Tools for Efficient Running

Hi, I'm Miriam Kane and I'm going to share with you a math class that I designed specifically with runners in mind. However, this works very well for walkers. I'm addressing uh, possibilities of imbalances. There are three non negotiables in efficient and healthy movement and one of them being mobility and then stability on then our strength. So we're going to start today with a little bit of release work for the bottom of the foot. We have a Lacrosse ball and if you prefer to start with a tennis ball, something a little squishier, that is fine as well.

We're going to take that ball and we're going to just place it between the ankles and then we're going to step on it with the left heel or any heel will work. We're going to keep that ball underneath the heel and bring the other foot so that it's right next to the foot we're working on and we're going to press down and we're going to be looking for spots of interest. The plantar Fascia that goes from the heel, it starts underneath of the toes. The metatarsal is and it tends to get a little sticky. So once we've just felt the heel, we're going to move that ball to the forefoot or to the front, right underneath of the metatarsal as your knuckles should pop up and the foot toes are just gonna flop right over. And now we're going to go side to side, like a windshield wipers. So this can get a little bit interesting.

And if you find an area that feels uncomfortable, that's nothing to be very concerned about. I wouldn't press super hard if you're not accustomed to doing this, but as you become more comfortable, um, you can certainly mash away and release some of these sticky trigger points. Okay, so we're going side to side and then we're going to stop at the big toe metatarsal and we're going to now press and roll it all the way to the heel. And again, press from the second metatarsal and the third and the fourth and you get the pattern and the fifth and then we'll repeat it. And you can do this for a couple minutes. We're not going to do that today.

We have a lot of other things too that we want to share, but you could do that at home. It's something that you can add to your daily self care that we'll be discussing. We're now going to go side to side, so we're going across the fibers of the Fascia and pressing down as we go. So make sure that your body weight is over it. It feels very different with a foot out here compared to the foot right underneath of us. And then once you find a spot, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna find a spot or maybe two, you're going to press into that spot and then just maybe stay on it and put a little bit of pressure. Take a nice deep breath and exhale everything out. And again, we'll take a nice deep breath and exhale everything out.

Okay, very nice. And then we'll move over to the other foot. Actually before we even do that, I invite you to walk around just a little circle and just feel how your foot might feel compared to the other, maybe a little bit springier, which is exactly what the arch should be. Is there a little springboard or trampoline. So we have one other foot and we'll address this other foot. We're going to press into that heel, press down, maybe do little side to sides, get a little bit of pressure and then we'll move to the front of the foot and we'll go side to side.

There are many wonderful things we can do for the self care of the feet that carry us around all day. If the feet aren't happy, good luck with running and really walking. Um, we'll address those in an upcoming tutorial. Some great little tools that you can use side to side. And then you're going to go from the front to the back, big toe, second toe, third toe and forth. You'll repeat that. You can repeat that as many times as you would like. There's never any hurry. So feel free to pause and then we'll scribble.

So we can go across scribbling, you can do little W's, you can do whatever you want and then find a spot and we press in and press in. And then if you find an extra special spot, we'll stay on that. And we take another deep breath and exhale everything out. Very nice. So then we'll take our ball. We're finished with the ball for now and we're going to do a little bit of toe work. Um, I took a class with Lolita San Miguel many years ago and she really opened my eyes to how, um, let's just say unintelligent. My toes were, and I've been working on this ever since. So be not dismayed if this doesn't happen for you.

We're going to lift the big toe. And if you don't usually ask your big toe to lift by himself, there's a good chance that it might not happen right away. You're going to press back down now. You're going to lift all your other toes and keep the big toe down, and then you're going to spread the toes out. You're gonna splay them out like a baby foot. And then we'll do that again.

We're going to lift the big toe and press it down, lift all the other toes, spread them out, place them down. Look at that baby foot all splayed out. It gives us better balance. Very important to have healthy feet like that. And then we'll do that one more time. Big Toe. And in this time we're going to ask the second toe to lift up. And then the third, the fourth, the fifth. Yeah, me neither. And then we'll go back down from the pink, but we're working on it before the third, the second and then that big toe splay them out and tell them thank you. Okay, so we're now we're moving into some standing foot work.

We're going to go up onto our toes, take a nice deep breath and exhale everything out on the next. Hail will go up for three counts up to three. We pause, draws the energy of the legs together, try to find your center and then we float back down to three. We'll do that four more times up to three. Trying to find that balance, that sweet spot, feel those toes and what they're trying to do to hang on. Drag the energy of the legs together and bring it right back down. And again, back up to three. Dragging those legs together.

