I would love it if you could go over to my Facebook page afterwards and like the video. Also, please share with as many people as you like – thank you!

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According to the available research and expert discussion, arriving at a “normal” range of motion is pretty tricky. Some labs use fancy geometry equipment such goniometers, but there is a simple test that has been proven to be very reliable – and according to some people, more reliable than the fancy equipment. This test also provides us with a easy benchmark for the range of motion we can work towards achieving.

What is the test? It’s a lunge against a wall and the video below shows how easy it is:

Ideally, we want to be able to be 10cm or more from the wall and still keep the heel of our front leg on the ground. However, many of us can only get to 5cm or fewer.

If you can’t get to 10cm or more, the solution is also very simple. You can use the test exercise as the exercise to increase your range of motion. There’s also a variation that you can do, as shown in the following video:

This range of motion is known as “dorsifletion” and is the movement where your toes get closer to your shins.

In addition to the exercises in the last video, you can increase dorsiflexion by:

• Releasing restrictions in the ankles, calf muscles and hamstrings
• Improving the strength of your shin muscles

To release restrictions, you can foam roll, self-massage or see a professional such as a physio or body worker. We’ll have a post up soon to help you increase the strength of your shin muscles, so stay tuned.

The post Ankle testing for runners appeared first on RunTeach.

We tend to be quite good at training for the sagittal plane (forward and backward) with core exercises like sit-ups and crunches. However, we also need to train using anti-rotation exercises (transverse or horizontal plane), exercises that handle the forces pushing and pulling us left to right/right to left (frontal plane), as well those vertical forces of the sagittal plane.

This post looks at my favourite anti-rotational exercises:

• Pallof press variations
• Cable arm pull
• Cable ankle pull

The Pallof Press is an excellent anti-rotation exercise and there are lot of variations that can be used to really challenge the movement control of your core.

All you need for this exercise is a resistance band or some resistance cables.

The video below gives you some of these variations.

The cable arm pull exercise is great for working those oblique muscles. You can either take it slow and controlled, really feeling the muscles working. Or, you can make the exercise explosive! Either way, make sure you are using correct form: upright posture, tight core, weight balanced on your feet.

This ankle pull exercise will target your gluteal, hip and hamstring muscles and help to make the entire core stronger.

So there you go, a few exercises that will hit two of the three planes of motion: Sagittal (front and back) and the Transverse (rotational).

In the next post I’ll look at some exercises that can help with the Frontal plane (side to side).

Feel free to share this post with anyone you know that would benefit from some more control and strength in their running.

Chris O’Brien

Founder

RunTeach

The post Building a stable core appeared first on RunTeach.

With the glorious weather we have been having in the UK over the past few months, many of us have been experiencing breathing issues when we are running. Looking at breathing through a wider lens, I often see questions being asked about breathing patterns for running and if there is a correct way to breathe to be more efficient and perform better.

Please remember that none of this information is intended to be medical advice. You should always seek professional medical advice and/or attention from a qualified medical professional if you suffer from breathing difficulties.

Writing about breathing inspired me to train as an advanced breathing instructor so I could help runners in more ways. This in turn led me to creating what I believe is one of the most robust ways for you to improve your breathing and therefore reach your running goals easier. You can find out more here.

Separation

First off, I want to separate out breathing related to weather and breathing directly related to activity. Breathing related to weather can affect us even if we are not running or otherwise being active, however any issues we experience can be amplified with activity intensity and duration.

Breathing problems also tend to be worse if we already have a respiratory condition such as asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). According to the NHS, some 900,000 people in the UK suffer from COPD.

I deal specifically with weather and breathing in a separate post that you can find here.

Breathing and running

What does breathing do for us when we run?

This may at first seem like an odd question as we all know that we need to breathe to stay alive. But if we look specifically at running, what is happening that makes it so important to sort our breathing out?

