Mobility, Strength and Balance Challenges!

These challenges will test out your mobility, strength and balance - giving you some ideas of what to work on to help support and improve your running!

Mobility Challenges

You can measure the distances on all these challenge to track progress!
Using the corner of a wall or doorframe drop into a lunge with your knee on the floor and back leg going behind the wall/through the door. Make sure you flatten your lower back against the wall. If you feel a stretch across the front of the hip here or your front leg can’t get to vertical then you need to work on hip mobility!
Stand barefoot with your toes just touching the wall. Bend that knee forwards until it also touches the wall. If that’s easy move the foot back an inch and try again. If you can’t get the knee to the wall at all you definitely need to work on ankle mobility!
Standing up, reach one arm behind you over the top of your shoulder and the other arm behind you under that arm pit, reach and try to interlink or touch fingers of opposite hands behind your back. Try on both sides! Your fingers should at least be able to touch, ideally be able to interlink, if not work on shoulder mobility.

Strength Challenges

Sit on a chair, lift one foot off the ground and don’t let either arm or hand touch anything. Stand up! Try on the other side too. If you can’t stand up or you are wobbly as you try you need to work on leg strength, especially in the glutes.
Plank; your forearms and toes are on the ground and you hover your whole self on the ground whilst engaging your stomach and glutes to maintain a straight line from top of the head to heels. If you can’t hold this for 30 seconds you need to work on core strength!

Balance Challenges

Start standing on one leg - this should be stable and easy to hold for over a minute
To add to the challenge, then try to spell out your name with your other leg
Then try standing on one leg with your eyes closed!
Aim to practice all of these and get to 30 seconds with your eyes closed to improve
Also try a small single leg knee bend, keeping the knee driving forwards (not inwards or outwards) and keeping the hands on the hips to check the pelvis stays level and doesn’t dip to the side