Feel the adductors muscles that are very important as well and back down. And again, we go up to three dragging the energy of the legs together, zip in that core up, and we float back down. Very nice. So now we go back up for our last time. I know I lied. We go back up and we're going to squat down. So this, take your time. We're sending our bottoms back.

We're not bringing these forward bottoms and stay right here. And so now we're going to go into I dream of Jeannie arms. So knees back over the feet and we're going to drop the heels and I'm going to lift back up. There you go. Now we're in position and back down. So we're working on the soleus. So he's the guy that gets forgotten a little bit.

He's underneath the gastrocnemius then big and up. But he's very important to running and we go up and down and back up. And of course we're reaching through the crown of the head, out through the tailbone and back up just 80 more and back. We'll do two more. Two. How about one and here and we're going to come all the way back up. Nice job.

Okay, so let's arrange our alignment. Feet are going neutral and forward. Something that we'll start thinking about all the time. If you don't already going up the chain, we're going to think of external rotation at the top of the femur. Nice, neutral pelvis, ribs off and down, reaching through the crown of the head. So our awesome, neutral posture, great place to run from.

We're going to balance on this leg. We're gonna float lay closest to me. We're going to float the other heel up. Try not to shift over. So medial glute work here, very important. That leg is now going to come up and it's going to extend. So leg goes back and leg comes forward. Opposite arm is now going to counter.

That's what the arms do for us. More walking and running. They counterbalance and back for those that Legos back, the opposite arm goes back and we breathe and they'll feel free to grab something to balance on. There is no shame in that. A finger on the wall and back. Absolutely. We're just ingraining new habits and it takes time. Gradual progression. We'll do one more. Last one. This time we're going to stop forward.

We're going to bend the knee, bend the arm, the arm, the leg goes back and forward. This time the opposite elbow comes forward and then we go back again and forward and back. So right about now it might be a little burning activity going on in that foot. Little work in that calf, right? We go back. Oh one more time. Last one. Bring it back. Bring the hands to the hips, toe to the inside of the knee and we're going to open the leg external and bring it back yet. Oh boy. And back out. All good.

And back out and in thinking tall. One more. Oh, I'm going down and bring it down. It's all good. That happens. All right. We take a breath. Feet are going to stay neutral. External rotation at the top of the femur. They of closing, pulling these ribs together in that sphere of energy from the diaphragm. Pelvic floor as side to side, front to back, drawing in holding our spine.

Nice and steady. And now we're going to see what happens on this other leg. So oftentimes we have a different side from the other side and we extend this leg nice. And then the leg swings back and then forward. So we're going to balance the arms and back. So watch what's happening at the pelvis. I know personally, my hip flexors tend to be a little snug, very easy for my pelvis to go back with my leg. And what that would do is create unfortunate lumbar issues in running and it has, but we're working on it. Bring that leg forward, leave it there, then the knee and bend the arms. And as the leg goes back, the opposite arm's going to go back. Yep.

We're counter balancing and that's what the arms do when we're running. I know I look at you guys, but I think I'd fall over. So that focus is really important. One of our [inaudible] principles, right? And back up. Stand very tall. Stand your ground and back. Give me a couple more.

So if you're just watching, this should get up. It's not as easy as he looks back. And bring it back forward. We'll bring that toe to the knee and we open the knee and bring it back, make a little adjustment and we go back. So deep hip rotators here and stand tall.

I'm bringing it back and stand tall two more and bring it back and out we hold, we bring it back forward, all good and we bring it all the way down. Nice job. I'm going to hop up here. We're going to come down to a seated position and Mandy and Danielle are actually going to hold hands. I'm going to come up here. You could grab anything that's stable, make sure it's stable. There are certain movements that if they don't occur in the kinetic chain and our ankle or big toe ball of the foot, hip, knee, whatever it may be, that really impedes great movement.

And so we want to know what those are because there's no judgment. Everything can change with awareness and practice. So what we're going to do is we're going to keep our feet going forward. The knees are going to open to the side, going right over the feet. The arms are going to go for the spine is going to stay long.

You guys are leaning away from each other as we come down towards the floor trying to keep the Shin vertical as much as possible. Then we're going to press through the floor, draw through the core, press that floor away and we come back up and we'll do that one more time. We're just assessing where am I being held back and we come all the way down. You guys can let go and here we are. Nicely done. Okay, and now we're ready to lay down. So you want to have a mat or a band.

We'll be using those hands or behind the legs. Find your sit bones and let's make sure we're not forward or behind them. We're going to sit nice and tall on top of them, pelvis being our bridge and we're going to grow tall up out of the spine. This is a simple class and I just invite you to feel what's happening and what your body might be telling you where it's being held back, where it feels unstable perhaps or a little tight. Take a breath and we roll away from the legs, relaxing the shoulders only to the top of the sacred.