Well, when we breathe we take in oxygen. This oxygen is taken by our blood to the working muscles. The majority of the energy that our muscles need when we run is generated using an aerobic process. This aerobic process requires fuel (such as glucose/carbohydrate) and oxygen. Without oxygen, the energy for our muscles cannot be made for more than a few minutes. So from this one point alone, breathing is pretty important!

Don’t We All Breathe When We Run?

I hope So! But there are efficient ways to breathe and inefficient ways to breathe. In fact, there is quite a lot of different opinion on how we should breathe to get the most out of our running. For example, let’s take patterns of breathing…

Breathing Patterns

Some of the popular breathing patterns are:

2-2, 3-3,  4-4

These are even patterns, where we breath in for the required number of strides, and breath out for the same number of strides. For example, the 2-2 pattern dictates that we breathe in for two strides and then out for two strides.

Some coaches and sports scientists argue that a breathing pattern based around an even number of strides for an in-breath and an ou-breath is the most efficient. They state that it fits most neatly with the running rhythm and our arm swing. It may also be easier to adopt than a pattern based around an odd number of strides.

3-2, 2-3

The argument against the even patterns is that we are always taking the in-breath when the same foot is starting it’s stride. It is argued that this puts more emphasis on the same leg with each breath and therefore could lead to us landing ever so slightly heavier on it as we start our count. However, there is not actually any research or evidence to back this up, and at the time of writing this post it is pure conjecture by those who promote an uneven breathing pattern.

That said, uneven breathing patterns seem to be just as effective as even ones and there is no reason to avoid them.

You may have noticed both 3-2 and 2-3. This indicates more of an emphasis on the in-breath (3-2) or more of an emphasis on the out-breath (2-3): clearly this depends whether you start on an in-breath or an out-breath! But, the point is, with an uneven breathing pattern there is more of an emphasis either in or out, and this is another point of disagreement as to which is better.

Given that the air pressure in our lungs is lower than the outside air pressure when we breathe out, it makes logical sense to emphasise the out-breath. This lowers the inside air pressure further, and creates more room for a higher volume of air in our in-breath. As air moves from areas of high pressure to low pressure, this could make taking in more air easier.

Add to this the fact that we can only emphasise the in-breath for so long (due to finite lung capacity) before we have to take a reset breath and start again, and the logic of emphasising the out-breath makes even more sense.

The Best Breathing Pattern

Ultimately, the best breathing pattern is the one that works for YOU. So, it is definitely worth giving them all a go to see which one you find the most efficient. You may find that you use different patterns depending on the pace and intensity of your running.

Agreement

While there is certainly disagreement on the best breathing pattern to use, there seems to be universal agreement on the style of breathing. Everyone agrees that deep belly (or diaphragmatic) breathing is far superior to chest breathing.

Chest Breathing

Chest breathing, where we breath from our upper chest or even our mid-chest, is too shallow to provide us with the oxygen we need for running. We need to be inhaling a larger volume of air so the we not only take in more oxygen, but are better able to control the rate of our breathing – especially as the intensity of our exercise increases.

Chest breathing is also thought to contribute to us getting a stitch while running, and can lead to very rapid breathing as we fight to get in enough oxygen. This is turn will slow our running down and can leave us short of breath and feeling like we just aren’t very fit. But, change how you breath, and you could well change that perception.

Deep Belly Breathing

Deep belly breathing works by using the diaphragm more fully to regulate our breathing. We are able to inhale a far larger volume  of air, and this also means we can control the rate of breathing far better. At the very least, we have the flexibility of being able to take large breaths to reset any rapid increase in breathing rate.

Deep belly breathing involves your belly rising on the in-breath and falling on the out breath. When practicing, we try and keep the chest as still as possible.

To practice deep belly breathing:

• • Lie on the floor on your back

• • Place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest

• • As you breath in, allow your belly to rise as you consciously use your diaphragm to breathe

• Keep your chest as still as possible

Once you have mastered this lying down, practice it standing up. Once you are an expert while standing, move to walking and running.

