. You just need a step of some sort (often the bottom step of your stairs work) and all you need to do is step up, allow your heels to overhang and simply rock up onto your toes and then back down (hold onto a wall or sturdy object if you feel unbalanced). To make this a harder exercise take one foot off completely and lower yourself down to the floor, keeping your other foot on the step. When you lower yourself down be sure not to fully place your foot on the ground, instead just touch it lightly with your toes. Then bring your foot back up and repeat. You should feel the burn in the calf muscle of the leg that is stable. Continue as before until you can do no more and use that as your number to aim towards in your following 2 sets. As you gradually become stronger you can make this exercise even more challenging by adding weight.

Clamshells:

Hip strength is often forgotten about when it comes to running. But weak hips can lead to a whole host of other issues and injuries within the lower body and also lower back problems. Clamshells are a wonderful way of working the muscles around the hips to give you power and stability whilst running. Ideally these need to be done with a resistance band to make the exercise beneficial. Lie on your side, legs slightly bent, with the band over your quads. The idea here is that you’re trying to open and close your legs like a clam in a slow and controlled manner by keeping the feet together and lifting the top knee. Swapping to the other side when you feel you’ve worked one hip flexor enough.

Ab Crunches:

Our final exercise for runners are Ab Crunches; super simple but hugely beneficial to toughen up your core muscles which go on to support your entire posture whilst running. Lie on the floor with either your legs up on a chair or just raised off the ground with feet crossed, hands behind your head. With an ab crunch you want to curl your head up, tuck your chin in and at the same time pull in your legs to your chest; imagine pulling in your tummy button to your spine, hold for a few seconds and the gradually return to neutral and repeat.