So, you want a simple trick to get faster running? What does that usually involve? That means we have to do something else physical besides running to get faster at running. Well, I'm Jesse Funk and on today's episode of Runner's High, I'm going to share with you three simple exercises you can do to be a fast runner.
All three of these exercises have one goal in mind, and that's maximum neuromuscular recruitment, Meaning, we're trying to engage our muscles in such a way that we get to use more of them more the fibers for more power. And that increase in power means that we're going to run faster. The first exercise is called bounds. And you can do these uphill or on the flat. Uppill is going to give you a little bit more resistance and force that proper form. But the idea is to work on maximum push off power here.
Now, I recently shot some video at the track and my wireless mic cut out. So, now I'm reshooting here, but I'm going to take you to the track where you can see me do bounds. These are a mimicry of just to push off, not trying to do the whole running cycle, just really that push forward.
So, take a look at what those look like. Now that you've seen with those bounds look like you have a little bit better idea. I kind of think about it in terms of imagine like you're a gazelle, or you're a deer, you're bounding through the forest, you know, one leg, the other leg, it's a very fluid motion.
Our second exercise is tried and true, something you want to use all the time and that's jump squats. You can use these from just the floor and up. Or you can combine these with a box at the gym and jump from the floor to the box. Sometimes that's a good way to visualize how much you want to be jumping. So, all you do, you come down to the ground, and jump up, all the way up. See if I can try not to hit my head here.
The last exercise we want to look at is actually another tried and true piece in our toolbox and that is squats. So, similar to squat jumps, we're just going to be doing a squatting motion. You can do this with a rack at the gym with your weights or you can do a bodyweight only. And in time, you can actually increase the instability in doing your squats. And that will increase your strength.
So, squat looks just like the squat jump. I get my hands out the way, I put them up here, you can kind of leave them down your side, it's totally up to you, but we're squatting down. You want to make sure that your knees don't come in front of your toes.
So, from this side here, get my hands up, squat, butt comes back. And then if you're doing bodyweight, one thing you might want to consider eventually is doing a variation on that and that is single leg squat. So, I have my bench here. You can do it without a bench if you get stronger but when you start out, you can use a bench. You put one foot back on the bench, kind of get into a position where you can squat. Same thing, you're going to squat, Keep that knee in line straight up and down so you don't have any problems.
So, those are my three simple exercises you can do to be a faster runner, and they are focused on a maximum neuromuscular recruitment. So, that means you may be a little uncomfortable doing them because they're pushing the maximum power that you can with your legs.
That's going to translate into easier running down the line. So, what do you want to know about running? Leave me a comment below and let me know what have you not been able to figure out that you'd like me to answer. I'll see you next time on the next episode of Runner’s High.