10 Minute Mobility for Long Runs Trainer of the Month Club Well+Good

Hi, I'm Sasha Handel, and you might recognize me from Well and Good's Alt-Baking Bootcamp, but today we're here for Trainer of the Month Club, because when I'm not in the kitchen, I'm a full-time fitness trainer and Nike Community Running Coach. This month, we're focused on all things running, and today I'm gonna take you through a 10-minute mobility workout that's going to set you up for all of your long runs. So let's get started. So our first movement is gonna take us into a plane that most runners don't think they need to work through, but the lateral plane is super important to start to warm up the hips, warm up the inner thighs, and also make sure that you're efficient in all planes of movement. So we're stepping out to the side laterally, and the lower you can get, the closer your arm can get to the floor. You'll take a slight twist, start to open up that thoracic spine, and then step in to reset. We'll be here for about 90 seconds, because I don't want you to just flow through the motions. I want you to get really comfortable, feel the extension of the inner leg, and then switch sides. So as we do this, your ankle might want to be a little bit mobile here, and if that's what the ankle wants, you should listen to your body before you listen to me, because that mobility will also allow for fuller range of motion, allowing you to sit deeper into the lunge with every single step. We've got about time for one more on each side. And once you start to feel like more space is being generated within the hips, you'll know that you're ready to keep moving. So movement number two is gonna take us into a squat position. You want your feet just outside of your hips, enough room to allow your hip crease to come just below your knee crease, and then we'll walk it out into a high plank position. You'll brace your core by squeezing your inner thighs, locking in your glutes, and bracing your abs before we walk it all the way back in. You'll make sure that your heels have taken root. We'll come up out of the squat, and then we'll just repeat. You'll take it down, you'll walk it out, you'll brace, and then we'll do it again. I like this specific motion because you can notice how deep your squat is, and from the lateral lunge movement, you should have a bit more space that allows you to sit really, really deep here. We've got about 25 more seconds. As I brace my abs here, I'm attempting to roll to the balls of my feet in order to engage both my lower body and my upper body, squeezing my body like a stiff plank, and then walking it all the way back into center. All right, so we're gonna walk this next one out and take it directly into our following move, which is a crescent lunge. So I want you to step your foot within your hands, and it might take you a few tries to get there, and that's okay. We'll drop the back knee. You'll lift your heart up, reaching your fingertips to the sky, feeling the stretch through the bottom quad and your hip adductor, and from there, we're just gonna sit your hips all the way back to your heels, allowing the front leg to extend, and then you'll assume a half split position, which is a beautiful stretch for the back of the extended leg, getting deep into the hamstring, getting deep into the calves, and then when you're ready, we can just switch sides. So you'll take it forward, bring that left leg back, and then switch to the right. Again, if it takes you a few tries to get it into the right position, that's absolutely okay. This is a mobility workout for that reason. Arms come up. You start to tuck your tailbone here. It's really important, and as you do that, you'll just flow seamlessly, hips to heel, hands to toes, full extension of the front leg. We'll do it one more time on each side. Knee comes down, heart lifts up, and then we'll take it back, and you'll notice with each rep, you'll start to create a bit more space, and each move will become a little bit more accessible. When you're running long distances, the quads and the front of the leg tend to take over, so it's really important to make sure that you're activating and warming up the back of the leg, because when you're running longer distances and those quads get tired, you're gonna need to pull in all the muscles to get you through your full distance. All right, so now we're gonna take it into something a bit more restorative. We'll step it back into plank position, and you'll push your hips up as you drop your heels down, otherwise known as a downward dog, and then we'll step the foot outside of the hands to get a little deeper into those hips. You wanna make sure that bottom arm is aligned with your shoulder so that you have enough tension beneath you to really dig deep into this stretch, and when you're ready, you can switch sides. We'll hit that downward dog one more time. You should already be feeling quite a bit of space in the backs of those legs from the half splits we just did. If your hips are craving something a little bit deeper, you can try taking that elbow all the way down to the mat, or as far as your hips will let you go, and then reach that hand up up to the sky, and that small twist will allow you to get just a little bit more space into those hips. So our next movement is going to build upon this runner's lunge, aka the world's greatest stretch as it's known, and we're gonna take the back knee down. You're going to try to bring your heel all the way to your butt, and that activation is really gonna generate some heat in your hamstring. We'll take it back down, and when you step back, we're going to replicate that movement, but from a plank position. So we can take that intensity just a little bit higher, and then we'll switch sides. So we're bringing that heel towards your butt, we're bringing it back into plank position, and we're taking the same heel towards your butt, known as a hamstring curl. Again, activating those glutes, activating those hamstrings, and getting everything ready to fire when you're hitting those longer distances. You'll notice that the range of motion is much shorter here, because your muscle can only contract so much within this position, but once you step it back, you'll be able to get a much fuller range of motion, and I like being able to hit it on both ends so that your muscle knows just how far and how hard it can work. Okay, so our next movement is gonna be a little bit of a stretch, and just a little bit of some strength. We'll take it back, hips to heels, and in doing so, you're extending completely through the front upper body, and as you launch yourself forward back into plank position, we'll lock in the core, take a shoulder tap to the right, a shoulder tap to the left, and then we'll just go back into our prowler. I like to call it a prowler because it seems like you're emulating an animal about to pounce on its prey. You'll get a little stretch, you'll get a little strength, and we'll build a little heat. All right, and our last move will also keep us in this prone position. We'll drop our belly button all the way down to the mat. We'll take a Superman squeeze, and then we'll take it into a child's pose. So gently and seamlessly lower yourself all the way down. So we're squeezing from the middle of the back, and we're bracing the core so tight that it allows all four limbs to lift up off the ground, and this is really important when you're running long distances. You wanna be able to fire the entire core, and your core is more than just your abs. You wanna lock in the glutes, the hamstrings, the lower back, and make sure that you're able to push those hips forward when you're conquering those longer distances. In between, we're just hitting a child's pose, which is really just gonna seal the deal on all that hip mobility. We'll lock it in here. Take one deep breath. Bring your hands to frame your chest, and as you push back, you should feel full extension of the arms, a beautiful deep stretch in those hips, and the forehead can almost just rest gently on the ground. We'll do it two more times, and then we'll be all done. All of these moves can be done with a little bit more power and a little bit more speed to up the intensity of the workout. You could also definitely add a mini band to bring in a little bit more fun, but all you need is yourself, 10 minutes, and your own body weight to make it just as effective. And that's it, your super quick 10-minute mobility workout. I hope it sets you up for success on your next long run, and I'll be here every week for Trainer of the Month Club, so if you're looking for more really effective, really helpful, but quick workouts, please subscribe to Well and Good. I'll see you next time, runners.