We take a breath here and then we're going to exhale, drawing the abdominals in deeply to support the lumbar spine. There's not much value in our flection if it's not supported and we lift up. And again, we go back. So we're drawing the ABS in, in and up. Beautiful and rolling away maybe a little bit lower, maybe just a smidge. We draw this abs in, beautiful and we come back and we extend all the way up.

Nice guys. Inhale, exhale. We roll back and this time we'll go all the way back bringing our feet with us and laying all the way down. Beautiful. Let's assess the position of our pelvis is neutral, really neutral. We take a breath. As we exhale, we go into a nice deep posterior utils feeling the abdominals, draw that pubic bone up. And as we inhale we're going to come back to neutral and into an anterior tilt. And we'll do that a few times.

Just feeling what is the situation of the lumbar spine and back up. And any tightness that we may have in any of those 45 muscles that attach to the pelvis. That's the a lot happening there and back and forward. We'll go back to neutral and we're going to remain in neutral this time and take a breath in and exhale with a leg away from me. You're going to bring that leg to tabletop. You're going to hold that there. Take a nice deep breath in, and exhale. Bring the other leg up to tabletop.

You can always modify whatever's happening in your situation. We're going to bring the leg away from me down to the floor and back up and exhale as the other leg comes down and back up. So we're alternating and here's what we're watching for tension. Do you feel your neck, your face, you're pressing your triceps down. This is a movement that your legs actually make when you're running.

Hopefully not so far forward, but they do change and your pelvis has to stabilize and we'll do two more. We'll do one more. Bring them back to tabletop and we'll leave them right there. Nice. Bring the arms out to the side and we'll go palms up for spine twist. So as we inhale, we prepare and then we exhale. We're going to inhale the knees towards the ocean. Love to say that over.

We go on that inhale, keeping the knees stacked, one on top of the other and exhaling it back. We inhale away from the ocean, keeping that top knee stacked right on top of the bottom and we XL deeply into the obliques, almost feeling the pubic bone pull up towards the belly button. Or maybe we actually do feel that. And over we go and we exhale. Drawing the abdominals in. So strong movement happens in that transverse plane, that rotation.

So in order to have that and not robber selves of this free energy, we need the mobility and exhale and we'll do one more in hell over and exhale one more towards the ocean. We hold right here. We reached that top knee a little further away. Maybe we extend that leg and we bring it back to center and draw it in honoring our own bodies. We go away from the ocean. We hold here. Reach that nail a little bit further away and we extend it and we exhale it back and bring it in. We'll repeat that one more time. Inhale over and we extend, we reach, we try it all the way back in and we inhale over and exhale right back.

Nicely done. Let's bring the arms by the side. Bring the right leg down and then the left, that's what the feed in until we can almost touch the feet. So we'll take a breath and we'll do one spinal articulation up. Exhaling up into a posterior tilt and articulating the spine all the way up. And that would be our objective. We're reaching through the knees, warming up at spine and articulating all the way back down.

Our next one we will not be articulating. We're going to hinge up. So from the hip all the way to the crown of the head, we're in a neutral spine. We're going to hinge up using the glutes all the way up on our exhale and we're going to inhale, hinge back down and we exhale up squeezing through the glutes. So the objective here is more glutes and back down squeezing those motors or peaches up. We go on the exhale we hold once you to hold up here and assess which you feel.

Whenever we feel tightness in the back when we're doing these, it would be because the back is working instead of the glutes and we don't want that so I want you to into a deeper posterior tilt here. Squeeze the knees together for six and five. You should feel a good stretch in those hip flexors and quads. Three more and two and one. We hold here and we hinge back down and XL hinge back up holding here we're going to press into the leg that's closest to the ocean and fold the other leg to tabletop.

Nice and we just tap down and here we're revealing that stability in the glute. I think we all feel that stability in the glue. Yes, and now we go and right back up and that gluteal stability, that glutamine glued Max, they're virtually inexhaustible. That's what I've learned to more. If we can tap in one more, we're going to hold it up. Hold here at, but pool that knee in closer right here and we hinge down and we hinge up. We hinge down and we hinge up.

Nicely done honoring our bodies. If for whatever reason you feel you need to modify should always modify. Hold one more time. We hold and we fold that leg back down. Let's articulate down this time to stretch the spine all the way back to neutral. Inhale will hinge up last time. Exhale right back up.

