Runners with tight hips never develop a full stride. Hips mobility is key for 3 reasons
- Greater force productions with each stride
- Provide strong base for tall posture
- Longer stride reaching hip extension
As a runner your main engines without a doubt are your hips. As you push off the ground with one leg and lift the other, your hip flexors and hip extensors simultaneously are forced to take the brunt of the work load. Consequently this is where you’ll find most of your tissue restriction and major injuries.
If you have tight hip flexors, they don’t lengthen properly when you drive down into the ground, which means you produce less force and have a shorter stride. The opposite happens when you have tight glutes and hamstrings, these muscle can get so bounded up that they wont lengthen in order to lift your knee up off the ground. This results in less distance between your foot and the ground meaning less time and distance to gain momentum for a powerful punch into the ground.
Here are some drills for improving your hip mobility
Hip Seat Swivel – perform 10 reps on each leg for 2-3 sets
Groiner with a twist – Perform 10 reps on each leg for 2-3 sets
Worlds Greatest Stretch – Perform 6 reps on each leg for 2-3 sets
Cossack Combo- Perform 20 reps for 2-3 sets
Hip Flow for exploring where you are tightest – Spend 5 minutes moving through the positions