You may find that you need to take a reset breath every now and again while you practice, and it’s fine to go back to your old breathing pattern if you get tired. Build up the new pattern until you can run using more of a deep belly style than a shallow chest style. In reality, it would be quite hard to run with your belly coming in and out all the time. But, the conscious practice should mean that you are taking deeper and more efficient breaths without thinking about it.

Strengthening Your Breathing

There are some mechanical devices available that are designed to help people for all kinds of sports and activities to strengthen their breathing. Three of these are:

UltraBreathe	PowerBreathe	RespiBelt

Besides the mechanical devices above, there are a whole host of breathing exercises that can help strengthen your breathing. Many of the exercises are for asthma or COPD sufferers, but are great for general strengthening as well. Pilates, in particular, has some great exercises to help with breathing such as:

• The Hundred

• The Swan

As simple Internet search will pull up examples of these and lots of other breathing exercises.

Nose Breathing

One way that we can add a bit of resistance to our breathing while running, and therefore strengthen things up a bit, is to use a technique known as nose breathing.

And yes, it really is as simple as it sounds. You literally close your mouth and breathe through your nose. But, as simple as it sounds, it can be challenging to do while running. You have have to slow your pace down a bit while you practice. You can build it into your training sessions like this:

• First 5 minutes and last 5 minutes of your sessions

• Build up from that: 10, 12, 15 minutes at the start and end of your sessions

• It will be uncomfortable, but will also force deeper breathing. Use Deep Belly Breathing.

Other Tips

One of the techniques that I use to calm my breathing down while running, is to use the tip of the tongue trigger. This has the added benefit of reducing your heart rate, so is great for recovering between intervals or when you’ve put a big effort in to get up a hill or fly past another runner.

The technique is very simple and involves you placing the tip of your tongue behind the top row of front teeth, about where the gum line is. Hold it there and you will notice both your breathing and heart rate start to reduce.

You can deepen the calming effect by anchoring it during meditation. For example, sit and relax for 5 to 15 minutes. Become very, very relaxed, and then activate the tip of the tongue trigger. Hold it for 10 to 20 seconds and release. Take some deep breaths and again become very relaxed. Activate the tip of the tongue trigger again for 10 to 20 seconds. Repeat once or twice more. You have now anchored a deeper sense of calm and relaxation to the trigger, so when you activate it when running (or at any other time), your mind and body knows it’s time to calm things down.

The great things about this is that you can calm down your heart rate and breathing while maintaining your running pace, or dropping it only slightly. Definitely one worth practicing!

Visualisation is also another fantastic technique to help regulate breathing. If you find you are reverting back to chest breathing, or your rate of breathing is too fast, see in your mind’s eye your lungs taking control and taking deeper breaths. Combine this with visualising your heart rate lowering and you can regain control quite quickly. Again, practice with this technique means that you can do this without altering your running pace too much.

The final tip I have from is recovering between intervals. I find that very slow jogging (even almost on the spot) helps to regulate my breathing much quicker than staying still or even walking. You don’t need to jog the entire recovery, just enough to get control of your breathing.

All of this, and much more, is included the my Respiratory Revolution approach to getting control of your breathing while running. You can find it here.

Well, that’s all for this post. I trust you found it useful – happy breathing!

Chris O’Brien
RunTeach Founder

The post Finding it hard to breathe when running? appeared first on RunTeach.

We all know that January is about setting resolutions, committing to being more active and healthy, so why not join a distance challenge? Isn’t it a great way to get motivated and move your backside in what is often a dark and depressingly long month?

I know this divides the running community, and I can see both sides – on the one hand I can see that some people just won’t get out the door unless they have a big challenge. And I have friends who are exactly like this, and it is their way of getting back into running and being healthy.

There is also the charity side, such as the Run Every Day in January challenge that is raising awareness for the charity Mind (and I must say, they are very clear about the risk of overtraining and the need listen to your body and walk if necessary).

