Run Faster & Further With Pilates
SmartFit Pilates Scooter Exercise on the Reformer for Runners
Running is a fantastic form of exercise that requires power, strength, agility and cardiovascular fitness. However, it is also very high impact; placing a significant amount of physical pressure on the body - particularly your joints - and thereby increasing your risk of injury. Pilates, on the other hand, is its complementary opposite: a low-impact workout that doesn’t place your body under stress. Instead, it focuses on strengthening your stabilising muscles, helping you to maintain the good and proper biomechanics needed for running and other daily movements, and supporting your body to recover more quickly. In summary, regular Pilates can help you to be a more efficient runner. Don’t believe us? Keep reading…
1. CORE STRENGTH
Most of us can’t flick through Instagram without seeing #strongcore alongside images of six-pack abs and videos of ‘fitfluencers’ doing endless crunches. But having a strong core is about more than crop tops and sit-ups. It’s about full-body strength, stability, longevity, pain-free movement… and it really can improve your run.
Running is a form of motion that the body is built and equipped to perform - as long as you stay in correct alignment, that is. Shift your alignment just a little so that certain joints and muscles are no longer in their optimal position (for example, head too far forward or backward, or hips not quite level), and the amount of stress and pressure on those joints and muscles increases hugely. Not only does this put you at much higher risk of injury, but it will also greatly impair your ability to run efficiently and comfortably. And your core plays a fundamental part in that.
It’s a common misconception that the ‘core’ refers simply to the abdominals. In fact, your core is made up of stabilising muscles in the hips, back, shoulders and neck, as well as the abdominal muscles that wrap around and support your spine. Oh, and don’t forget your pelvic floor too!
For runners, having strong muscles in the lower abdominals and hips in particular are essential to avoid excess stress through the lower back and joints as the body is propelled forward. Your core keeps your body in the correct position - from your neck all the way down to your ankles - protecting your spine and other high-risk areas from harm as the impact of each stride resonates through your body. Pilates exercises for runners are those that help to strengthen the relevant musculature and teach you how to correctly engage the muscles in your core, back and shoulders. This is essential to master the optimal, upright running posture (and get it feeling natural) so that you can run further and faster, pain-free.
2. BREATHWORK
To maximise your running performance, it’s vital that you tune in with your breath. If this sounds unlikely, think back on your running history: have you ever gone out for your first run in a while and felt immediately out of breath, or felt the breath catching in your chest after covering only a very short distance? Now consider this: were you breathing evenly with each stride? Was each breath shallow or deep? How long were your inhales and exhales?
Athletes and long-distance runners place huge importance on breath control while they run, and for good reason. Running and other strenuous activities force your muscles and respiratory system to work extremely hard. They require more oxygen than usual to fulfil the brain’s directive to run, and must work harder to remove the increased amount of carbon dioxide being produced - both of which make breathing more difficult. As a result, your breathing can be a good indicator of how well your body (and fitness level) are responding to the current pace and intensity of your run. If you’re pushing yourself too hard and/or not paying enough attention to your breath, you may experience tightness in the chest and/or wheezing.
That’s where the deep abdominal (or diaphragmatic) breathing comes in. This method of breathing into the chest and sides of the ribcage strengthens the respiratory muscles and helps you to take in more air in the moment as well as long-term. Having more oxygen in your body is an obvious plus for energising your muscles to keep striding forward, particularly once fatigue starts to set in. If you’re someone who often only takes shallow breaths - as many people do - this should make a particularly big difference for you.
Diaphragmatic breathing has also been shown to help relieve tension, making it key to the relaxed posture that is so optimal for your breath, joints and muscles, both during your run and in everyday life. And it’s good for your mind too! Long-distance and fast-paced running can often be as much about your mental strength as your physical, so having a mindfulness exercise you can keep coming back to (counting in for 5 as you inhale and out for 5 as you exhale, for example) can be a saviour in helping you push through to the finish line.
Fortunately for you, breathwork is one of the fundamental Pilates principles. A Pilates workout for runners teaches you to master and control diaphragmatic breathing, while incorporating the pelvic floor too. You’ll learn how to synchronise your breath with your movement and harness the power of the breath to improve your stability, focus, endurance, posture, circulation and more.
