Coach Noss’s Exercise Progression Series - Part 6

It’s no surprise that strengthening your leg muscles will help with your running, but when you’re pressed for time, it can be hard to fit in strength training and runs. Lucky for us, Coach Noss continues to share programs he put together for his college and pro athletes. He’s provided short routines that give a progression of corrective, functional and strength building moves you can pick and choose from depending on where you are physically and what you’re trying to accomplish. This week we continue to focus on upright function with his lunge sequence. First and foremost, it’s important to nail down the mechanics for getting into position for a lunge. This helps build good foot and ankle flection. It also really helps you own the lunge. First lunge to the side and raise your arms out in front of you to keep your glutes really engaged. Make sure to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground, so they don’t tilt to the side. From here, you can come up to a single leg balance and then step back into a posterior lunge. If you’re just starting off, simply practice going side-to-side to get comfortable in this position. As you increase your training, add the single leg balance, and then the posterior lunge. You can also either alternate from side-to-side or do everything to one side, then the other, to build up endurance on each side. Add some upper-body work into the lunges by holding a weight on the side of your bent leg. Not only does this engage the upper body, but it also forces the core muscles to work harder to keep the torso in an upright position. For more of a challenge, add a curl to the posterior lunge, which adds more stressors to throw the body off kilter unless you really work to engage all of your muscles. Then finish with a standing press. To make it even more challenging, hold a weight in both hands. Finish with a quick jumping sequence. Start with side jumps, increasing the strength of your jump as you feel more secure. Next, change the direction of your jumps from front to back, and then finish with transverse jumps. There you have it! Thanks, Coach Noss!  Now it’s time to get moving! Tell us: Have you seen a difference after working out with Coach Noss?