When you run, you have to maintain your stride, arm swing, breath, and balance, all while navigating a world of distractions around you. Which means that a crucial ingredient for a successful race is your coordination.
coordination is your ability to move smoothly, quickly and with control. And it’s actually something you can train through practice.
Enter: The Shoe. In the latest from Well+Good Club Trainer of the Month video, barry trainer and marathon runner Sashah Handal will guide you through a series of exercises aimed at strengthening and activating the muscles that are crucial to your run, including your core, quads, hamstrings, and more. But it will also test your coordination with the addition of a shoe that you will weave over, under, over and across your body.
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For example, you’ll do a lunge exercise, which is already working your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. But you will loop the shoe under and over the bent front leg to add an extra dimension to the movement.
“This pass is just long enough to add a little tension to your front leg and load up the muscles you’ll need once you hit the ground running,” says Handal.
You’ll also bring the shoe under your side on side planks, weave it through your legs in a squat, press it in front of you to activate your upper body, lift it over your hips to meet your leg in a side crunch, and more.
Of course, the shoe doesn’t have to be a literal shoe. You just need to grab something light and small enough to comfortably hold in one hand. If you’re a runner, wearing a shoe just reminds you what your goal is.
“The shoe just makes it more exciting and more motivating to get out the door and out on the pavement for a run,” says Handal.
In this case, three shoes are better than two!
