As runners, most of us are already pretty fit. We can bust out a 5K by barely breaking a sweat. But to be the best runner you can be, you need to have more than just cardiovascular fitness. You also need to shape up your muscular strength, flexibility, balance, and mobility. So how do you know where you stand? Try this do-it-yourself fitness test to find out.
How to perform this test: Follow the instructions below and mark your results in a notepad. Focus on the sections that you score fair or lower for six to eight weeks, then retest yourself to see how much you’ve improved. You will need access to a treadmill, a step, a yoga strap or belt, a stability ball, dumbbells and a track or 400-meter straightaway. Then, bookmark this page so you can come back to it as many times as you’d like to check in on your fitness.
Core Strength
A strong core—the muscles in your abdominals, back, and glutes—gives you stability, power, and endurance. “If your core muscles can’t support your pelvis, it will drop, which causes your hips, knees, and ankles to lose proper alignment,” explains Michael Fredericson, M.D., a professor of sports medicine at Stanford University. “When this happens, you can’t absorb forces appropriately, and your muscles fatigue quickly.”
Test It: Forearm Plank
Start on all fours. Drop down to your forearms with elbows directly under shoulders, then step each foot back so that your body forms a straight line from head to heels. Engage your core to keep hips level with shoulders and keep neck relaxed. Time how long you can maintain the plank with perfect form (don’t let your hips hike up or dip).
Improve It: Hollow Hold to V-Sit
Lie faceup on the mat. Lift head, shoulder blades, and feet off floor as you extend arms straight out. Neck should be relaxed, not strained. This is your hollow hold. Next, engage abs to lift chest towards legs as you bend knees so that body forms a V shape and shins are parallel to floor. Slowly lower back down to a hollow hold position. That’s one rep. Do up to 20 reps.
Upper-Body Strength
This Glute Workout Will Ignite Your Power form, which can improve running economy—how efficiently you use oxygen while running. “The more economical you are, the less oxygen you will use, and the longer you can sustain a given pace,” says Tom Holland, an exercise physiologist in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Test It: Push-Up
Start in a high plank position, shoulders over wrists, core, glutes, and legs engaged. Bend elbows to lower chest to the floor. Your elbows should point back at a 45-degree angle. Keeping core engaged and hips in line with the rest of your body, push back up to the starting position.
Improve It: Push-Up to Knee Touch
Start in a high plank position with wrists directly under shoulders, core and glutes engaged so body forms a straight line from head to heels. Bend elbows to lower chest to floor to perform a push up. Press back up to high plank, then bend left knee to touch right palm. Return left foot and right hand to start and repeat the push-up. Touch right knee to left palm. Continue to repeat. Do two to three sets of 10 to 25 reps, resting 30 seconds between sets.
Lower-Body Strength
The repetitive motion of running, in which you’re using the same muscles in the same way over and over again, can strengthen some muscles more than others. “An imbalance between opposing muscle groups, such as your quadriceps and hamstrings, can lead to muscle pulls and knee pain,” Holland says. “Strength training can balance out the lower body and prevent those types of injuries.”
Test It: Squat
Stand with feet just wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly out, and hands clasped in front of chest. Send hips back to drop down to a squat position. Straighten legs to return to standing, keeping chest lifted and without rounding your back. Repeat.
Improve It: Walking Lunge
Stand holding dumbbells at your sides. Take a giant step forward with left leg, and right knee toward floor. Both knees should form a 90-degree angle. Press into left heel to rise back up to standing, then repeat with right leg. Continue “walking” for 20 paces, 10 on each leg. Do three sets, resting 60 seconds in between.
Flexibility
A flexible body is worth striving for—it’s more efficient, sees more gains in strength and endurance, enjoys more range of motion, and recovers more quickly. When your muscles are long and pliable, blood flows more freely. This means your muscles, ligaments, and tendons are better nourished and able to rebound faster after you run, says Cathy Morse, a yoga instructor and marathoner in Charleston, South Carolina.