Press into the leg that's furthest from me and we're going to float the other leg to tabletop and we're just touching and back up and we inhale down and we exhale up. Our goal is to have that hip, way up high field, that hip extension that we need in order to use that glute. When we run and back and we have three right back up and two very nice. We have one we hold, we're gonna pull that knee in and we hinge down and we squeeze the glute way up and we hinge down. We squeeze the glute way up, trying to hold the midline with this knee. Abductors again, pressing through the big toe. One more time and back up. Hold both legs up. Just kidding. Bring that leg back down. And we articulate down one vertebra at a time and release, bringing the legs one at a time into the chest. Nicely done.

The big toe does 85% of the foot's work. That's pretty crazy, isn't it? So connection with our big toe is very important. We bring the legs to tabletop and we're gonna extend the legs out and we're gonna bring the right leg towards us and away. And then the left. So essentially we're walking slowly and assessing what's happening in here. It was a transverse abdominis able to stabilize the movement from hip flexors.

That's important in our practice. We've got one more leg towards us and back and leave the legs out. Take a nice deep breath in. Small little walks. We're going to walk down to three, four, five and up to three, four, five, modifying as needed. Great job, Danielle. Three four, five and back up two, three, four, five and down. Two, three, four, five back up. And we hold. The right leg is going to reach away.

It's going to glide and towards the glute for bicycle and back up. We're going to bring our arms all the way behind our heads and lift our heads up as the left. They comes in and does the same so that we can observe what's happening. This is not easy. The abdominals are holding those ribs down and short leg is going out.

What I want you to see is where your foot is relative to your hip and up reach and up, and ideally you don't see your foot as it's coming back up, meaning that the lower leg is in alignment with the upper les. Last one. Bring both legs up, bring those knees in and give them a hug. Nice job, man. So good to see you. Take a nice deep breath into your back and exhale everything back out. Nice big breath and exhale out.

So we're going to grab our bands. We're going to read the left leg down and we'll take the band into some like circles. It's a little, wrap it around the right foot, reach it way up. We're going to cross the band at the top and we're going to glue our elbows down. So make sure your band is nice and taught. This is about allowing, not working. We're gonna extend the other leg nice and long. And let's Dorsey flex pull on that foot back.

The top leg is Dorsey flexed as well, so we're not pointing on the bottom foot. Those of us that usually do, we're going to bring that leg across the midline and down and around. And then we're going to exhale and do the same. The wrist is doing all the work. So this is not about working the leg. As a matter of fact, I invite you to totally relax your leg at the hip and in how notice what you're feeling and can you stabilize. Remember the three non-negotiables, mobility, stability and power. Last one, and hold.

Now we'll reverse it and legos out and back up and, and inhale and just breathe. And so if you feel your rib cage moving side to side, we want to think of engaging the obliques to that rotation. And three more and two and one. Nice. Bring it back up. Let's open that band up and bring the other leg up. Extend, bring the right foot to the floor and extend it nice and long. So reach a pie.

Make sure this is nice and tight so that your leg is just on vacation right now and drop your hip down. So notice that this leg feels different than the other. We're going to flex both feet back. Dorsey flexed with the wrist, lay crosses the midline and back up and inhale and exhale and inhale and exhale. Check the stability. How's the right side stabilizing for the left and exhale or vice versa, whichever leg we have up right and around and, and two and one we're going to hold up at the top and we're going to reverse it. The leg falls to the side and goes back up and back up. And so this feels really nice little massage in that hip socket.

So pretty deep, well held socket. And two more. Last one. Beautiful. Let's go ahead and take the band away. Bring both knees into your chest and give them a hug. So, or take a nice deep breath in. Make sure you fill up every corner, that ribcage going nice and lateral and wives of the abdominals can support. We exhale drawing that belly button off those legs. And one more time.

Go widen that ribcage and you go a little wider and exhaling everything out. Nice job ladies. Let's bring the feet down to the floor. We're gonna roll on towards the sides facing me, laying nice and long. Thank you. All right, so top legs gonna reach away and I'm down. Bottom lane is going to reach away.

They're going to squeeze together and they're starting laying down. So take a nice deep breath in and as you exhale going, reach those legs away and up, holding here, squeezing the knees together so it's not really about the feet. And we come back down on our inhale and we asked Halloway squeezing those legs together and floating them right back down. We should have space under this part of our waist. The obliques are helping to stabilize and reaching, reaching, reaching far, far away and bringing them back down. Can you squeeze those legs together?

Just a bit more beautiful and bringing it back down? I tend not to work my adductors as deeply as I should and hold and bring it back down. So you may not do the same, but just in case and hold right here, we're going to leave the top leg there, the bond, the leg is coming down and it's going to squeeze right back up again. A little bit more adductors, extra credit, ice man and backup. Squeeze, top hip, stacked on the bottom and right back. Squeeze and tight. And give me one more. And we reach retreats. Keep reaching the legs away and we're going to bring them down.

