Balancing life, family and fitness - easy right? Not always! Get stories that inspire you to breathe deeply and make mindful choices by subscribing to my blog by email.
Since I haven’t been running these last few months, I needed to find a way to stay active. With no race to train for or timeline for when this nagging injury would finally release me from its grip, I needed a plan to keep myself from going crazy.
My plan? Focus on rebuilding a strong foundation that would support me when I could finally run and practice yoga again. While this obviously involves my oh-so-exciting physical therapy exercises (eccentric calf raises until I’m blue in the face, intrinsic foot muscle activation, prone middle trapezius raises), I’ve also been focusing on the rest of my lower leg chain — hip and glute exercises for runners specifically. A kind of pre-hab while I re-hab?
We all know that weak glutes are common among runners, but I’ve also seen it more and more in my yoga classes too — students having trouble activating their glutes on their standing leg in balancing postures.
Here are my go-to hip and glute exercises for runners. Runners – do these!
Disclaimer: While I am a yoga instructor, I am not a physical therapist, medical doctor or certified personal trainer. The views I express are mine alone, based on my own experiences. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan.
Squat
- Start with your feet a little wider than hip-width distance apart.
- Send your hips back and you bend your knees to squat. Reach your arms overhead.
- Keep your chest up and maintain a neutral spine.
- Drive through the heels to come back up to standing.
- If you find that your knees collapse inwards, place a resistance band right above your knees. As you begin to squat, press out into the band to help turn on your external rotators in your hips.
- Complete 2-3 sets of 15 reps
- Stand and balance on your left leg. Bend your right knee and lift your right thigh to hip height.
- Bring your left hand to your left hip and reach your right hand overhead.
- Squat down and reach your right hand across your body to touch your left foot.
- Come back to stand, reaching your right hand back overhead.
- Complete 2-3 sets of 15 reps on each side.
- Step your left leg out to the side and come into a lateral lunge. Keep your hips back, the weight in the heel of your left foot and your left knee over your left foot. Keep your chest upright.
- In one motion, drive down through your heel to come to stand on your right leg while drawing your left knee up to hip height.
- Repeat
- Complete 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps on each side.
- Stand with your feet about hips-width distance apart.
- Transfer the weight to your left leg, keep a slight bend in the left knee.
- Hinge forward, reaching your arms forward and lifting your right leg to hip height.
- Try to keep the hips square. See that your right toes are pointing directly down towards the floor. It may feel like your are slightly pigeon-toed. You can also keep your hands on your hips instead of reaching them overhead.
- Engage the glutes as you come back up to standing.
- Repeat
- Complete 2-3 sets of 15 reps on each side.
- Place a resistance band just above your ankles.
- Bend your knees and come into a squat position, chest upright. Turn the toes of your leading up inwards (the left foot in the pictures above).
- Maintaining the squat position and take 15-20 small steps to the left. Keep the toes of the leading foot turned inwards.
- Turn the right toes inward and take 15-20 small steps in the opposite direction.
- Repeat twice.
The lunge matrix is an exercise I learned in physical therapy and one that Coach Jess had me do as a dynamic warm-up before runs. It combines a front lunge, side lunge and rotational lunge and moves you through all three planes of motion.
- Stand with your feet hips-width distance apart.
- Step your right foot forward into a lunge position, reaching your fingertips towards your foot.
- Return to starting position.
- Step your right foot to the side for a lateral lunge, reaching your fingertips towards your foot.
- Return to starting position.
- Step your right foot back and to the side approximately 135 degrees (or close to there) from your left foot. Your left foot will continue to point straight forward while your right toes will point behind and away from you. Bend your right knee to a lunge position and reach your fingertips towards your foot.
- Return to starting position for one rep.
- Complete 2 sets of 10 reps on each side.
Disclaimer: While I am a yoga instructor, I am not a physical therapist, medical doctor or certified personal trainer. The views I express are mine alone, based on my own experiences. Always talk to your doctor or a trained professional before starting a new diet or fitness plan.
****************
I’ve been doing these throughout our trip to Hawaii this summer. But there was one problem. My phone case melted. Crazy, I know but I don’t think the case enjoyed the combined heat and humidity on the island as much as I did. The color started bubbling and peeling off the case.
It was a problem because my phone is a key part of my fitness toolbox. I carry it with me when I run to listen to music or podcasts and to take photos. It helps me keep track of my workouts and it made me nervous to carry it around with me unprotected.
One of my biggest fears is that my screen will shatter when my phone drops. And it’s not a matter of if I will drop my phone because I’m constantly dropping my phone especially when I’m working out.
Apparently, I’m not alone. A lot of people are concerned about screen breakage from everyday drops.
When Corning Incorporated, one of the world’s leading innovators of material science, realized that this was one of the biggest gripes among consumers, their top scientists set out to understand how and why glass breaks when dropped. After thousands of hours of tests, they developed Corning® Gorilla® Glass 4.
Gorilla Glass 4 is the toughest cover glass yet and dramatically improves protection against drop on rough surfaces like asphalt and concrete. In fact, it performs up to two times better than competitive glass designs in devices dropped from three feet high, serving up to 80% of the time! I like those odds.
Even though Gorilla Glass 4 is tough, it still allows for devices to be thin and light, which is a huge asset when you use your smartphone during your vigorous workouts.
Find Out If Your Device Has Gorilla Glass!
Want more exercises to strengthen your hips and prevent knee pain? Check out my post on 5 exercises to strengthen your knee and Yoga for Runners series.
Corning® Gorilla® Glass has been used on nearly 4 billion devices from 40 major brands. Is it on yours? Click here to find out.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Corning® Gorilla® Glass. The opinions and text are all mine.
Original article and pictures take www.lovelifesurf.com site
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий