Making your legs stronger

I was experiencing a lot with injuries (Achilles tendon and knee cartilage) for the last 12 months. And running trails can be like poison for your joints. That’s why I’ve started to do some additional strength training with a simple run specific programme from my physics therapist. Making it more efficient and time-saving I am adding a few exercises after each run. Without weight, just bodywork.

Some of theses exercises will look familiar to you. But please keep an eye on the details. It’s all about precise bodywork and the right impulse for different muscles in your legs and core.

BODY STABILITY

Balancing on an unstable underground (e.g. Airex, Yoga mat or towel)

• make shorter steps and add power to your upper leg
• make longer steps and add power to your backside
• place your front leg on in-stable underground
• place your back leg higher
• put some weight on your shoulders
• turn your body when going down

But be careful: your front leg should stay vertical to the ground and your knee exactly over your feet. Ideally you can watch your third toe just in front of your knee.

CORE POWER

You can vary this simple exercise called bridge by doing the following:

• stretch out one of your legs
• stretch both legs and fly (just kidding)
• put both of your legs on a mid-sized ball (unstable)
• put one of your legs on the ball and stretch out the other leg (be careful!)

But always check that the movement doesn’t come for your back or even upper back. All the power is coming for your core and your upper back leg.

LATERAL STABIILTY

I did this exercise for the first time with pressure on the upper leg and a free moving lower leg. It’s a really heavy one.

That’s why a run in my training plan is not only a 90 minutes but a 110 minutes, including strength training, a Winforce protein shake and stretching for a few minutes.
(More about the previous posts on that HERE)

After a bit of experience with these simple but highly efficient exercises I believe that it’s never too late to add them to your training. By the way, running one hour in water is an excellent and by far more efficient training than a 90 or 120 minutes long jog. And even better when you’re still suffering from injuries.

And ALI, you can do this everywhere and always 😉 Good luck.