So the reaching nice and long but they're not resting. Top leg is going to come right back up and bottom leg is going to bend forward. So we have a little bit of balance, a stability underneath of us, but I don't want you to get lazy down here. Keep reaching this leg away and we're going to reach through the foot and flex the toes back the whole foot back towards us. And then we're going to hinge. Bring your hand to your hip and as you hinge forward, notice that that hip wants to hike cause we don't want that to happen.

And then we're going to reach back, back, back, back, back, back. And I want you to stay Dorsey flexed and forward. So we're reaching reaching but the pelvis isn't going with us and back again. If you need to pull that hip away, give it permission and bring it back in. And again, we reach back.

If you feel you've got a good handle on that and go ahead and take your arm down and we reached forward. Nice ladies trying to keep that foot and that leg. Nice. And even to the floor. We're going to bring it forward. We're going to leave it right here and now we're going to internally rotate. We're going to drop the foot and we're going to leave it there. Keep reaching this hip away and we drop the foot down and we bring it back up.

Now draw the abdominals into stabilize. Nice neck is nice and long and up and we just have two more and we have one more and we bring it up and we reach it back and we reached back again. Now this time, once you really think about those glutes, activating the glutes, can you reach out of that leg? But think posterior tilt of your pelvis, it's not going to happen. You're going to stay neutral and you're gonna reach that hip away and you're going to hinge forward again. And we're going to internally rotate and we're going to drop and up and drop and up. So you should feel some work.

A little bit of warmth may be happening right around here and back up and two more. Me Too. And, and back up. And we reach that leg away. Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach, point that foot this time and reach it back. Extend through the leg. Find where your pelvis is, not always where we think it is. So make sure it's neutral and we come back forward again. Reaching this hip away right here. And we dropped the foot and we dropped for eight, seven, six not nice.

Five, four buttons are on fire, biscuits are burning. Two more. One more. We hold and we bring that leg back and we bring that knee in. Nice. And let's bring that leg through actually and extend the other leg. And because I am nice and we're going to press out and that feels so much better. Great work. All right, so let's bring the knees back together and we're gonna press ourselves all the way up to a seated position. We'll take a little stretch right here. Feel grab a hold of your ankles.

We take a nice deep breath and bring this arm up and over reach retreats. So shoulders out of the neck, we reach nice and long and beautiful. And let's see if we can get a little bit of forward rotation. That's middle spine gets so uptight and that's an area that should be supple. And then we're going the other way. Look beautiful ceiling and bring it back to neutral. And we bring it all the way back up.

Feels good, and then we'll go to the other side and it would be a shame note. We're staying up to not do this right here before we forget to do it later. So we'll do it right now and we'll go up and over and give yourselves that stretch. Notice if this side feels is different. I know on one side I feel it in a different place than on the other. These are things we want to be aware of so that you have tools to work on these things and we'll be giving you that shortly.

And we're going to internally rotate just a little bit, just a, we bet we're not forcing anything we're trying to allow. And then we go the other way. Looking up to the ceiling and bringing it back to neutral and bring it all the way back up. Beautiful. Let's take it all the way down for the other side and see what we find over here. Notice if one side feels more stable or stronger than the other side, that would be called being human. All right. So what we do with passion, we take the form of, we're going to reach through this hip and we take this leg up, bring the arm down, and then bring that other leg, the bottom leg up, up, up, and squeeze the adductors together. So if you think knees instead of just ankles, you'll feel a little bit more power there.

And we float the legs down on the inhale and we exhale reaching long, reaching away from us and hold and call me right back down. And again, reaching and exhale, reaching up and right back down. And again, reaching far, far away. Watch what's happening at your shoulder. I can feel mine wanting to sneak up. Reach your arm pit away from you. Neck is relaxed.

We have just one more and we'll leave the top leg up on this one. Nice. Keep reaching through those leg. The leg comes down and comes right back up and down and squeeze it all the way up and hold it there. Make it into one column and back up. Yes and and right back up. And we hold, we just have one more. We're going to reach, reach, reach, because legs nice and long, zip them together. You probably have a little bit more in there. There you go.

And reach away and bring the legs down. They're still very active, but we're going to bend the bottom knee, extend the top leg, and you're gonna reach way out of this leg. So again, just to distract that hip, you're going to reach it away. Notice that the side is a different side. If it has a different story, we're going to flex the foot or ankle and we're going to bring it forward. So as it comes forward, if the hamstrings are tight and many of us have tight hamstrings, that pelvis would like to maybe go into a posterior tilt. And I want you to notice that. And maybe the leg doesn't come as far forward. As long as you're not moving the pelvis to get the leg forward. We're good.