3. MOBILITY & FLEXIBILITY
The body is made up of small parts that must work together in a synchronised kinetic chain to propel you forward in a run. This requires good mobility (range of motion around the joint) in the spine, hips, knees and ankles, and good flexibility (passive range of motion in a muscle) in your quads, hamstrings and hip flexors in particular. If any of these cannot move through the full range of motion, your run will be greatly inhibited.
It makes sense then that in order to improve your run, you need to work on your mobility and flexibility. And our favourite workout does just that. Pilates exercises - particularly Reformer Pilates - help to lengthen the muscles by working them through different ranges of motion and stretches that are both passive and active. If you’re a runner, your Pilates instructor will focus a lot of attention on your feet and ankles, hips and knees, and spine and shoulders. If we had to pick one as the most important for runners, though, it would be the hip flexors. This mighty group of muscles can impact your stride length, running pattern and ease of movement. So the next time you hear a runner moan about tight hip flexors, direct them to Pilates!
As an aside - it’s good to note that it may not be your run per se that’s causing poor mobility. Other lifestyle factors play a big part in this; particularly age and lifestyle. Our mobility naturally declines as we get older, and you may begin to notice that your joints have a smaller range of motion compared to years gone by. And desk jobs have a lot to answer for too! Long hours spent hunched over a laptop are extremely common in today’s world, and it doesn’t take long before you’ll be feeling the effects of tight quads and hip flexors, and/or inactive gluteal muscles. Head to Pilates for help with this - our instructors will soon have you feeling stretchy and bendy!
4. IMPROVED RECOVERY
After a run, your muscles are flushed with lactic acid, causing a burning sensation or ache known as Acute Muscle Soreness. As this is most often accompanied by that post-run endorphin high that will have you singing from the rooftops and powering through your to-do list at record pace, few people complain about this feeling. The discomfort of the next day however - when climbing the stairs becomes akin to ascending Everest - will have you re-living every stride of your run and cursing yourself for not stretching more when you got home.
This next-day ache is called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), and it’s caused by an inflammatory response to tiny tears that occur in the muscle fibres as you run. These are totally normal and happen whenever you do any kind of high-intensity exercise, and are an indicator that your muscles are responding to and adapting to the exercise, so that you improve.
It may be tempting to stay horizontal all day when DOMS strikes, but gentle movement and stretching are known to significantly speed up your recovery time and effectiveness, and help ease the aches and discomfort too. Pilates for running is an ideal choice for this, as it focuses on muscle activation, stretching and improving your circulation, without placing your body under any further stress. The use of apparatus like the Reformer and Cadillac are also fantastic for helping to gently stretch the muscle more than you’d be able to manually. Your instructor will be there to guide you through each movement to ensure you’re staying safe while still pushing you to keep on seeing progress, both in your run and Pilates practice.
5. FOOT FOCUS
Most of us seldom pay attention to how we place our feet onto the ground as we walk or run, but it’s one of the most crucial aspects of efficient movement. Consider, for example, how your foot looks and feels each time you land on it when you’re running. Is your weight distributed more to the inside or outside edge of the foot? The answer is very likely ‘yes’, and if it’s significant, it could cause you major issues in the future.
While we’re all different and unique, the generally accepted ‘optimal’ gait is with a very slight inward ‘roll’ of the foot as it comes into contact with the ground. Running with this slight pronation means the force impact of your landing is absorbed and evenly distributed through the feet; protecting the joints further up the body from harm as well as enabling you to propel yourself forward from the ball of your foot powerfully and evenly. Everyone’s feet roll to one side to some extent as they walk and run, but the degree and direction of your roll can affect not only your running efficiency, but also your likelihood of suffering with injuries and pain in years to come.
Over-pronation - where excess pressure is placed along the inner edge of the foot upon each landing due to significant inward rolling - for example, can result in collapsed arches (flat feet), IT band syndrome, Achilles tendonitis and chronic pain in the ankles, knees and hips, often due to the continued misalignment. And its exact opposite can be just as bad. Supination (or under-pronation) is where the foot rolls slightly or significantly onto its outer edge. It’s particularly common in people with high arches, and greatly increases your chances of spraining your ankle as well as shin splints, plantar fasciitis, bunions and even lower back pain.
