Got a few minutes? 3 exercises to build injury resistant legs
Injuries suck….But we don’t have to be a victim of IT band syndrome or runners knee this winter if we work on building our body’s ability for stability.
The more strength and stability you have in your core and joints, the less risk you put yourself in for a sneaky overuse injury or something more serious in the future. So start now while the training miles are low and your free time high. Today we focus on core, hip, and knee stability with three simple exercises that can be progressed with minimal time, equipment, and space.
Want to test your core? Try a dead bug. This is a no frills and all function exercise that will build your core and hip stability, reinforce good breathing patterns, and help synch up your arm and leg drive when running.
How to:
Lay on your back with arms at your sides, bring your feet off the ground with your knee’s right above your hips and bent 90 degrees.
Take a deep breath and push that air into your stomach. Try to expand your belly as much as you can. Hold for a few seconds and exhale out. Notice how your low back rounds to the ground. Take another deep breath, but this time try and keep your belly expanded and your low back into the ground as you exhale. This is what bracing feels like…this is your start position *if you have trouble, try this instead*
At a slow and controlled tempo, drive one leg out while the other stays in your starting position. Imagine driving your heel of your leg forward like you’re trying to push the wall in front of you away.
After a brief pause, bring that leg back in to the starting point and alternate legs.
Do 3 sets of 10 reps each leg and progress to 20 ea.
Make it harder by adding in your arms
Next, let’s get you on your feet. The Paloff Press is great for training athletes how to stabilize under load. But let’s take it up a notch…stand on one leg. This will make the movement a little more specific to running and cycling.
How to:
Grab a band or a cable at chest height and with one hand stacked over the other. Turn so that it’s pulling you to the left or right.
Keep your hands at your chest and take a few steps out so there’s tension.
Raise your outside leg to the cable up and off the ground to about hip height.
Now press the cable out like chest press and back in like row. That’s one rep.
Do 3 sets of 10…then switch sides. Repeat.
Make it harder by adding in a rotation towards the band between your press and row.
One of my personal favorites, the forward lunge is similar mechanically to running. Done right, it teaches your hip, knee, and ankle how to decelerate your body during your foot strike. It’s great for developing quad, glute, and hip strength too!
How to:
Stand with legs hip width apart
Step forward about 2-3 feet (depending on your leg length), landing on your heel and rolling onto the center of your foot.
Staying “heavy on your whole foot” bend your forward knee and lower your back knee to the ground to the lowest point you feel comfortable; don’t just drop, lower down slow and controlled.
Drive your front foot into the ground and explode backup to your starting position.
Do 3 sets of 10 reps, then switch legs.
Add weights, or try to drive your knee to your chest as you explode up from your bottom position to add power to the movement.
You can use these exercises as a warm up or cool down, or just as a maintenance routine to keep your training legs strong. Don’t worry about being perfect with these, just be consistent and you’ll see the benefits.