So stop before you get to that point. Beautiful. And if you feel like you've got your pelvis under control, gonna ring leg and leave it there, bring the hand down for a little stability. We're going to internally rotate that leg and drop the foot and we bring the leg and we bring it back up and down and say hello, glutamine and down and right back up. Now this poor guy's already been working on the bottom side, on the other side. He was stabilizing.

Now the poor guy's got to move so he might be a little tired. So give him a little extra credit and down. So even next time, start on the other side and back up and one more time. And we Dorsey flex the foot and we bring it back and reach it back, back. Point through the foot. Make sure your pelvis is staying neutral here and it's okay to check.

We don't always know exactly where we are and we're gonna bring that leg forward again. Nice. And we internally rotate. Drop the foot and we drop and back up and drop and back up and drop right back up. One more time, right back up and hold. And we bring that leg all the way back back, back and point the foot and reach. Really reach out of that leg. Feel that the glute is active. Sometimes you have to poke the Hornet's nest, you know, just squeeze it and make sure it's awake and then bring it forward for the last time. And we dropped that foot and it's eight and seven and six last five, last four, last three and two and one.

And we bring it back and bring it in. Might be even shaken a little bit and we bring that leg across, extend the bottom leg and press it out. Give yourselves a nice little stretch. Good job guys. All right. So we'd love to hang out here for a while, but we won't. So I'm gonna bring the legs back in and let's cells up to a quadruple ed position. So one of the things I think is really cool is how our spines develop. It's just interesting and one of the things most of us did was crawl, but in case you didn't, you still have a chance.

But it develops some patterns that are important. So I want you to feel that you're connected at your shoulders. You're going to squeeze your armpits in and bring the inside of the elbow in towards the other. The fingers are spread out and the pads are going to be pressed in. Imagine drawing your legs towards your arms and your arms towards your legs, so you should feel connection with your core. You're going to draw up, bring your ribs down towards your spine and draw that belly button in towards the spine and up. Reach to the crown of your head, out through the tailbone. We're already working, haven't gone anywhere.

And then you're just gonna think about lifting your right hand and left knee. You're not going to actually do it, but you're just gonna think about it and you should be able to feel a reaction in your obliques as they counter that movement. And we bring it back down. And then we're going to do the same thing on the other side. So again, make sure you're organized and we're going to think right knee, left hand, boom. We're not actually going to do it. And then we're going to bring it back down. So this time we're really going to do it.

We're gonna think of screwing the armpits in, so the muscles here stabilizing us, the Serita stabilizing us so we're not just caving in. And as we prepare, we inhale again as have to tell right arms, gonna creep away, left legs, gonna creep away. Going into what some people call a bird dog and we reach and we hold this and draw the ABS in. If you're a rock star at this, you could do this on the reformer and bring it back in. Maybe with the yellow spring, draw the ABS in deeper and we go to the other side. And reach could do it with little disks under your hands and knees and bring it back in.

Inhale, exhale, do that one more time. So do it slow. I've heard the saying and I like it, that speed masks need and I think that's a great little say and bring it back in. I think that was an example I just gave you right there. Squeeze the armpits in and we'll go with the other side. Same thing. And reach and hold and bring it right back in. And we come back into a rest position. Take a nice deep breath. Inhale again, great place to work on our lateral breath. Breathing into the rib cage corners, stretching out that tissue between those ribs, annex hailing everything out. Ah, feeling that sphere of that transverse abdominous drawing in and again, deep breath into the back and exhaling deeply drawing the ABS in. And we're going to roll ourselves up, taking our bands and placing them on the floor.

Got a little warm in here. Yeah. Okay. So we'll reach down and we'll grab these bands and we'll do a little bit of chest expansion. So first of all, look back at our feet and we'll make sure that those shins or lower legs are parallel to each other. Sometimes we'll find that our feet want to come in, that our hips are trying to help us with this alignment. We just want them to be parallel. Arms are down by the side, fingers are reaching to the floor. We don't need a lot of strength in the hands here. We're going to grow really tall. So just check your alignment.

Reaching up through the crown of the head. Neck is back in relaxed ribs or down pelvis is neutral. Soon as we do that, you should feel a little bit of a stretch in your hip flexors and we're inhale and as we exhale, lats kick in. We bring those arms back, pause and slowly bringing them back in and we exhale again back am brain and back in and again, exhale back. So the arms are very important and running as well, but if the front of the shoulder is tight and whose isn't with today's environment, then the arms aren't able to do their natural thing of counter balancing the legs and giving us a natural recoil that muscles have. When that flexibility is there, two more.

