Advertisement - Continue Reading Below single-leg exercises (also called unilateral exercises) - they are great for highlighting any muscle imbalances and improving your balance and core stability. Why? By working just one side of your body at a time, you're essentially forcing each leg to do the work and engage more muscles in order to keep yourself stabilised. After all, when you run, you do use only one leg at a time ...
Step-ups are arguably one of the most simple – and easy – exercises you can do to help strengthen each leg individually. If you’re just starting out, all you need is your body weight – but you can easily make them harder by adding dumbbells, a kettlebell or by increasing your step height.
What are step ups and what are the benefits?
‘The step-up is a go-to exercise for runners because it primarily targets the glute max in hip extension, which is one of the most powerful movements the human body does,’ explains Graeme Woodward, a UK Athletics Level 3 performance coach, UKSCA accredited S&C coach and We Run Step-up exercise: how this simple single leg move can help you stay injury-free.
‘It also has other benefits including working the stabilising muscles around the pelvis which aids running economy and taking the hips into full range in extension and flexion which is something a lot of runners don’t do in normal training and is vital in injury reduction.’
How to do the step-up exercise
- Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network,
The best knee-strengthening exercises for runners. - Step back down with your right foot, concentrating on flexing the hip and knee of your left leg.
- How to do jump squats.
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