Test It: Reclining Hamstring Stretch
Lie faceup on a mat. Loop a strap or belt around the arch of your right foot, and hold the ends of the strap in each hand. Extend right leg straight up and straighten it as much as possible while pressing your heel toward the ceiling. Walk your hands up the strap until elbows are straight. Gently bring your leg as close to your head as possible. Note the angle of the right leg in respect to your left leg.
Improve It: Forward Fold
Stand with glutes against a wall and feet six to 12 inches from the wall’s base. Bend forward and place your palms on the floor or a yoga block. To make it harder: Move your feet closer to the wall. Do this stretch postrun. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds. Do three reps.
Balance
Running is an intricate one-foot balancing act. To stay steady on your feet, nerve endings in your joints and muscles (called proprioceptors) sense changes in your body position. Improving your balance can enhance the ability of these proprioceptors to anticipate movement changes so your runs are smoother and faster. Besides, studies show that balance naturally declines with age if you don’t actively work on it.
Test It: Tree Pose
Start standing. Draw right knee to chest to grab right foot. Place right foot against your left leg either above or below the knee (whichever is available to you). Start timing. Stop timing when your left foot moves or you lose your balance. Repeat on the other leg. Average the times by adding them together and dividing the result by two.
Improve It: One Legged Squat
Place a stability ball between your lower back and a wall. Lift your right foot off the ground and lower down into a squat. Push back to start—but don’t lower your right foot. That’s one rep. Continue for eight to 10 reps, and then repeat on the other leg.
Joint Mobility
Most runners realize their muscular flexibility could use some work, but they don’t think about the range of motion of their joints. Joint mobility is a measure of how effectively you are able to move your ankles, knees, and hips through a normal range of motion. When these joints are tight, your body recruits other muscles, which then become overworked and vulnerable to injury, says Craig Rasmussen, C.S.C.S., a fitness coach in Newhall, California.
Test It: Overhead Squat
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Press a lightweight bar or resistance band overhead. Send hips back to squat down as low as possible, without letting the bar/band fall forward (keep your chest lifted). Return to standing and repeat for two more reps. Repeat the test with your heels elevated on a two-inch-high board.
Improve It: Squat Thrust
Start standing then send hips back and lower down into a deep squat with chest lifted, hands on floor between legs, and butt lower than knees. Shift weight to hands then jump feet back behind you to come into a high plank position. Quickly jump feet back to hands to return to a deep squat with chest lifted. Straighten legs to stand. Continue to repeat for 10 reps.
Speed
Whether you’re interested in running a personal record or simply finishing your morning five-miler in less time, most of us are interested in getting faster. What you may not realize, though, is that speed training can help prevent injury because it demands that muscles fire hard for a split second. This requires more power than slogging out miles, and therefore builds more muscle that can protect you from the wear and tear of distance running, says Martin Rooney, C.S.C.S., chief operating officer of the Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
Test It: Lap Test
Running Shoes - Gear warm up with an easy 10-minute run. Then, using your watch to time yourself, run one lap (400 meters or one quarter of a mile) as quickly as possible. If a track isn’t accessible, run a quarter-mile on a measured stretch of flat road.
Improve It: Speed Drills
“There are two ways to get faster: Increase stride frequency and length,” Rooney says. This first drill trains your brain and your muscles to communicate super fast—so your muscles fire quickly to improve stride frequency. The second works the hamstrings and glutes, the two muscle groups that control stride length.
- Quick Step Drill: Take as many short steps as possible—as quickly as possible—for five yards. Walk five yards, then repeat. Do three sets of five reps. Rest 30 seconds between sets.
- Go to a track and: Run 30 yards, taking as big of a stride as possible while keeping legs straight. Rest 60 seconds. Repeat up to five times.
Endurance
Endurance can be thought of as how well all of your systems work together: Your heart-stroke volume (the amount of oxygenated blood pumped to the muscles with every beat), your muscle strength and efficiency (the muscles’ ability to turn that O2 into energy they need to contract), your metabolism (how efficiently you metabolize fat and carbohydrates Running Shoes - Gear lactate It might be easier for you to gauge that distance if you reset the treadmill after your warmup fatigue), and your neuromuscular system (the ability of your brain and body to communicate about which muscles to contract and when). Sure, you work on your endurance every time you head out for a run, but the only way to track your progress is to have a controlled test that gauges how well these systems work together. Peter Park, C.S.C.S., fitness expert for livestrong.com, If your workouts are always at the same, comfortable.
