A lot of people like running, one lady I trained today loves running, she likes 5k, 10k and would like to do a marathon. So if your a runner please read this article it may help or stimulate ideas. I noticed when she was running that the trapezius and shoulders were hunched, the legs were moving perfectly as she was doing fast and long strides, so perfect movement, but from the upper body her torso was almost folding forward so I concluded that her chest must be very tight indeed, so I tested it with one of my stretches and yes very tight. The thing is that in london especially around St James park where I like to walk I see a lot of people who run tend to run kind of like zombies move from movies, awkwardly, they tend to drag there legs and hunch forward.

I told her that if i can lengthen the way she holds her torso she will breathe better and more diaphragamtically giving her more energy and better posture. So we went through some deep and painful stretches for the chest as well as trigger points on the shoulders and chest which is loosening up any knots in those muscles using my crazy strong grip. lol.

When people tend to do these types on stretches in the glutes and chest more blood and oxygen flows so what you tend to hear from the clients is that they are dizzy or punch drunk and this is a very good sign as this means we stimulating the nervous system or coordination for work between the body and the brain.

So for runners to keep it simple in case I’ve never met you, work on stretching your glutes and chest muscle in a way that allows you to lengthen and strengthen your spine and then do what I did with my client. Hex bar deadlift so you basically stand up tall with a hex bar lengthen up with the bar and pause at the top while breathing deeply with a long spine at the top of the movement, the arms should be aimed slightly behind you with a locked out tricep and elbow, and keep your chest lifted up and shoulders back and simply breathe in this position with the weight for 5-10 seconds.

and then do 10 – 12 reps with a weight that challenges you.

so heres the programme…

5 km run with a proper warm up.

Mobility and strength triset x 5 rounds

Chest and spine stretch x 60 secs each side

Glute and spine stretch x 60 secs each side

Hex bar deadlifts x 10-12 reps with a slightly progressed weight with each round

If your really serious about running you can do this on Monday, Wednesday and friday

and on tuesday thursday and saturday you can do your 10k or marathon run or do an appropriate run for the time you have available on that day

Enjoy!