Improve Running Speed & Prevent Injuries

Good running technique

In the green diagram the body’s center of gravity is able to easily pass over the striking leg and because there is no breaking force you maintain the momentum gained from the back swing causing continuous forward movement producing a more efficient stride.

Running is a combination of bio mechanics (movement) and physiology (fitness) The bio-mechanics side looks at footwear & ground reaction force. The physiology side looks at how you can improve your heart and lungs ability to provide oxygen to the working muscles. In order to improve as a runner, you must look at both bio mechanics and physiology.

Improve running technique (biomechanics)

Running technique is made up of stride length, cadence, running posture, arm propulsion, foot placement, muscle recruitment and there may be a number of these components that can improve your running.

Bad running technique

There is an optimal stride length for your legs but once this is exceeded (red diagram), it will slow you down. Over striding causes the heel to strike with the toe pointing upwards. Due to the fact that the leg is so far out in front of the body it places a breaking force on the body.

Strength training (biomechanics)

Once you increase your maximum strength than your average force production will increase as well. On average it takes 1400 steps to complete a mile, so a 5% increase in force production with every stride you take over 5 miles will knock minutes off your time. This can be achieved without increasing bulk.

Perform anaerobic work (physiology)

Sprint training is a great way to improve long distance running. Flat out sprints lasting between 10-30 seconds followed by a rest period. This type of training is known as interval work, which combines both anaerobic and aerobic work.

Try this interval work out once a week

60 meter run (flat out) x4 with a 1:4 work rest ratio. As you get fitter increase your repetitions and use for 6 weeks. By the end of 6 weeks you should be doing 8 reps. If it is too easy, decrease the exercise to rest ratio to 1:3 or if you’re an experienced runner start with a minimum of 8 reps.

Note

A rest ratio of 1:4 is a more accurate way to determine rest periods. It means that if takes you 10 seconds to perform your first sprint than your rest period is 40 seconds, if it takes 15 seconds to complete your sprint than 60 seconds is your rest period.

What is poor posture – exercises to fix bad posture

Figure 1. Ideal postural alignment and muscles of the core.

Improving the core is more than having a good looking six pack, the core muscles are linked to your posture. When muscles are short and tight they pull joints into incorrect positions.

For example, in the figure 2 (please see below) we see in diagram labelled C that the muscles in the back of the legs are overly strong and dominant causing the pelvis to be pulled downwards.

While the muscles of the abdominals are pulling up.  This is causing the spine to be too flat. In APT, the muscles are pulling the pelvis in the opposite direction causing the spine to become too rounded.

Figure 2. Four examples of bad posture caused by tight muscles.

Different squat exercises

Squating is one of the most effective ways to train the body. It is a compound exercise, which means it works many muscle groups together.

You will work the core, bum, front and back of your legs in one gross movement.

Because of this it is one of the best exercises to use to lose weight due to the claories you burn, but it can also be performed to build muscle due to large release of growth hormone and testerone (hormones) produced by the large muscle mass.

Despite the many applications for the squat many people perform the squat poorly. In this article we are going to explore the three different squats, the over head squat, back squat and front squat.

We will than explore some of the key principles of the squat, which are squat depth, body alignment, posture.

3 ways to increase running speed

Get the best arms in the office with these tricep exercises

Business is all about who you know rather than what you know, however it has also been proven that the way you look increases your chances of getting promoted and progressing in your organisation.

The way your body looks also ties in directly with how you look, but also if you feel you look and feel strong it can also help you to exude confidence.

One of the most important things to having a powerful looking physique is your arms. I’m not saying that a big wide chest isn’t useful, but the arms represent power and strength.

In this video I am going to share some of the best exercises you can do to train your triceps muscles, which are the muscles at the back of your arms.

Some of these exercises you will be able to do at work at your desk. Some of them you can do at your gym or even outdoors.

I have included a mix of with and without equipment, as well as varying the level of difficulty so that there are exercises you can do no matter what your fitness levels are.

How To Fix forward head posture

How To Fix forward head posture – If you work at a desk for a few hours every day it is highly likely that you are going to get changes in your posture.

Sitting at a desk and looking at  a computer all day long can lead to neck pain, shoulder pain, as well as upper and lower back pain.

This is due to the fact that your head is strectched out too far in front of the body and the weight of the head actually causes pain and strain on the neck shoulders and back.

The type of posture developed by sitting at a desk all day long is known as forward head posture. Please see below.

Fad diets

Every year their is a new diet that seems to gain popularity. We have had the Atkins diet, this year it is the 16:8 diet. While some of these diets are good their are many that you should avoid.

Fad diets are diets that promise to get you fast results. Often they are very successful in helping you lose weight, however the problem is that they are unhealthy and unsustainable.

Remember that the key to losing weight and being healthy is to eat a nutrient dense and diverse diet. There are many good diets out there as I’ve said before, but if your now into the swing of things with your weight loss plans here are some diets to avoid:

The Strawberry diet

19 amazing suspension training exercises

When you are busy and you lack the time you need to exercise you want something that can maximize your results in the shortest time possible.

This is where the TRX comes into its own. It is as versatile as the Swiss ball, however, what I like about the TRX is that you can also use it for HIIT training as well.

In this post I am going to share with you 19 exercises you can do with the TRX to help you get the body you want in the quickest time possible.

What is the TRX?

The acronym TRX stands for TOTAL body Resistance eXercise. It was one of the first resistance exercise equipment in the fitness industry that uses only your body weight as resistance.

There are many things that make the TRX great.

27 amazing Swiss ball exercises

When you spend all day working in an office it can have a massive impact on your posture and core strength. This is why the swiss ball can have a massive impact on your health.

When most people think about exercising with Swiss balls they think about improving their core strength. This is partly true as there are many exercises that will improve your core strength.

However, you can also work the whole body using the swiss ball exercises as well as the core. On this video I will show you 27 exercises on the swiss ball.

You will see exercises that you can use for your legs, back, abdominal, chest arms and shoulders, while at the same time still hitting those core muscles.