Everyone talks about core and posture, and rightly so. Many of us suffer from ‘tech neck’ with a strained upper back and slumped shoulders . . . another sign of sitting too much. Todd Norian calls this ‘Slumpasana’. When we are sitting and standing with slumped posture, not only are the shoulders rounding and the head forward, the lower back is put under strain, and your chest muscles are shortening, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most significant take away: your core is not firing at all.
Today’s strength training secret is: Core.
The good news: it’s not difficult to address! Awareness, re-aligning from the feet to the head, and gentle bracing as you breath can make a big difference. Singular helpful tip: keep your eyes up. And know too, your strong core and balanced posture play a big role in getting you to the finish on race day.
Get to the finish, upright and smiling!
The first step is to be aware of your posture, and aware of not engaging the core. If you’re sitting reading this, take note of your posture? Legs crossed? Head leaning forward? Lower back rounded? (Confession: me too, much of the time.)
Take honest stock of your own posture and core integration.
Take a moment to stand in front of a mirror. Stand as you normally would stand. Look honestly at your posture. Most of us have a downward slant along the top of the shoulders, from the neck to the top of your arm. Now, plant your feet about shoulder width apart. Contract your thighs so you feel your kneecaps move up. Tighten your pelvic floor, and pull your navel in and up under your ribs (not so much you can’t breath!). Roll your shoulder blades into your back, and lift the crown of your head.
Look again at your posture, and especially the tops of your shoulders. They should be more parallel with the floor. This is good posture, with all of this activation. Feels un-natural, I know, but it’s what we’re working toward, especially when running.
There are many exercises and techniques to strengthening the core. I’m not big on crunches and sit-ups because a) you can easily hurt your lower back if you do them incorrectly, and b) the core muscles that are most important are wrapped around your sides: your oblique abdominals.
Here are 3 awesome, body weight core exercises, perfect for running posture:
- Bicycles
- Bird Dog
- Plank & Mountain Climbers
Here’s a short video to help you with exercises and technique:
Functional strength training translates well to a good run
One more comment about strength training for runners: Make sure your strength training is Functional Strength, whereby the whole body is participating and working synergistically (as opposed to Absolute Strength, where just one muscle group is trained at a time, such as a bicep curl). Just as our sport is fluid and dynamic, our strength training needs to continue to teach the heart and lungs, muscles, connective tissues, joints, nervous system and our brain to work synergistically. That translates well to a good run!
Stay tuned for Secret #4!
Sandy
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