Walking Hip Hike for Running

Running is essentially a one legged sport when you break it down. One leg touches the ground, supports the body moving forward, and then lifts as the second leg touches down. The walking hip hike drill shown below is great for the following: activate glute stabilizing muscles, improve single leg balance, develop hip/low back control with movement. This is great as a accessory drill for running in general and really good to work on if you suffer from a cross-over gait. Find more information on cross-over gait on our blog: Do you run with a Cross-Over Gait? and Cross over gait Correction.

I recommend performing this drill as a warm up exercise before running. This will activate the stabilizing glute muscles to help build awareness to those muscles during the run. Start by performing 10 steps on each leg before the start of each run. If you are a new runner or trying to fix a cross-over gait, perform this drill daily, with and without runs to develop a stronger mind body connection to those muscle groups.  If you find this drill to be too challenging, try performing other glute activation drill such as a bridge, clam shell, and side lying leg raise.

 

Weakness to these muscle groups can lead to a number of musculoskeletal issues. Injuries may include low back pain, hip bursitis, IT band syndrome, and shin splints. The hip hike walk will help decrease your chance for developing these injuries or will stop these injuries from reoccurring. Are you already injured? Please schedule with us today to get your running program back on track. We offer the latest treatment methods including: Active Release Technique, Graston technique, Sports Chiropractic, and are certified by The Running Clinic to treat runners and running related injuries!