Saturday, February 18, 2012

Lunges and Heel Raises

Running requires strength, but is that weight room strength?  Strength is specific to large degree. Just because one guy can squat 500lbs in the weight room doesn't mean he can run faster than a guy who only squats 250lbs. In my opinion, the best two strength exercises that anyone runner can do, anywhere, are lunges and heel raises.

Lunges can be done many ways. One way is the standard step far forward, drop your hips low and then press hard on your foot and push backward, so that you return to an upright position. A key tot his is avoid letting your forward knee go past your toes; otherwise you strain the patellar tendon in your knee.

A second lunge that works great is the backward lunge. Instead of lunging forward, which is the common way, step backward, drop your hips and back knee and then pull your body back to the upright position using the forward leg muscles. You'll feel a lot of pressure on your hamstring muscle in the back of your upper thing.

You can also perform side-lunges; although these are not as specific as the forward and backward lunge, side lunges to help create strength in your hip stabilizer muscles. Side lunges are simple too: step to the side and drop your hips down a few inches and then push with your outside leg (the one absorbing the weight of your body as you lunge to the side) in order to return to the upright, neutral position. Be sure to perform side-lunges to the left and to the right.

Heel raises are golden exercise for runners. People who perform heel raises tend to have strong lower legs (knee to the ankle) that generate a stronger running stride. The ability to run fast and sprint is influenced by lower leg strength and power, and heel raises directly influence one's ability to push against the ground hard. Also, if you want to sprint well, you have to run near your forefoot, rather than your heel, and heel raises give you enough stability strength that you can do that without strain.

Take care,

Tinman (Tom)
www.runningprs.com

No comments:

Post a Comment