Helping to support pronation Part 1

If you read last weeks blog on pronation, hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of what it is and why too much of it may be causing you a problem.  The key to supporting the movement of pronation is strengthening your muscles and improving your running form.  Todays blog will give you some simple exercises that you can do at home to help strengthen the muscles of the hips and legs.  The key pelvic stabilisers are the gluteal muscles; particularly the glute med and min

Their role is to prevent the thigh bone from dropping in towards the middle of the body. When these muscles are weak or lazy they don’t do this and the pelvis drops.  This leads to the knee and foot rolling in.  The runner on the left has a hip drop whereas the runner on the right has a good solid pelvis.

To help improve pelvic stability the following exercises are great.  By adding in 2-3 sessions of strength training per week you will make your muscles more resilient.  This then gives you a good base to bring in elements of conditioning and more running specific body weight exercises.  These exercise will increase glute strength and the muscles of the lower leg that are important in supporting pronation.

1- squats IMG_7727

2- split squats IMG_7733

3- heel raises

4- lunges

5- deadlifts

Aim for 3 sets of 6-8 with some weights to add resistance.  Once you’ve done the strength part then add in some body weight exercises.  Pick 2-4 exercises and perform 2 sets of 20-25.  They should be done dynamically with controlled movement through the upper body. Some great ones for runners are:

jump squats

mountain climbers

superman in standing

side planks

bridges – double or single leg

lunges

Spend 2-4 weeks working on your basic S&C before moving on to more advanced exercise.  In next weeks blog we’ll look at how improving your running form and increasing your cadence can help support pronation.  If you have any questions please get in touch