You may have been told that you ‘don’t activate your posterior chain when you run’, and like many, have no idea what that means!
The posterior chain is a group of muscles located in the rear part of the body. With runners, the most important muscle groups involved are the gluteal muscles, hamstrings and erector spinae. The importance of these muscles groups is a simple one to understand, and all we need to consider is Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion.
For any of us who missed that physics lesson or whose memories have become a bit rusty over the years, this states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. Therefore, if we want to move our body forward, we must push off in the opposite direction.
Take sprinters for example, to accelerate quickly, they push backwards on the starting blocks to move themselves forward. So in pushing backwards to move forward, we need hip extension, and the muscle groups involved in hip extension are mainly the gluteals and hamstrings.
It would therefore make sense that ‘activating’ and ‘priming’ these muscles to work correctly before a run can only be beneficial.
If you read my blog regarding stretching, you will know that static stretching can reduce the level of performance. So obviously, you will have ditched that from your pre-run routine, giving you more time in the warm-up to focus on activation! We need to consider what the activity will involve, and try to make the warm-up exercises as functional to that as possible. As much as glute bridges give you great muscle feedback and you can ‘feel’ the muscles work, lying on your back and pushing your hips into the air is not a functional exercise to warm up for a run. Meaning, when you are running, you are upright and moving forward, not lying on your back doing pelvic thrusts!
Exercises should be dynamic in nature, without pushing the body too hard, below are a few examples of what should be considered prior to a run:
- Dynamic lunges
- Mini-band walks
- Sumo squats
- Split jump lunges
- Lateral bounding
These exercises, if done correctly, will prime the posterior chain to be move activate when you run. If we have more glute/hamstring activation, we have more hip extension, we have more forward propulsion, it is that simple! Remember, 99% of the time we are running we are going forward!
Make sure you give the above exercises a try before your next run, and see what difference a good sequence of muscle activation exercises can do!
And if you have no idea what any of those exercises are, come and see the only certified running training coaches in Manchester (and the North West) and we can teach you how to activate properly.
