JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Each week leading up to the Gate River Run on March 20, H2 Health will provide tips for runners. This is the seventh of nine segments.
We’ve focused on gear and stretching and other recovery and training nuances, but this week, focus shifts to a common term with many exercises to address it.
Gate River Run training tips
Week 1: Pay attention to those hamstrings
Week 2: It sounds simple, but make sure your gear is the right fit
Week 3: Astym, cupping are excellent recovery therapies
Week 4: Treadmill work can help in rehab or after a run
Week 5: Foam rolling is easy, effective way of stretching muscles
Week 6: Pain around kneecap is common, very treatable
The plank. It’s a word that many people have an idea of, but what does it actually mean?
There are multiple positions and exercises associated with the plank for runners and walkers to address their core muscles.
Dain Stebbins, a physical therapist with H2 Health, said that the plank is something that many are familiar with. But how do runners and walkers engage this core muscle to get maximum benefits? Proper planking exercises can help with posture and flexibility.
“The main thing that we’re looking at is how to engage this core so that we can work on developing good posture as well as good running posture as we’re going through the Gate River Run,” he said.
One of the many plank exercises to explore is called the Superman exercise, which works out areas from the arms to the feet.
“This one here really helps with the erector spine and a lot of the posterior muscles for control. So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to lay down on the floor and your arms are going to be up near your ears, legs are straight. Your feet are together,” said Natalie Blanton, a physical therapist and clinical director at H2 Health.
“And what you’re going to do is then you’re going to pick up both upper body and lower body and raise them up and hold that position. You’re going to try to hold it for about 10 seconds, working up to 30 seconds, to a minute. And then you’re going to then lower down.”