Cross Training for Runners

We are deep in marathon-training season here in Texas thanks to temperatures that make outdoor activity easier. It's also a season when logging high mileage can lead to poor movement patterns and then injury. Using a combination of massage, trigger point therapy, stretching and strength training can not only keep you inury-free, it can also improve time and performance on the road.

This is a collection of some of my favorite stretches and exercises for runners, particularly for folks who stare at a screen for a living and love running for cardiovascular and mental health. As someone who is a bit 'Type A' I love my exercise and stretching routines to have twofers or threefers meaning you're getting multiple benefits from each. We're all busy so we might as well feel like we're accomplishing a few things at once from our stretching routines.

Massage & Trigger Point Release

We could all use to take better care of our feet, especially if you're out pounding the pavement for miles every week. Consider this massage like foam rolling for your feet. It only takes a couple of minutes and is easy to do while watching tv or before you pop on those shoes for a jog. Check and see if your foot changes color after you do it!

Trigger Point

The gist of trigger point work, if you have not heard of it before, is that you find a tender spot and apply consistent pressure until the muscle starts to relax. This can take minutes and can be confusing at first if you can't feel the muscles releasing. The more you practice the easier it is to know when the muscle is letting go. You can use a ball, foam roller or other trigger point therapy tool--my only reminder is to breathe! Below are two different releases you can do with a ball and a foam roller.

Piriformis (hip rotation) Trigger Point Release 

Gluteal (butt) Muscle Trigger Point

Calf Trigger Point Release

Stretching

If you want to up your stretching routine and do something beyond the basic quad and calf stretch you learned in grade school, these are my favorites for stretching multiple places at one time. They incorporate stretching muscles as well as facial or connective tissue lines. Many runners may be aware that their calves and hamstrings could use a stretch (find my favorite version here), but knowing how to stretch the front of the shins is a bit more complicated. Click here for my suggestion for a good shin stretch.

Strengthening Exercises

When you're spending so much time on the road just trying to get your mileage in, stretching may be the only thing you may take time to do. Cross training exercises are soooo important for runners as you're doing a highly repetitive action. This plus long hours potentially looking at a screen usually means the hip muscles become weak because they're being supported by a chair most of the day. Hip weakness combined with high mileage is a recipe for chronic pain or an injury. Most runners I've worked with need more lateral (abductor) strength, inner thigh (adductor) strength as well as core stability via the obliques.

Strengthen You Rear

Inner Thigh Stretch and Strengthening

When looking at a screen most hours of the day and then participating in exercise that is also very forward-oriented, the obliques and the cross body stability muscles become weak. Improving these means improving balance so your energy can carry you forward. An added bonus is that you may even see your waistline shrink if you work on these muscles. Here's a simple, yet super challenging one using a foam roller.

Core Strengthening and Stability

How I can help

Ki Hara active stretching (see example here) is super effective in creating flexibility and strength at the same time. Having this muscular dexterity not only allows you to run longer, but also faster. Many professional athletes and sports teams across the country use this technique as their secret weapon.

I also use a piece of equipment called the CoreAlign that is phenomenal for gait training and orienting the body to the core in a running motion (see more about it here). I've helped many marathoners streamline their gait patterns so they can lower their per mile time. If you've ever, even as a teen, had an injury to the lower half of your body, you may have established some compensation patterns in your walk. Running with these compensation patterns can be an underlying component to chronic pain and injury. Peeling back those patterns will give you more agility and speed as you run. You have more power than you realize!!

Core Strength: More Than the Abs

How strong is your core? Did you just suffer a flashback of sit-ups combined with an internal sigh of how you should do more of them? I have great news for you....you don't need to do crunches to strengthen your core! There is an overemphasis in popular culture that a strong core=strong abs, but this is an outdated view.

What is the core?

I see the core as much more than abs--it's all of the muscles that keep us upright. As we're typically seated, hunched over a screen or steering wheel in the 21st century, the back muscles, pelvic floor (including the butt muscles) and diaphragm are aspects of the core we need to focus on. These other areas help support our spine, encourage good posture as well as give us full breath.

A fascial approach to the core.

When I'm assessing what areas need attention in a client's body, I'm always thinking about fascial, or connective tissue, lines. This means that an area where you feel tension could actually be originating from another spot in the body on a particular fascial line. So it's not always about muscle strength or weakness, but rather, what areas of the body are locked short and which areas are locked long. In other words, what areas need more length and which need more tone? If we take this global apporach to posture, most adults are locked short in the front from being hunched over and locked long, fascially, in the back. So why would we do a ton of sit-ups or flexion-based exercises thinking we're strengthening our core?!

Pilates and the core.

I love Pilates, otherwise I wouldn't have been certified to teach it, yet I feel like the method overemphasizes working the core in spinal flexion (the spine is bent over in a "C" shape). Moreover, much of Pilates is done while laying down, which is great for feeling core connections, yet there needs to be a functional application since we don't go about our day lying down. Joseph Pilates created his method several generations ago when our day-to-day lives were very different. I think an updated approach to his program means building back strength first, which passively stretches that front fascial line, making us straighter. Then, we can look at an abdominal or front-body approach to the core once those muscle tissues are not locked short and scrunched.

A unique approach to core strength.

I have my clients do a lot of work that hones in on the diaphragm and pelvic floor as a part of building their core. We also do a lot with the upper back muscles to pull the shoulders out of kyphosis (being rounded forward). I do this with some unique props that force you to balance while working your core and a piece of equipment that incorporates standing movmements so you're learning how your core supports you while upright and walking. This approach is not only more functional, it's more fun!

For the month of January I'm offering a special package for new clients. If you know you need to build core strength but don't know how or want to experience something new, you can learn more here.