Test It: Treadmill Tempo
- Set a 1 percent incline. Warm up at an easy pace for 10 minutes.
- lower legs, and 10K race pace—an 8 on a scale of difficulty from 1 to 10.
- Running in the Cold tempo run. (It might be easier for you to gauge that distance if you reset the treadmill after your warmup.)
Improve It: Endurance Builders
Set a 1 percent incline. Warm up at an easy pace for 10 minutes.
- Advertisement - Continue Reading Below 5K race pace with 30 seconds of recovery between reps. If you scored Fair, do eight laps; if you scored Good, do 10; if you scored Great, do 12.
- Do mile repeats 20 seconds faster than your 5K race pace. Rest one minute between reps. If you scored Fair, do three; Good, do five; Great, do eight.
- If you scored Fair, do a 12-minute tempo run at 85 percent effort. If you scored Good, do two; if you scored Great, do three.
Cardiovascular Strength
If your workouts are always at the same, comfortable pace, your cardiovascular system probably isn’t as fit as it could be. “You need to move out of your comfort zone and force your heart to work harder and act more quickly in order to improve your cardiovascular fitness,” says Tim Church, Ph.D., a professor at Louisiana State University. Your heart is like any other muscle: When it’s challenged, it grows stronger, and when it’s stronger, it can pump more blood with each beat, delivering more oxygen-rich blood to your muscles so they can perform their best.
Test It: Step Up
The best, most accurate way to measure cardiovascular strength is to find a gym that tests. But a simple step test can give you a general idea of where your blood-pumping engine stands. Using a 12-inch-high step (or the second stair of a flight in your house), step on and off for three minutes. Step up with one foot and then the other. Step down the same way. Try to maintain a steady, consistent four-beat cycle, “up, up, down, down.” Aim for about 24 steps per minute. After three minutes, sit down and immediately check your heart rate—Nutrition - Weight Loss.
Improve It: Hill Repeats
Hill training forces muscles to recruit two to three times more muscle fibers than flat-land running, which makes it a great way to improve your cardiovascular strength, Park says. Do it once a week.
Find a hill that’s two to three blocks long and that has a gradual incline—not too steep. After a 10-minute warmup, run up the hill at 80 to 85 percent effort, trying to maintain a consistent pace. This should feel slightly slower than your 10K pace. When you reach the top, run slowly back down (recover for about one minute). If you scored Fair, do six hills; if you scored Good, do eight; if you scored Great, do 10.
Posture
Maintaining good posture when you run allows you to breathe fully and prevents you from leaning forward excessively and putting too much stress on your knees, lower legs, and back. But many runners’ trapezius muscles can become overactive when their upper back rounds too much and their head juts forward, says Craig Rasmussen, C.S.C.S., a fitness coach in Newhall, California. This creates upper-body tension that trickles down and throws off the alignment of the pelvis, hips, and legs, which can contribute to injuries.
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Test It: Wall Stand
Stand with your back against a wall, feet hip-width apart and about 12 inches from the base. With palm facing toward the wall, place one hand on the small of your lower back as you press your lower back lightly against the back of your hand.
Improve It:
These exercises improve your thoracic mobility (spine flexibility), which prevents your back from rounding forward when you run. Do each exercise daily.
Thoracic Spine Roll
Lie faceup with a foam roller positioned below the base of your neck at the top of your shoulder blades. Slowly roll down to just below the bottom of your shoulder blades, then back up. Continue for 30 to 60 seconds.
Quadruped Rotation Extension
Start on all fours with wrists under shoulders and knees under hips. Place the palm of your right hand on the back of your head. Bring the right elbow down toward your left knee. Next, rotate and extend the upper half of your torso by bringing the right elbow toward the ceiling. Repeat on the opposite side. That’s one rep. Complete 10 reps.
