Transcription
If you run but feel stiff, unstable, or slightly broken, this video is for you. Most runners train one thing: running, and skip all the work that actually keeps them healthy. Today, I'll walk you through the four layers that make running sustainable. Mobility, strength, posture, and elasticity.
Before talking about strength, before we talk about speed, and anything explosive, your joints need to move well. And that's why we always start with mobility. Most runners confuse mobility with flexibility. Flexibility is passive. Mobility is strength through range. As runners, that difference really matters because if your hips don't move well, then your stride has to change. And when that happens, load gets pulled into places they weren't meant to be. The IT band, the glutes, sometimes the knees or lower backs. And that's usually where injuries show up. So before anything else, let's make sure your hips and ankles can actually do their job.
There are a ton of exercises runners could and should be doing, but for the sake of this video, I want to focus on the two areas that cause the most problems for the runners I see. The hips and pelvis and the ankles and feet. It's a runner's lunge, but with a tucked in pelvis. To really know what I mean, move your pelvis from anterior to posterior tilt. Anterior to posterior. So, you want to stand in a high lunge position and tuck your pelvis in. Glutes active and ribs in. Already here, you should feel a good stretch in your hip flexors. If you want to take it one step further, open the arms and add a rotation to the opposite side. Touch the heel with the opposite hand. Then come back up. If you have tight hips, runner's knee pain, or lower back pain when you run, this is a game changer.
The second big problem area for runners are the calves and feet. A lot of runners are stiff through the ankles and just have weak foot muscles. And because your feet are the first point of contact with the ground when you run, if those don't move well, everything else will compensate. And that's where problems show up. Ankle rockers restore ankle mobility under load, which is how your ankle actually works when you run. What I like about this exercise is that there are many variations, each with slightly different demands, and you can do it literally anywhere before a run, after a run, or at the gym. You can do it flat on the ground, but I think the best way to do it is with a bench. Put your foot flat on the bench and shift forward as far as you can, keeping the foot stable and strong. You want to think of your foot foundation as a tripod. Evenly distribute your weight through these three points. Go only as far as you can without the heel lifting. Pause on the bottom and come back up. Now, we're going to do the same thing, but instead of going straight forward, we're going to go slightly to the side. Slowly move forward, pause, and come back up. And the last one, we're going to go on the opposite side again. Pause at the bottom and come back up.
Mobility gives you access to range of motion, but axis alone isn't enough. Once you [snorts] move there, you need the strength to control it. So, that's where strength training comes in. Again, there are tons of exercises that are great and that you should be doing, but for the sake of this video, these two will give you the most bang for your buck if you're a runner. The pattern is simple. Instead of doing things on two legs, we do it on one. Most runners default to regular deadlift. It's a great exercise, but running never happens on two legs at the same time. The single leg deadlift trains hip stability, hamstrings, and balance all at once. Exactly what you need when you're landing and pushing off of one leg. A common mistake is holding the weight on the same side as the working leg. That actually makes the exercise easier. The whole point is to be slightly offbalance so that the hips and hamstrings have to stabilize. When you train this way, your hips stay more square and stable when you run, something you don't really get from a regular deadlift. It's also a much safer way to load the posterior chain. I've actually had a pretty bad injury last year doing a regular heavy deadlift, and since then, I've completely dropped deadlifts and only do single leg deadlifts. So, you want to hinge the hips back, keep the hips square, and let the back foot point down. You can load this with a kettle bell, with a dumbbell, and even no weight at all, which makes it a great warm-up for running.
The second exercise might be the single best strength exercise for runners. Instead of doing a regular squat, which is still a great exercise, you do it again on one leg. You get strength, balance, and foot stability all at the same time. And because of the split stance, you also get a great stretch through the quads and hip flexors at the bottom. My favorite way to do these is to load them heavy, control the descent, and use the same cue as earlier. Pelvis tucked in, glutes active, and ribs down. That makes this not only a strength exercise, but also a great mobility drill if you control the pause. Mobility gives you range. Strength gives you control. But none of that matters if your posture collapses when you're tired.
The first exercise you probably never heard or done before. It's a unilateral farmer's run. So another really, really good workout for running, specifically with a kettle bell, is actually running with it. I learned this from Peter on a podcast. I think it was on Andrew Hubman. running for about 15 minutes with a kettle bell. Change sides when it feels uncomfortable. This will work your stability and core exercises so well and fix all your imbalances. So, let me demonstrate. So, it's like a traditional farmer's carry, but you hold the weight only in one hand and you run. The best way to do this is with a kettle bell. When I first heard about this, I was very skeptical, but then I tried it and I had muscles work that I never felt before. Since then, I try to do it once a week. And the kind of added bonus is that you really work your side abs here, which not only looks great, but also gives you a lot of rotational force. And you really notice a huge difference when you put the weight down. All of a sudden, you feel like you're super stable and super strong. [snorts]
The second exercise is a progression of the glute bridge. A lot of runners struggle to keep their pelvis stable when one leg is doing the work. When that control is missing, posture collapses and the lower back or hips start compensating. The marching glute bridge teaches you to hold the pelvis steady while alternating legs, which is basically what running asks you to do. Start on the floor, lift the hips into a bridge, then slowly lift one knee at a time while keeping the hips level. To make it slightly more difficult, elevate the feet on a box or a bench. Same movement, just more demand. The final progression is adding a light band between the feet while elevated. As one leg lifts, the other flexes, which works your hip flexors at the same time. And look how well that translates into running. This is one of my go-to exercises for runners who lose posture when fatigue sets in.
Once mobility is there, strength is there, and posture holds everything together when you get tired. It's time to talk about elasticity. Plyometrics. This is where running becomes actually efficient and fast. But without the foundations we just covered, plyometrics become kind of a gamble. Running is basically a series of controlled rebounds. Every step you're absorbing force and ideally giving it back. Plyometrics train your ability to store and release energy so you're not musling every stride.
The first drill is a box hop. Step off a small box, rebound off the floor, and then jump onto a higher box. This trains how quickly you can transition from landing to takeoff. Exactly what happens when you run faster. This only works if everything before is solid. Mobility, strength, and posture. And that's what protects you here. The second drill is bounding. Bounding teaches rhythm, coordination, and elastic strength over distance. This isn't about jumping as far as possible. It's more about being springy and smooth. Once you're comfortable, you can progress into single leg balance, but only if control stays clean.
If there's one thing I want you to take away from this is that running performance isn't built with one magic exercise. It's built in layers. Mobility gives you access. Strength gives you control. Posture keeps everything organized under fatigue. And elasticity is what makes running efficient and fast. When you build in that order, running stops feeling like a constant fight and starts feeling more smooth and sustainable. And that's the exact approach behind my new fitness program, Wild Fitness. It's a system I just launched to help runners rebuild a solid foundation, then develop speed and elasticity on top of it. Simple, sustainable, and built for the long run. If you're interested in joining this group coaching, there's a link in the video description down below. Thanks a lot for watching. Stay wilding. Peace.