PERFORMANCE
MOVE OF THE MONTH
Every month, RF’s personal trainer, Mike Ovens, demonstrates a running-specific resistance exercise for the gym or at home
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FOCUS: TRICEPS The muscles at the back of the arms, will help drive your arms forward when you sprint. The upper body is often neglected by runners. Moving the whole body as you exercise different muscle groups mimics running and saves valuable time.
FOCUS:
POSTERIOR CHAIN A reverse lunge works the muscles at the back of the body, important for runners, as a balanced body is more effi cient and less likely to suffer from injury.
HOW TO DO IT: Start in an upright position with your arms above the head. Focus on good posture and alignment throughout. Use a mirror to check. Take a step behind into the reverse lunge, at 90 degrees. As you step back bend your elbows so that they point to the ceiling, as shown in the picture. Don’t let them splay out. Return to the upright position and repeat on the other side.
How many & variations
Do two to three sets of 20, twice a week, as part of
your weekly routine. You can swap the dumb-bells for a medicine ball, and vary the exercise by ‘pulsing’ the lunge, or doing 10 reps on one side, 10 on the other.
FOCUS: CORE & BALANCE As your arms are above your head and legs, your stability and balance is challenged, and you will need to activate those core muscles to stay in a good position.
RUNNER TheRoving
Fiona Bugler is a freelance journalist and mum of two. Her working life revolves around her passion – running! In this new column she shares her experiences of life on the run! We’re a family used to the Sunday
morning rituals and heightened stress levels associated with racing: rushing around looking for safety pins, eating porridge on the go, grabbing a water bottle, and tripping up over trainers as we tumble out the door. On a recent race day in Brighton we
arrived fraught. We were all questioning why we’d driven all this way, but we got there in time and the mood lightened as we watched the under-nines limbering up. They tell it how it is: ‘I’m going to win,’ I hear one little girl shout out. ‘No you’re not, I am,’ replied her little friend. The teenagers have the same energy and enthusiasm harnessed into strong but sometimes awkward frames. Unlike the under nines, they don’t start the race in a mad sprint and have learnt about pace. The adults are more sedate. Doing a
mile race took me out of my comfort- zone. I thought this lot are super-fast and super young … I’ll be last! Then I remembered to practice what
I preach and the words from the pre-race pep talk I’d repeated over and over to my kids - It doesn’t matter about the outcome, doing this prepares you for life. From under nine to 90, when you put yourself on the line, you practice life skills, competing, beating your fears, facing your demons. And whatever stage of life, every time you run there’s something new to learn.
FOCUS: THE LEGS Static lunges will help with leg drive strength into the lower limbs. This exercise also doubles up as a good stretch for the hip fl exor muscle, often tight in runners.
www.runningfreemag.co.uk ■ 29
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