Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with a delightful group of thirteen New York runners, readers, and bloggers along with my personal trainer, Lauren. As part of our partnership, Equinox and I are working to plan a few events throughout the year that can help area readers get in touch with their bodies and improve their workouts. 

This month’s event, Ready Runners Workshop, was focused on an aspect of running that many of us don’t focus enough time on: repair and adjustment. Lauren broke the class up into four parts:

• foam rolling
• adjustment and stretching work
• agility
• body part specific relaxation

The great thing about the class was that each person was able to spend the time doing each exercise on their own with their personal foam roller and mat while Lauren and I helped with adjustments.

 This meant that when they get home hopefully there will be some muscle memory that will help ensure these are exercises become a regular part of their workout routine. In addition, Lauren took time to answer questions during the workshop and provided helpful handouts!

 Foam Rolling General Tips

• Foam rollers are inexpensive and can be stored in almost any size apartment or home and can quickly become one of your most important pieces of workout equipment or gear. (Here is the one Equinox uses in their gyms.)
• Foam rollers aren’t just for your legs. They can be used for the entire body.
• When you find a tender spot in the area you are working on, don’t fear. Keep the roller on this spot and wait to feel a release or diminished discomfort.
• Foam rolling can be used before and after exercise, both weight bearing workouts and cardio to help activate the muscles and release tension.
• The most common areas to work are the thorasic spine, piriformis, itBand, hamstrings, and qauds. However, yesterday many of us found that the calves and adductors were the most painful.

You can find more information regarding foam rolling here. In addition, Lauren highly recommends this site for great exercise information and low price gear.

Adjustments and Stretching

During the stretching and adjustments portion Lauren led us through a few workouts to help stretch our tight hip flexors and strengthen and engage our glute muscles for more balanced running.

We started with multi plane hip stretches as you can see below. There are three which help stretch all aspects of your hip muscles and allow you to get deeper than a static stretch.

We moved from the hips to the glutes focusing on bridge work both one legged and two legged to strengthen these muscles which tend to be weak for female runners. Due to our anatomy, women naturally engage their quads more than their glutes when running which can lead to injury.

Next we used bands to help build these muscles further through simple side step exercises which can be taken to the next level by adding squats in between. These bands, which can also be purchased on her favorite site, Perform Better, are only $2 and can be great tools to bring with you anywhere! Yesterday we used yellow (light) and green (medium) resistance bands due to the upcoming MORE Half Marathon many of the ladies were running today. 

Agility

For our final movement portion, we broke into groups to go through agility drills which can be used the day before or of a race to help loosen and shakeout leg muscles. The cone drill was a sidestep and sprinting exercise which forced you to move in all directions. The ladder exercise is a traditional agility drill combined with quick movements. The last station combines a hip opener exercise with a follow through movement.

 After all this movement we ended with relaxation. Lauren led us through guided progressive muscle relaxation which allowed us to focus on individual areas of our body while laying in a dark room. Similar to the savasana in yoga, this ten minute exercise left each of us completely relaxed and calm. By focusing on certain areas (clench and release your hands, then clench your feet, followed by your face, etc) it is easier to stay in the practice and not find your mind wandering. While she suggested this for right before bed or a big race, I think this can be a great exercise to use anywhere at anytime, even if you’re not lying down.

After the relaxation portion, the Equinox spa manager, Tim, joined us for some massage therapy education. While some of us, ahem Emily, were lucky enough to enjoy his touch during the demonstration, he reminded us that there is no point in pushing your muscles through constant workouts and training if you don’t allow time for repair. He should know as he is a former football and baseball athlete! His portion left me craving a massage even though I know I won’t be having one anytime soon since I just had one down at Sea Island.

Question: Are you a foam roller? Stick user? None of the above?