Exercises to do at home to help your running
Any level of runner should be looking to incorporate cross training into their weekly sessions.
With the current government guidelines and only exercising from your front door this might mean the routes your run have changed or the distances your doing have altered to take into account the current climate.
If you haven’t already done so and got round to doing more resistance training or mobility work to help your workouts from home this is the perfect opportunity to do so.
You may now have more time on your hands if you’ve been furloughed or you might just need 5 minutes peace and quiet if you’ve been home schooling the kids. Get them watching a film and whilst they are engrossed with the latest film or series, take the opportunity to grab that workout time. Me and Laura have found after lunch when Wilf is having a nap and Monty is watching Frozen 2 for the hundredth time to be best.
What are the best exercises to do?
A whole body workout is always a winner in my books, you’ll find at this time you shouldn’t end up with too much of a DOMS effect, if you’re training sensibly this then shouldn’t stop you from going for your daily exercise.
This set of exercises uses the main principles I focus on when building training programmes. Try these exercises to help you.
|
Area |
Exercise |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Mobility |
Groiner |
Get into the press up position with your arms extended, make sure your hands are under your shoulders and head in in front of your hands. Slowly bring your foot off the floor and leg out and round to the side, ideally you want to be able to place your foot by your hand. Hold it there for a couple of seconds and then return to the start position and repeat with the opposite leg. Throughout the whole movement keep your body in a straight line with your abs braced. |
|
Balance |
Single Leg Deadlift |
Hold a weight in one hand, the side that you’re holding the weight in is the leg you’re going to lift of the floor. Hinge from your hips and slowly raise your legs backwards and bring your chest towards the floor. You want to keep your back and hips straight throughout the action. |
|
Strength |
Squat |
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and bend your knees as you lower down, brace your abs and squeeze your glutes through the action and rise up. Aim to keep your chest and head looking forwards throughout the action. |
|
Core |
Dead Bug |
Lay on your back with your arms and legs in the air. Tilt your pelvis so your back is flat on the floor and brace your abs to help you push it down. Slowly and in a controlled manner extend the opposite arm behind you and leg out in front of you. The more you can extend both of them the harder it will be. Slowly return to the top and repeat with the opposite side. |
|
Power |
Kettlebell Swing |
Start with the Kettlebell on the floor and start the initial swing between your legs, hinging from your hips and keeping your back flat. Quickly and powerfully thrust your hips forwards to a standing position with your arms level with your chest acting as the pendulum during the movement. Again make sure your abs and glutes are tight during the exercise. |
If you’re wanting more exercise ideas, you can download my free Cross Training guide here.
Gemma ‘keep training’ Spackman
- On Thursday morning I’ll be going live on Facebook to talk about what to do and how to train now races have been postponed.