So be aware that you don't lift your shoulders up to the sky, that you're really reaching your fingers back and forward. One more time. We're going to hold it back this time and maybe walk or fingers up the band a little bit, a little bit more slap for triceps. We're going to hold the arms back. Upper arm doesn't move. The elbows are going to bend and they're going to extend on the exhale and inhale and feel how the house is shaking. Yeah. As you're pressing those arms back, you can feel that reaction from the core, which is wonderful.

They say thank you card cause we're going to shake it up a lot when we move in our daily movements of running and walking, two more. We needed to be there. Hold it. We have one more and we hold back and we have had two little lifts here, a little for four little extra credits, three pubic bone up, two and one and just let that band go. Let the arms float up and they're really light. It feels kind of cool. We're gonna take a breath and we're going into a little FYS stretch deep post here. Tilt to the pelvis and we float away from each other.

Inhale we pause. Exhale. We try to straighten the knees to come back up. It's almost a little contract. Release, stretch. Inhale and exhale we go back again. This will help us get down the mountain, take a breath and exhale. We go back up or just down the stairs, do posterior tilt and back we go and we hold, we go a little further because we probably can and then we accelerate back up.

I have one more. One more is good. We've got one more deep posterior tilt and back we go and back we go and back we go and hold and right back up. That is just not very nice is it? Nice job. Nice deep breath. And inhale. As we exhale, we're almost there. We're going to roll down, so think of going up and over.

We're not just going to drop our Chins as we come up and over this imaginary little mountain or Danielle, you might have a a real one. We're going to bring the right hand left hand here and we're ready for front support. Again, same thing as our quadrupedal which screws and the screw in the armpits in extend the right leg, extend the left leg, bring your heart forward. Neck is nice and long. Draw the abdominals. Then zip it up. The leg closest to me, points and lifts for five up and tap and four and three and two and one. Watch your bridge, that pelvis, bring the foot down. D Post Tier, tilt to the pelvis. For those of us with height are tight hip flexors, that's a little tough. Take that other leg away and we live for five and we tap and four and we tap and three and we tap two and we tap and one and we bring it all the way back down.

Nice and bring it all the way back for just a moment. Take a nice deep breath into that back again and exhale everything out and bring it all the way back forward where we're going to take it down to our elbows and into an elbow plank. So I'm going to draw that heart forward and we're pressing the elbows down, squeezing the armpits in, pubic bone up. Toes are curled under unless that's fine, that's great. And hold right here and another deep breath. Exhale.

This is hard work and we're going to rotate towards me. You are onto our sides so you can always modify onto your knees or one knee. There's always a modification. Honor your body. Hold one more breath, shoulder down, and we come back to the plank. We're almost there and we rotate to the other side and deep breath in and exhale, deep breath. We come back to the center. Daniel, you'll go into a quieter pet, Amanda. Now I'll go all the way down for just a simple back extension for head down, squeezing those legs together, drawn the elbows into our size.

We inhale as the head floats up first the eyebrows, then the nose, and then the heart posterior tilt to the pelvis and we hold squeezing those arms in and we exhale back down, lengthening the spine and inhaling through the crown of the hat. And again, just the eyebrows and the nose and hold. Bring your heart forward and hold and breath and exhale. Beautiful. And one more time. This time we're going to stay up. Do you know you're going into your burdock or alternating and we hold Mandy, you and I hands are facing each other.

Lakes will be a part a little bit reaching through the knees. So it's kind of a reverse or backwards swimming, right arm, left leg are going back and then alternate and right arm, left leg, right. So we find some spots that get little hung up and it's the backend of the movement of running, which is a problem cause that's really important. And we'll do two more and one and last one and bring it all the way back down. Bring your hands by your sides. We come up to a quadro pad. Nicely done. We're going to bring the right leg.

Okay onto the outside of both arms. One of my favorite stretch gurus is Anthony let and if you haven't looked at his innovations, it's fantastic work. So we're going to do one of his stretches, which I really like. We're going to bring the arm for this from the knee out. We're going to grab the hand the leg with the arm closest to the leg and we're going to rotate to drop the hip in.

And that just feels delicious. Yes, I'm going to stay right here. Take a nice deep breath in and exhale everything out and nice deep breath. Notice where the body might be holding back. Give it permission just to drop. Very nice. And then we're going to bring ourselves all the way back and we're going to bring both hands to the outside. And if it's possible, if your body says it's okay today you're going to bend your back knee. If it says a, I don't think so, then you're wont, we're going to walk our way up and we might find a foot.

