Running is one of the best exercises we can do for our bodies. Our bodies NEED 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity or 75-100 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic exercise EVERY week as recommended by WHO. A brisk walk to light jog qualifies as moderate and a moderate intensity jog (5k pace or faster) qualifies as vigorous. So, running is GREAT for your heart! If running isn’t for you, walking is also a great form of exercise. Check out our Walking Tips and Resources here. Read on to learn more about the benefits of running!
Also, running is NOT bad for your joints. Can it sometimes contribute to some joint pain? Sure. But your joints are more likely to develop arthritis from being inactive, rather than being too active. Take a look at the infographic and caption below.
Alentorn-Geli E, et al. The Association of Recreational and Competitive Running With Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis” (J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(6):373-390. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.7137).
Since running is so great for your health, we want to give you ALL the resources to run as much as you want, as fast as you want, for as long as you want with as few injuries as possible. The main components to succeed at this are the following:
- Proper mobility/flexibility (dynamic warmup and regular mobility work)
- Proper strength
- Proper training plan incorporating running distance and intensity, but also proper cross training working on your mobility and strength needs
Dynamic Warmups
Think of a dynamic warmup less of a “you must do this to be able to run” and more of a “if you do this you can chip away at improving mobility that will help you perform better and get hurt less AND you will probably feel better during your run.” We offer 3 different Dynamic Warmup options below. We offer more comprehensive options and the “quick and dirty” bare minimum option. Ideally, you would perform some version of this before every run. You can knock it out in as quick as 30 seconds and as long as 5 minutes.
Flexibility/Mobility for Runners
It’s important to have proper mobility and flexibility to be able to move your body through the ranges necessary for running without compensating or over-stressing your muscles or joints. In the future, we will have more resources below of how to assess if you need more flexibility or not in a joint or muscle group. We do have a video doing this at the ankle. For the hip, knee, and rest of you, any stretches that feel challenging and like a good stretch, they’re probably helpful for you. And yes, we included thoracic (mid/upper back) and low back mobility because those are important for runners as well as your lower body flexibility.
Strength Training for Runners
For some reason, most runners seem to think that their running is their strengthening. Yes, you are building strength and endurance with running, but you NEED to work on strength outside of running as well. Professional athletes don’t only use their sport as their strengthening, they strengthen outside of their sport. Why? Because they get paid millions to perform better and not get hurt. Strength training is the best chance to succeed in both those areas. Whether you get paid millions or not, who doesn’t want to perform better and have less injuries?! Lastly, we work with a TON of runners who are limited by pain. In our experience, there are usually some areas that need to be stronger and once we get them there, our runners are back to running better than before with less pain, so take our word for it!
We would recommend at least 2 days, if not 3, of strength work to compliment your running training. Here’s some blog resources we have to help give you some guidance and options with strength training:
- 5 Strength Exercises for Runners
- Our top 5 exercises to give you the most bang for your buck
- In our opinion, you should be working more variety of strength as shown below, but if nothing else, this is a good base of strength!
- Strength Progression Charts
- Want a quick visual of our to progress your strength, check out our charts that match our YouTube video playlists
- Various types of workouts to mix up your strength training on your own
- Resources for mixing in your strength with time with your kids and family
If you want to self explore some more strength, check out our core and hip (lower body) strengthening playlists below (and yes, we included core because it’s important!):
Running Training Plans
Check out our Couch to 5k, 5k, Couch to 10k, 10k, Half Marathon, and 50k Training Plans here!
Common Running Injuries
Info related to common running injuries coming soon. For now, reference OHSU’s resource here.
Summary
At Healing Motion, we are passionate to move our community to excel in health, wellness, and life! Running is an excellent way to go about this! Remember that overall health and fitness is much more than just exercise. See our 6 Pillars of Health blog for more info. Lastly, if you need help getting out of pain, want to have an assessment to identify areas to reduce risk for potential future injuries, or want to perform better, we can help you with all of that! Schedule your appointment here.
Happy running! We’re all stronger together!
Healing Motion PT Team
