I am sometimes asked to provide a rigorous, progressive training schedule that runners and active people can dutifully execute and adhere to. For those who want to reach for a specific running goal, such as entering a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or marathon, appendix III offers tried-and-true training regimens, structured around running itself.
The drills summarized in this appendix, which are meant to improve movement and strength, are more open-ended and self-directed. In my experience, most of us—who aren’t on a competitive training schedule—simply aren’t very dutiful or diligent about following a cumbersome list of drills. If an exercise or movement doesn’t feel good or provide a feeling that it is helping us, we tend to stop doing it. Like the act of running itself, the drills we do must be fun and safe, and make us feel better.
I have only one strict demand of my readers: get up off the couch, get outside, and move. And when you find the movements and the drills that work for you—your favorites—just keep doing them. I do recommend that you experiment with all, or most, of the drills in this book. Try them. In the process, (1) you will learn about how your body works and feels, where your tight spots are, and where your posture or position is out of whack. And (2) you will be able to identify the drills and movements that feel good, that suit you, and that address your shortfalls in neuromuscular control.
In summary, make a note of the drills and movements that work best for you. Then keep doing them.
Most important, jump (!) at every opportunity you can to interrupt your sedentary habits and move your body—as vigorously as feels comfortable—through its full range of motion. Garden. Help someone move. Walk or ride a bike instead of driving. Do lunges. Whenever you can, take stairs two at a time. At meetings and public events, stand up at the back or along the wall. Claim and covet the most physically demanding tasks for yourself. Someone’s needed to crawl into tight spaces, carry the groceries, sit on the floor, or run back for a dropped glove? That’s for you. The musician Meat Loaf said it best: “There ain’t no Coupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.”
The drills in this book are as much for beginners as they are for veteran athletes and marathon runners. If you’re new to running, out of shape, or not especially athletic, just begin slowly and easily. Stay within your comfort zone. As strength and endurance build—which they will—you’ll find that more repetitions, with greater intensity, and with a greater range of motion, will come naturally and pleasurably. More speed and power is the result, not the goal.
The drills and exercises distilled here—my own favorites—can be done at your own pace, gauged to the level of exertion and difficulty that suits you. Personally, I try to incorporate several drills in my daily workouts, or as “exercise snacks” while at work or at home. I select the exercises according to my mood, to the amount of time I have, and to my specific areas of weakness. I mix it up, and always engage the drills with a sense of play.
Perform your favorite drills at least a few times a week, for about ten minutes. It’s best to do these on days when you are not fatigued, and after you are warmed up. Less, done correctly, is better than more, done incorrectly.
I’ve distilled these drills into four groups: “Mostability,” “Awakening your springs,” “Strengthening your springs,” and “Extras.” The summaries of them here are referenced to page numbers in the text, for more complete descriptions. Also, I urge you to see the Run for Your Life website (runforyourlifebook.com) for videos of most of the drills that are listed here.
You’re up, mobile, outside (or in the gym)—and ready to move. That means you’re most of the way there! Do these movements throughout the day and you will be more prepared to run consistently and without injury. I do short versions of these when I am warming up before a run, too. We know that forceful stretching is not beneficial before running, but many of these movements are “dynamic” stretches, because you are increasing your mobility and releasing restrictions through controlled, gentle movement—not by pulling and stretching.
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Video reference |
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Short foot posture. This is your foundation. Train the foot throughout the day, as you stand and walk. |
Short Foot |
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Single-leg balance. Single-leg stability is key. Master this for thirty seconds with eyes opened, and fifteen seconds with eyes closed. (If you can, move into a single-leg hop and run, described later.) |
Single Leg |
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Golfer’s pickup. Bend at the waist as if picking up a golf ball—swinging one straight leg directly behind you, while keeping the balancing leg straight. |
Golfer’s Pickup |
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Leg swings. Stand tall, keep your pelvis neutral and stable, and swing your leg like a pendulum—forward and back, and side to side. |
Leg Swings |
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Lunge matrix. Focus on balance and smoothness. |
Lunge Matrix |
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Mountain climber. Done correctly, this is great for opening the hips. |
Mountain Climbers |
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Awesomizer. This can be done any time you can place your foot on a chair or stool. It involves balance, rotation, hip extension, and an upper body reset, all in a smooth movement. |
Awesomizer |
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Supple hips. The supple hips/windshield wiper progression is my morning hip opener. It maintains internal and external hip rotation. Great for your golf swing, too. |
Supple Hips |
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Six-position foot walk. A perfect exercise snack. |
Six-Position Foot Walk |
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Heel raises. While balancing on your right foot, slowly lift your heel so that you are balancing on the ball of your foot. Switch feet. |
Heel Raises |
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Mindful walking. Pay attention to an erect posture, smoothness of movement, and efficiency. Press off the big toe. Get your arms moving and upper body rotating—feel the spring as your stride opens up behind you. |
Mindful Walking |
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Backward walking. This works the muscles on the back of the leg. Keeping the thigh vertical, bend the knee so that the shin is horizontal. Make sure you know where you are going. |
Backward Walking |
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Abdominal breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply, pulling your diaphragm toward your spine as you exhale. |
Abdominal Breathing |
Even if you are fit and healthy, you may well have lost that pop off the ground that is so critical for running. Let’s start by restoring this—by waking up our springs.
