How To Avoid Injuries When You're Running
As a runner it can be your worst nightmare about getting injured, especially if you have a race coming up or it's the only time to get to yourself away from day to day life, so in this blog we're going to chat about 'How to avoid injuries when you're running'.
Your greatest fear might be getting painful knees and pulling a muscle, this can happen as you start increasing your training and the distances that your running.
You're starting to put additional stress on the muscles in your body and you're relying on your body to keep up with demands your asking of it.
This is when you start hearing about runners needing stronger glutes as their knees and legs are hurting. Strengthening your glutes is only the start of what you need to do. Stretching is just as important to do before and after your runs.
Your glutes will come into play when your body needs to exert more force in order to perform an exercise or activity...an example of this would be, walking up a steep hill or running. You need to extend your hips and straighten your body, which will increase the activation of your glutes and your other leg muscles in particular your hamstrings and quadriceps. Performing deadlifts are a great exercise for developing glute strength.
Having strong glutes is key to all aspects to exercise. Your glutes play a vital part of your core strength and function, linking your mid section and legs together.
Your lower back muscles attach to your pelvis and your quads and hamstrings also have attachment sights on your pelvis too. This is why working your glutes plays such a vital role in keeping your pelvis stable so the rest of your body can function correctly.
This is why if you can get your glutes working correctly and taking the strain and pressure for you, you'll feel stronger, be pain free and legs feeling great.
My top tips to help prevent injury are to strengthen your glutes by doing single leg hip bridges, stretches to your abductor raises with a forwards and backwards tap and the clam.
It is also a good idea to have a regular massage so any little niggles you might experience don't build up to anything more.
