Have you been working on your core strength/stability? That might not have been good. Work on core action instead.

My god, distance coaches talking about how important it is to have a strong core is one of the most annoying tropes in this sport. Coaches, stop focusing on minor details like this. Spend that time you were going to do performing a plank “lol” doing more running.

I can’t believe you were a college coach at one point. You’re such a moron.

WrongIncorrectFalse wrote:

My god, distance coaches talking about how important it is to have a strong core is one of the most annoying tropes in this sport. Coaches, stop focusing on minor details like this. Spend that time you were going to do performing a plank “lol” doing more running.

I can’t believe you were a college coach at one point. You’re such a moron.

Did you even read the article? It’s about moving away from the concept of core strengthening and towards appropriate neuromuscular activation of the trunk and lower extremities. Probably a pretty important part of optimizing gait and economy.

Anyway, you sound like an idiot for posting what you did because it 100% goes against the point of the article. Learn to read.

planks always seemed like a dumb exercise. Crunches and captain's chair look like better core exercises.

Check....Like what we were doing in the 70s and 80s? Like what others were doing long before that? Note to self....ugh!

Dynamic Flexibility and Hurdle Mobility

This isn’t anything new:

https://youtu.be/sLG3Gsc2c8Y

Not impressed.

Core strength cannot hurt a runner. And in fact, if lacking, can hinder a runner. Building core strength within a well balanced program has a place.

And it has never been to the exclusion of other drills and exercises, including range of motion, flexibility, and running economy exercises and drills, Each are beneficial. To think that one is done to the exclusion of the others, or to an extent that would impede certain capacities, is rather foolish.

False premise.

She doesn’t say to not work on “core strength”, only stability in the sense of trying to maintain a static core while running. Core strength helps strengthen a critical element of the posterior chain.

On Gruenke, I like listening or reading to what she has to say and it often makes me think, but I can’t point to anything that’s contributed to improving my running. On the other hand, unlike a lot of YouTube running blah, she doesn’t say obviously wrong things or advise unimplementable things (like “activate your glutes” as if people can just go to the Apple Genius Bar to get their glutes activated). But she espouses Feldenkrais, which gives me pause because it’s not scientific (even though Feldenkrais himself was a physicist or something).

As for the fluid core she’s advocating, I suspect most runners involuntarily learn to do it anyway. Not sure if coaches even insist on holding the core static anymore, but the article is right in that there is a good amount of advice out there on not swinging the core much that might be overinterpreted as advising to hold the core completely static.

Since I’ve focused on just push-ups, pull-ups, and squats my core strength has gone through the roof. I don’t do crunches or planks anymore. They are not functional exercises. The weird little “core” movements are just that. We overthink things.

Push, pull, squat, and run. Those are the only things you need to do to get strong.

Look at Jay Johnson's Core X routine - no static movements. So I'm not sure how new this is.

https://coachjayjohnson.com/core-x/

A lot of Gruenke's article makes sense, but I don't understand her dislike of clamshells. They aren't a core exercise, they aren't static, and when a PT prescribed them, they had a pretty quick and dramatic effect on a knee issue I was having.

seattle prattle wrote:

Not impressed.

Core strength cannot hurt a runner. And in fact, if lacking, can hinder a runner. Building core strength within a well balanced program has a place.

And it has never been to the exclusion of other drills and exercises, including range of motion, flexibility, and running economy exercises and drills, Each are beneficial. To think that one is done to the exclusion of the others, or to an extent that would impede certain capacities, is rather foolish.

False premise.

^^THIS^^

I read a study that measured running economy before and after a session of core excerises to fatigue the core.

They saw no evidence of that a strong core (in the sense of stabilizing or contributing to good running form) had any effect on running economy, that is a fatigued core can reduce the running efficiency.

On the other hand, running needs the full body to work well, I mean we do not run just with the legs, but we need to dynamically set the whole body in the right positions and synchronized movement patterns. The Stretch shortening cycle is also very important for running, and it is not only about the leg muscles and tendons, but also for ex the hip and spine.

I think this article and the "core action" ressonates very well with this

From the 90s wrote:

Since I’ve focused on just push-ups, pull-ups, and squats my core strength has gone through the roof. I don’t do crunches or planks anymore. They are not functional exercises. The weird little “core” movements are just that. We overthink things.

Push, pull, squat, and run. Those are the only things you need to do to get strong.

Basically any exercise you can do by yourself or on the bars in the park will be fine. It won't build bulk and will build functional strength. If you look like a dog peeing while you do it, it's probably not so fundamental.

Here's what I do on "easy" days: 15-20 pushups of some kind (on the ground, diamond, on the bars, whatever), 15-20 leg raises (maybe inclined, maybe not), 10-15 dips, 25-50 squats, 10-15 pullups of some kind, run up a 300m hill at a good pace, jog down. (No rests in any of this). Repeat cycle until I can't do more than 5 pushups. Jog home.

I'm 50 and haven't been injured in years.

Many "experts" call push ups a form of a plank.

But this routine is all one needs unless you have imbalances from injuries, lifestyle etc...

From the 90s wrote:

Since I’ve focused on just push-ups, pull-ups, and squats my core strength has gone through the roof. I don’t do crunches or planks anymore. They are not functional exercises. The weird little “core” movements are just that. We overthink things.

Push, pull, squat, and run. Those are the only things you need to do to get strong.

Agreed, I think you get a lot of that doing a few miles a week of trail running. All those variations in terrain/surface get different muscles involved, and the motion is specific to running.

I'm also a big proponent of swimming for core strength.

dio wrote:

planks always seemed like a dumb exercise. Crunches and captain's chair look like better core exercises.

Lol

Lazy people always have some kind of “logic”.

I have a horrible skeleton and bad form.

I love Jae Gruenke in that she preaches proper movement.

My issue is with the doc is that the static (mri,xray) is not weight loaded. My issue with the PT is that they don't have xray vision. My issue with the coach is sometimes it's hard to see compensation.

Jae is awesome. Step one is that we move the right way, our individual way. Then, the training.. strength stuff, plyos, etc.. help.

Go back to doing: sit-ups/bent knee leg raises/trunk twisting. Train like Rocky Balboa & Apollo Creed. Never stopped!

Cole Shocker’s form is a perfect example of what she’s talking about. It’s interesting to look at his fluid form compared to Centro’s (no disrespect), which has less movement.

https://youtu.be/iROTmSqsLAw

coach wrote:

baroompa wrote:

Basically any exercise you can do by yourself or on the bars in the park will be fine. It won't build bulk and will build functional strength. If you look like a dog peeing while you do it, it's probably not so fundamental.

Here's what I do on "easy" days: 15-20 pushups of some kind (on the ground, diamond, on the bars, whatever), 15-20 leg raises (maybe inclined, maybe not), 10-15 dips, 25-50 squats, 10-15 pullups of some kind, run up a 300m hill at a good pace, jog down. (No rests in any of this). Repeat cycle until I can't do more than 5 pushups. Jog home.

I'm 50 and haven't been injured in years.

Many "experts" call push ups a form of a plank.

But this routine is all one needs unless you have imbalances from injuries, lifestyle etc...

Agreed. I tell my kids do push-ups, its a plank and so much more. If you cant do but 5 or 10 push ups, well... do 3,4 or 5 sets! We have a hundred other exercises to choose from for core. Push ups count as core!