Running Skills

When you incorporate drills into your running schedule, you will begin to notice a difference in your running and after a few weeks of doing them at the start or end of your run, you should end up feeling a bit faster, more coordinated and much stronger. Let’s drill down into the detail!

Bum kicks

The name for this drill may be a little misleading, as in order to get the most out of this movement, you don’t need to focus on actually kicking your bum, it’s more of a squeeze. This drill may seem similar to the kinds of warmups we did at school as children, but the squeeze element of it is the main thing to focus on. The movement trains

your body to use your glute muscles (maximus, medius and minimus) and your hamstrings to pull your heel up behind you as you run. As you begin to get tired during a run or a race, it’s common for runners to neglect these muscles in favour of using the more dominant quadriceps or calves to do the work for us, but this is how injuriescan occur. Walk forwards and with each step, lift your heel towards your bum. Avoid actually kicking your bum though and instead concentrate on bringing your knee forward as you raise your foot behind you. It might be useful to think of this drill as the opposite of high knees.

|| The movement trains your body to use your glute muscles (maximus, medius and minimus) and your hamstrings to pull your heel up behind you as you run||

When it comes to form during bum kicks, it’s really easy to end up leaning forwards into this drill. Try to avoid that by keeping your back straight and bracing your core. To start with, do the bum kicks at walking pace and then pick the speed up when you’ve gained a bit more confidence.