The short answer is yes! Pilates is an excellent choice of complementary training for a runner. It is a very low impact exercise so will not put your body under additional stress while strengthening your core muscles. If you’re a runner, here are what I consider to be the main reasons to add Pilates to your training regime:
1. Improve your core strength
Your core is more than your abdominal muscles, it also includes the stabilising muscles of the hips and back. All Pilates exercises teach you how to engage your abdominal muscles correctly and work to strengthen and mobilise the deep core muscles allowing you to run more efficiently.
2. Improve your joint mobility Good joint mobility requires both muscle flexibility and strength. Pilates strengthens and lengthens muscles and improves a joint’s range of movement. Good hip mobility is essential when running and Pilates strengthens and stretches hip flexors, quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings as well as increasing abdominal strength.
3. Improve your balance and coordination Runners need good balance and in order to balance well, you need to work on it. We lose our ability to balance as we age so it is essential that we keep practising it. As runners we need to coordinate our arm and leg movements and Pilates will challenge and improve both your balance and coordination skills.
4. Improve your breathing Learning to control your breath and synchronise it to movement is another benefit of Pilates that translates well to running and will help runners develop better breathing techniques.
5. Improve your posture
Pilates improves your overall posture and good posture is vital when running. When your posture is good, you will put less strain on your joints and your muscles will work more efficiently.
6. Help to prevent injury
As mentioned above, Pilates combines exercises that both stretch and strengthen the muscles of the body. Pilates helps prevent injuries by keeping the muscles in balance, strengthening your core and enhancing your posture, coordination and balance.
Have I convinced you to give it a try?!
Click on the below link to try out a short Pilates video that I made with runners in mind.