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that this is largely a “miles for miles sake” exercise that will do very little, if anything, to improve your running. Is promoting a running website/blog through challenges like this really promoting the best for the runner? A big issue is they can put pressure on runners to keep going no matter what.

“Join the challenge and you will automatically be assigned to a team. Then all you have to do is run! The more you run, the more chances your team have of winning. So what are you waiting for…. ”

Or… run yourself into the ground, lose your mojo, and really, really irritate that nagging IT band injury…

Let’s face it, if you are running every day or trying to put in loads more miles than usual, something has to give. Usually, that means:

• • The quality of your running suffers, and your performance goes backwards

• • You neglect the important aspects such as recovery

• You expose yourself to overtraining and therefore
  • • are at a far higher risk of injury
  • can end up with burn-out and demotivation – the “why have I lost my mojo?” syndrome

I have just had an email through from a popular running site updating me on the status of their running challenge. It is organised into teams and the headline of the email was all about which team was in the lead and how many miles everyone had collectively run this year so far. My first thought was “how many of those runners are going to be out of running by the end of the month?”. Perhaps that is a little unfair, but we see it over and over.

With the exception of some warnings and cautionary notes (which are super-important – but do people read them?), at what point have any of these organised challenges or running sites given the very runners they are encouraging to run every day or massively increase their mileage, any skills to do that with? Did they provide a month’s worth of deliberate movement skills practice to ensure their body was ready to take on such a challenge? Some do provide the cautionary warnings and some will provide exercises you can do whilst you are running the challenge, but many won’t. And just as importantly, do way take heed of those warnings, or do we get so wrapped up in the challenge that we ignore the fact that we are doing ourselves harm?

Of course, we have the famous runners such as Ron Hill who have had incredible streaks of running every day for many years and regularly promotes the run every day practice on his website. Ron ran every day from 20th December 1964 to 30th January 2017. However, he was an elite athlete and had already developed the skill of running to the point that allowed him to compete at the highest level, providing him with the required platform for running every day. And even then, Hill defined a “run” as at least 1 mile, so he wasn’t going out stacking up the miles for a virtual challenge.

The truth is, every time you take a stride when running, you are putting between 2.5 to 3 times your own bodyweight down through a single leg. Imagine loading a barbell with 1.5 times your bodyweight, putting it across your shoulders and standing on one leg… If that wasn’t enough force, you body is also being subjected to about 10% to 15% of lateral forces (across your body, and rotational), and up to 50% from the force of acceleration and deceleration with every stride.

Just think about that for a second or two. Now make up your own mind as to whether you think that your body needs to be prepared in order to do that every day for 31 days, or to cope with that repeatedly, over perhaps more than double the mileage you would normally do in a month? Can you see how we may expose ourselves to the points mentioned above?

Does this mean that I think distance challenges or Run Every Day challenges shouldn’t be done? No. In fact I can definitely see that for some people they do provide motivation and can also be an important social aspect of running. Indeed, I am part of a global distance challenge myself that spans December last year and January this year. Plenty of people do these types of challenges without any issues, but plenty more end up injured or lack lustre because it is all just too much.

What I am passionate about, is that we prepare ourselves for taking on such challenges and don’t just run the miles for the sake of it. Ignoring this often leads to injury and demotivation, and in turn leads to the following month (or months) being a running disaster.

I think it’s fine to use these challenges to get a few more miles in, or to get you out the door in the first place, or raise money and awareness for charities. But please, please ensure that you think about what you are doing. If you feel you are sacrificing the quality of your running, if you feel some niggles, or you start to feel more tired than usual (which can often lead to injury), take a step back and enjoy a recovery day or two. I would also urge you to learn the fundamental movement skills that we all need for running, but 98% of us are never taught. Build a strong and stable platform through movement, and then add endurance and strength. Then go and enjoy your distance challenges.

Some of the stats above come from Jay Dicharry’s new book, Running Rewired.

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