And if we don't, it really is no big deal. It's all about gradual progression. This niche should not be beyond the foot to, shouldn't be beyond the mid foot actually. And we're going to hold right here and go deeper into the posterior tilt and then try to bring ourselves up a little further if possible, one day at a time. And then our contraction is going to be depressed. The hand, the foot down into the hand and the hand resists. So it's an isometric contractions as if you are trying to straighten your knee for two breaths and one [inaudible].

And to and with control, you're going to go into a deeper posterior tilt and to to rise a little bit further. So the posterior tilt is the key. It's not about how low we go, certainly not about going into the lower back and with control. Bring that foot back down. Go ahead and come to both sides and we'll go into the hamstrings. Go ahead and relax the top, the bottom back foot. And with the chest, staying with the leg. We're just going to slide our sit bones back. Doesn't matter. We're gonna leave the foot down for this time. Just for now.

We're going to not think so much about straightening the knees, that doesn't matter, but staying with the leg and reaching through the sit bone. Okay, so we're staying right here pressing through the leg for four and three as if we're trying to push it back and two and one. And then lifting the sit bones just a little bit higher. Wonderful. And try to pull those sit bones away from the back of the knee so the hamstrings originate under those sit bones and insert behind the knees. So it really doesn't matter if the whole leg is stretched or straight.

Right now we're just really think of lifting the sit bones away. Beautiful. And now let's bring that leg through and we're ready for the other leg. The other leg comes forward. Both arms are going to be on the inside. [inaudible] the hand furthest from the front leg. Turns out the hand close. This gives that leg a hug and pulls it in.

And we're going to drop the pelvis in towards the floor and just allow that to be so we're not forcing anything and the body doesn't like to be forced, right? We want to allow, take a nice deep breath in and exhale telling our bodies to thank you. So we ask a lot of our bodies and we have to think about what we give. So when it has what it needs, that tends to be able to do what we ask it to and I steep breath in and exhale and let's bring it back forward. This time, both hands on both sides of the leg. We're going to walk her hands up, then the back knee and reach back and grab your ankle.

Wonderful ladies. Deep Post, tear your tilt of that pelvis, stretching even deeper into that hip socket. Lifting the heart and we'll go into our contract. We're going to be pressing that ankle out, resisting with the hand for two breaths, [inaudible] and one [inaudible] going into deeper posterior tilt. Tell them the body, thank you for trusting and allowing. We come back a little bit further. This will allow us to use that back line, that posterior chain, which we need in running. And then we're gently gonna bring that foot down. Go ahead and extend it. Bring your chest to your femur and pull that leg back.

So now it's that sit bone. Just pulling back. Stop when you feel you need to. When your chest wants to lift off. We're no longer really focused on the hamstrings. We're now bending the back so that straight leg again does not matter. And we press as if we're trying to pull the leg through for four and three, two and one, and then we stop and instead we try to pull those sit bones away from the back of the knee and we take a nice deep breath and an exhale.

We bring that leg through. We're going to curl the toes under and go up into an up stretch, lifting the sit bones and dropping the heels, spreading those toes into baby feet. Let's spend the right knee and reach the left heel down and again, pressing down with the left foot. So the left ball of the foot is going into plant our flection for four, three, two and one. And then just relax and drop your heel a little lower, hopefully getting a little bit better. Stretch and, and now bending your left knee slightly.

Let's go into the soleus and then we switch, right heel goes down, toes are all splayed. We press down with a ball of the foot for three and two and one stopped pressing. Relax and drop the heel and bring both heels down with the sit bones up to the sky. We bend our knees, come down to the floor and you can turn it. Just sit me, sit facing me, freeing the fills of the feet together. Tell those feet. Thank you. And we take a nice deep breath into our backs.

Exhale everything out. Again, deep breath, but now we continue extending up out of the pelvis, lifting the chest up to the sky up, extending into that thoracic and bringing it all the way back to neutral. Very nice. I'm going to bring one hand to the floor and the opposite ear, reaching down towards the shoulder and take a nice deep breath here. Inhale into your back and exhale out, pressing down into your hand or your fingers depending on the length of your arms. And Nice job. Gently dropping the Chin and bringing it back up again.

Pulling those legs and lifting our hearts and the other ear goes over. The palm goes down and just pressing into the floor and reaching over with that ear, feeling that next stretch, which was poor. Next. We owe them a lot too, and take a deep breath in and exhale and bringing it all the way down and bringing it all the way back up. Thank you so much ladies, and thank you so much for joining me. I hope you will also, um, look at the tutorials that we have coming up and use this class to address any of the possible imbalances. We all have them, um, to really brighten up and bring some joy into your running practice. Thank you.