What other exercises should I be doing?
Use the free online exercise videos you can find in the videos section of the website www.octopusclinic.com. Or simply put the number of the suggested exercises below into the search tool at the top of the website and off you go.
See the previous post for the top five stretches.
What are the most important muscle groups to work?
Strength training can help to prevent injury and improve performance. The most important muscle groups to work are:
- Quadriceps: strengthen the muscles at the front of your thighs doing split squats or lunges – video 23
- Gluteals: strengthen your hip stability muscles using the wall-ball exercise – videos 37-39
- Calves: strengthen these muscles using heel drops and raises – video 36
- Core: learn how to use your pelvic floor and deep abdominals – videos 7-11 and use the correct planking exercise technique – video 16
Which exercises can help reduce my risk of injury?
Proprioception is the body’s positional sense and important way of reducing your risk of injury – videos 70-72 show you how.
Running technique and alignment exercises are also great to reduce risk of injury – check out video 25 as a starting point but this is where a session with a running specialist physio can be very helpful. Get in touch with Lucy and her team to find out more.
More marathon physio advice
Follow @octopusclinic on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and/or Lucy Macdonald on YouTube to access our latest free videos on marathon training and injury prevention. If you would like our marathon handbook and are running for charity please contact Lucy Macdonald directly on lucymacdonaldphysio@hotmail.co.uk or if you would like to get the video course Your Marathon: Your Physio please click on the link.