HOW: Anchor a band roughly knee height, and place the band around the back of your lower leg. You will then perform a squat while leaning into the band and keeping your trunk straight.

 

FEEL: You will feel the muscles on the front of your thigh working with this exercise.

 

COMPENSATION: Avoid leaning your trunk forward. The more you lean into the band the easier it will be to keep your trunk upright.

HOW: Begin with a small step set on the ground. Using one side edge of the step, step up forward with the leg closest to the step bringing the outside leg’s knee up into a runner’s position. From here, bend your inside knee and step out to the side with your outside leg tapping your toe. Return to the runner’s position.Then, step towards the front with the same outside leg tapping your heel, then back to the runner’s position. Finally, bend your knee of the planted leg as you reach your outside leg behind you to tap your toe. 

 

FEEL: You should mostly feel your quadriceps and glute muscles working on the leg that is on the step.

 

COMPENSATION: Keep the inside foot on the step at all times. Keep your chest up as you bend your knee and sit back into the hip pocket of the stance leg

HOW: Stand in front of a wall or an object to use for balance. Stand on the leg you want to train. While keeping your glutes and quads tight to keep your knee straight, lift your heel up in a slow and controlled manner, then slowly lower your heel back down to the ground. Repeat

 

FEEL:  You should feel your calf getting a workout, but also your glutes and quads working as well to help keep your leg straight.

 

COMPENSATION:  Do not let your knee bend as that is a different exercise. Make sure you go through your full range of motion at your ankle. This is not a balance exercise, so hold onto something to help with balance as the goal of this exercise is to strengthen your calf!

HOW: While standing, shift your weight to one leg with your knee slightly bent and the opposite knee bent causing lifting your foot off of the ground. From this position, raise your heel off the ground pushing the balls of your feet into the ground and hop forwards and backwards in a continuous, controlled, motion. Try to be as springy as possible and quickly absorb the force and explode off the ground with your ankle!

 

FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backwards after landing. 

 

For a detailed video on landing mechanics on one leg, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RCOGM5tZRM

HOW: Start in a standing athletic position. Shift your bodyweight to one side, then jump to the other side landing with the opposite foot.  Land softly and stay strong in the hip, knee, and ankle as you land. Then, rapidly push off with that leg and land back on your other leg, where you started. Repeat this going in a side to side motion trying to minimize how long you stay on leg.

 

FEEL: You should feel your hip, thigh, and calf muscles working. 

 

COMPENSATION: Keep your chest up, don’t arch at the back as you go side to side.  Jump in a lateral motion, not forward or backward. Land on the balls of your feet, not flat footed.

HOW: Shift your weight to one leg with your knee slightly bent and the other leg off of the ground. Slightly bend down and push into the ground, jump up onto the box landing on the same leg. 

 

FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backwards after landing. 

 

For a detailed video on landing mechanics on one leg, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RCOGM5tZRM

HOW: Start in a split stance position with equal weight between your front leg and your back leg. The goal is to push off of both feet to jump in the air. In the air, you will “scissor” and switch your foot position so you land in the opposite split stance position with your back foot forward, and your front foot behind you. Land in control. Then repeat.

 

FEEL: You should feel all the muscles in your legs working to jump and land.

 

COMPENSATION: Land evenly with both feet and use both legs to jump. Do not lose your balance. 

DESCRIPTION:

The Single Leg Heel Raise Strength Test is a reliable tool developed and used to evaluate plantarflexion strength. Please watch the video to get a visual demonstration of how to perform the test and what to be mindful of. Below you will find a description of how to do so.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Get set up standing barefoot on a firm surface near a wall or sturdy object to help with balance. Begin the test by balancing on one leg with the other leg lifted in the air, then perform as many heel raises as you can with good form on the side that you’re standing on. You can use the wall or sturdy object near you for balance, but don’t use it to your advantage to off-load weight. Focus on achieving full heel height with each rep and not letting your knee bend. Take a break and perform on the other side, record your score.

Some rules to remember with this assessment. Your test ends when you can no longer reach ideal heel height or your knee is excessively bending when you go to lift your heel. Ideally, you’re performing each rep with good form as well, so end the test if your balance is all over the place, you’re rushing the reps, or having trouble holding the end-position due to fatigue. Be sure to reference the entire video again before performing this assessment again on both sides to improve your performance.

NORMS:

Healthy subjects= 25 reps

Subjects with pathology = 17 reps

Prehab Goal = 25+ reps

REFERENCE:

Hebert-Losier, K., R. J. Newsham West, A. G. Schneiders, and S. J. Sullivan. “Raising the standards of the calf-raise test: a systematic review.” J. Sci. Med. Sport 12:594–602, 2009

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro

1:03 Single Leg Pogo Hops 

2:31 Runners At Wall

3:52 Runners Forward March 

 

Maybe you are looking for that once last tip to become a more efficient running? You’ve put in the mileage, added in the strengthening, here’s a focus on form. Join us as we take you through a few drills to help improve your running form! Remember, appropriate strengthening is the biggest component to become a more efficient runner but polishing up form can serve a role as well! See you at the finish line!

 

[P]rehab Running: https://theprehabguys.com/accessory-running/