Sound familiar? If you’re someone who suffers with pain or discomfort in the feet, legs, hips and/or back and doesn’t know why, pronation - either over or under - could be to blame!
And Pilates can help. In your first Private Pilates session with us, your instructor will take a close look at your gait and evaluate how your entire body moves - starting from your feet and ankles, and up through your knees, hips and spine - to identify any weaknesses, imbalances or misalignment. With this information in hand, they will create a tailor-made programme specific to your body’s needs and running goals, and guide you through specific Pilates exercises to correct your alignment and build strength where it’s needed, to optimise your running footwork. It’s thanks to Pilates apparatus like the Reformer and Cadillac that you’re able to achieve such substantial improvements without your bodyweight adding further pressure and stress to your joints as you do so. Don’t believe us? Try it for yourself.
6. ACTIVATE YOUR GLUTES
Do your calves often feel tight at the end of a run? If so, we’d like to introduce you to a key muscle that you are likely neglecting during your scuttle around the track. They’re called your glutes.
The glutes are a small group of muscles in your backside made up of the gluteus maximus, medius and minimus. These important stabilising muscles are often left dormant and unused during our desk-bound weekdays, meaning they’re slow to fire into action when we need them, such as during a run. But this is a big problem, as the glutes are essential for propelling you forward with power and providing strength and stability both around the hips and through the core, which can then impact your posture. Running without utilising these muscles forces the body to compensate for their laziness in other ways; predominantly by relying too much on the hamstrings and IT band. These back-up muscles are not properly equipped to perform the roles of the glutes, and if left untreated, will often lead to imbalances, instability and chronic injuries in areas like the lower back, hips, knees and feet.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. If you take action now and learn how to properly engage your glutes as you run, it won’t be long before every stride starts to feel lighter and more effortless, and - most importantly - you’ll greatly reduce your risk of pain and injury down the line.
So how do you engage your glutes? Well, it might sound simple, but for many people it can be a real challenge. The notion of engaging a specific muscle can be confusing and difficult to comprehend, which is why our instructors focus so much attention on it during any Private Pilates session with runners. Mastering basic glute activation, learning how it feels when your glutes are properly engaged, supporting your posture from the glutes up, and improving your core control all play a key part in this, and all form part of any Private Pilates session for runners at SmartFit.
7. BODY AWARENESS & SPECIFIC PROGRAMMING
As you may have guessed from points 1-6 above, the most common running injuries are those that affect the lower back, hips, knees, ankles and feet, and we can certainly point the finger at the stress that running places on your joints and through your feet as a likely cause. But one of the biggest problems is that a lot of runners don’t realise they have done (and may be continuing to do) themselves harm through their poor running technique until after the run; sometimes not for months or even years. By then, the damage is done.
But what if you took a preventative step and nailed your running technique before you put your body at any further risk of injury? Well, that would be ideal, wouldn't it. Once again, we turn to Pilates. As discussed earlier, a one-on-one Pilates session at SmartFit includes a personalised assessment from our highly-trained, highly-experienced and highly-knowledgeable instructors. As well as talking to you about your lifestyle, activity levels and personal goals (whether it’s a faster 10K, conquering your first marathon, or simply being able to run without pain), they will take a close look at your body and movement to identify any imbalances, immobility, lack of flexibility, and any other weaknesses that may be inhibiting your run. From this, they will tailor-make a programme for you made up of Pilates exercises for runners on the Reformer, Cadillac and/or Mat. Every movement in your personalised sessions will cater to your specific needs; designed to improve your running efficiency and help you avoid injury in the future.
During the initial assessment and your continued Pilates sessions, you will learn so much about own body that you didn’t know. Body awareness is key in Pilates to ensure you’re always moving correctly and with your breath, and this body awareness will carry into your running too. Soon, you’ll be able to feel when your body is in sub-optimal alignment, if you’re not engaging the correct muscles and/or not paying attention to your breathing, and will be able to adapt your run accordingly. And soon after that, it will become second nature to move in this way, even when feeling fatigued. Not only will this help you to shave valuable seconds off your PB, but will also lower your risk of injury both now and as you age.