This is Part 1 of a 6 Part Series covering Exercises Every Runner Shoulder Be Doing

Running is great.

It truly is.

Running is good for you.

Runners have less disease and higher pain tolerance than non-runners.

BUT…

Running is NOT a complete activity on its’ own.

Running has one of the highest injury rates of all physical activities, with rates ranging from less than 5% to OVER 80% of runners getting injured every year. Whoa.

This is, at least in part, because runners LOVE TO RUN. Combine that with the natural human desire to improve and progress. Unfortunately, that combo can often lead to overdoing things. Too much, too soon, without preparation.

In order to combat this, you have two options:

Run Less (unlikely)
Increase your Capacity

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Personally, out of the two options above, I think that Increasing your Capacity is much more enticing. In order to increase your resilience to injury, strength training is essential. On top of making you a faster runner, it also makes you more durable. Here are the exercise categories I start all my runners with:

Lower Legs
Hips and Thighs
Core
Compound Movements (integrating the trunk and lower body)
Upper Body Exercises

Here are some of the specific exercises I recommend to my running patients to help prepare them for the demands of running:

Part 1: LOWER LEG

Calf Raises

The calves absorb MULTIPLE TIMES your body weight in force every step while running. Preparing your calves for this is extremely important.

Tibialis Anterior (Toe) Raises

Your Tibialis Anterior is a muscle on the front of your shin. It controls how quickly your toes are lowered to the ground on every single step, and works really hard when you are running.

I lied to you… You don’t have to do these exercises…

In reality, you do not need to be doing THESE exercises. There are literally thousands of exercises you can choose from, these are just the ones that I like to see my patients and clients doing. But you should be doing SOME form of strength training. Both for injury prevention AND to improve your performance.

In general, I recommend some form of:

Lower Leg Specific Training
Hip Specific Training
Core Training (primarily “anti-rotation” or '“anti-movement“ exercises)
Compound Movements emphasizing the Posterior Chain Strength Exercises (glutes and hamstrings)
Basic Upper Body Strength exercises (1-2 pressing and pulling exercises)
Foot Strength

Cover all these bases and you are bound to feel better and run with more confidence