It’s hard enough just getting out for a run, but having your neighbor watch you prance and skip up and down the sidewalk in front of your house? Probably not on your list of To Do’s. At first, running drills might seem silly- but only until you realize how beneficial they can be!
Running drills can:
Improve communication between your brain and legs
Strengthen joints and muscles needed for powerful running
Improve coordination, body awareness, balance, and agility
Take your warm up to the next level
Bottom line- running drills can help you understand and use your body more efficiently, which will help you get faster!! So, it turns out those weirdo’s you see at the track hopping and skipping around, might actually know what they’re doing.
My experience with running drills, has not always been a positive one. I thought I knew how to do running drills until Bryan Clay (Gold Medal Olympian and co-owner of PK Fitness) became my track coach. He was the pickiest coach I had ever met!
We did running drills everyday at practice, and he was always yelling at me to skip and run in angles my brain could comprehend, but my body just couldn’t execute. After a while, I figured he was just a freak of nature (which is probably true) and it was most likely my body was incapable of having the same perfect running drill form he had.
But finally- after two years of frustration- everything started clicking! Then the craziest thing happened: everything outside of my running drills started coming together too! I was faster, stronger, and could tell my body to do things….and my body would actually do them. Running drills changed my entire experience as an athlete.
I want you to know how to do running drills so you can improve your workouts too. Below is a guide that will help you understand exactly how to execute running drills, just like the pros!
Choose either the Beginner or Advanced Running Drills, click on the videos below and scroll over image to get full instruction on each exercise. Complete 2×10 meters of each exercise, before at least 2 of your workouts during the week.
Beginner Running Drills
Advanced Running Drills
Before getting started, complete the Beginner drills in the mirror, or have a friend take a video so you can watch your form. Don’t move on from the beginner drills, until you can complete them with good form. Even if you are an advanced runner, it won’t benefit you to move to the advanced drills before you’re ready.
The beginner drills are designed to get all those muscles in your legs prepared to stabilize and balance your body through the more advanced drills. When it comes to form, never be embarrassed to slow down or take a step back. This is for your benefit, and remember it might take a long time for your body to understand what you’re telling it to do. I mean, it took me two years!