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Video reference |
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Light hopping, and skipping rope. Jumping rope builds elastic recoil. This trains our feet and ankles to work like powerful springs. Jump with light, quick, full-foot contact, timed to a cadence of about 180 beats per minute. When your cadence, springiness, and rhythm are good, add the jump rope. Start with a duration of one minute, and build to five minutes. Then try running with it. |
Jump Rope |
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Ninja squat jumps. Begin by doing a few to a low platform the height of a curb. Focus on landing softly, with low impact. Raise the platform gradually. Practice jumping down, also quietly. |
Ninja Squat Jumps |
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Experimental barefoot jogging. Try it for short distances, slowly, on clean pavement. It will remind you of good running technique: smooth, with low impact. |
Barefoot Jogging |
Now that you have a little spring in your step, you can add a few more challenges (in a safe and low-intensity way). Proceed cautiously, and avoid anything painful. Good mechanics and fast, springy feet are the goals. Never do these drills to the point of fatigue or failure.
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Video reference |
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Burpees. Doing sets of six to eight of this age-old exercise is safe, fun, and sustainable. |
Burpees |
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The grapevine drill (also known as karaoke). Moving sideways, keep your arms outstretched, and have the trailing leg alternately go across the front, then the back. Keep the upper body still while the hips rotate through 180 degrees. |
Grapevine |
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Strides, or pickups. In the middle of your run or after your run, two or three days a week, do ten-second sprints: turn it on, lengthen your stride, and test your full range of motion. |
Strides |
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Lateral jumps. Jumping sideways, with feet together, is a great skiing exercise and recruits your lateral hip stabilizers. Stand alongside any type of object from one inch to mid-shin height—a log, for instance. Jump over it, back and forth, for ten reps, staying on the ground as little as possible. Aim for three or four sets. |
Lateral Jumps |
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Single-leg hop/run. After mastering the single-leg balance, become a one-legged pogo stick and hop on one foot, with minimal ground contact time. Then try running a short distance on one leg. |
Single-Leg Run |
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Run with a tether. Run while restrained by a stretchy tether (and while standing on a mini-trampoline, if available). Maintain a neutral posture as you focus on driving away from the anchor. |
Run with Tether |
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Turkish getup. The perfect full-body strengthening excercise |
Turkish Getup |
There are a handful of additional, highly beneficial drills that are best demonstrated by live people, and are not included in the text. Please visit the videos page of the Run for Your Life website (runforyourlifebook.com) to see these excellent drills performed.
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Video reference |
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World’s greatest stretch and sumo. After the lunge matrix, there is no better progression than these two multiplanar, dynamic movements. Together, they open up not just your lower extremities and hips but also your torso and shoulders. |
World’s Greatest Stretch and Sumo |
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The heel lift drill. This teaches us to lift the foot by using the back of the leg, instead of the front, by activating the glutes and hamstrings. While doing this, lean slightly forward (or backward), as if on a Segway. The goal is to maintain springy contact with the ground, not to run fast. |
Heel Lift |
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Ankling, or fast feet. Fold your foot elastically down to the surface, from toe to heel. The heel barely touches the surface before bouncing off, as you push down and back from the glutes. Keep the cadence high. Relax your upper body, and move your feet—fast! |
Fast Feet |
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Stair or curb hops. With a sense of play, move up and down on a stair (or curb). Land softly and quietly as you step up and step down, lightly hopping. Focus on quick, springy, and quiet feet. Begin slowly! |
Curb Hops |
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Four square. Like hopscotch. Do a single-leg hop, with quick direction changes, in a square pattern. Make a square grid on the floor with tape, do it on a tile floor to simulate the grid, or simply eyeball your marks on the ground. |
Four Square |
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ABCD skips. Become a sprinter again, and relearn this classic track drill.
Perform these in a series, A-B-C-D, traveling forward about 10 yards each time. Then relax, turn around, and return to the start with a fast 40-meter stride. Do four to six sets of these, making sure to fully recover between sets. |
ABCD |
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123 run. A simple progression to start a run with proper technique |
123 Run |
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Principles of natural running. At a million views and going strong, learn the basics of natural running |
Principles of Natural Running |
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Barefoot running style. My first barefoot running video, presented at the 2011 Boston Marathon. |
Barefoot Running Style |
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Going for a run. One of life’s simple pleasures is going for a run outside. |
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West Virginia kids running revolution. Kids are our future. |
WV Kids Run Revolution |
This may appear to be an ambitious, or even daunting, list of drills. Simply do the ones that feel right, and when you are done be sure to include the most important drill of all: chill out—relax and recover. Breathe deeply, walk mindfully, eat healthfully, and sleep well.