Running is widely recognized as the most popular form of cardiovascular activity. More than just an exercise, running is also a sport. In recent years, marathons have gained popularity for people looking to take advantage of running whilst testing their endurance.
Today, professional runners employ cross-training as part of their fitness regimen. Basically, these are secondary exercises that help athletes strengthen their muscles, improve coordination, mobility, and balance to further improve their primary sport.
Pilates is well-known as a cross-training exercise, especially for swimmers and gymnasts. Only recently has it become a popular cross-training workout for runners. In this blog, we will discover a list of benefits pilates can have for runners.
Enhances Flexibility
During the first few months of running, pilates helps in enhancing the flexibility of runners. It reduces muscle soreness by loosening them, which causes a strain on the ligaments. Often times, stretching is not incorporated enough in a runner’s training program. The progressive stretching that pilates can provide is sufficient to help stretch the muscles making them flexible enough to minimize the risk of any serious injury. Pilates can give runners the flexibility needed to create wider, bigger and more powerful strides.
Increases Mobility
Runners doing pilates can improve their mobility by increasing their muscle length. This can be done by stretching their shorter muscle groups and moving joints in their range capacity. In turn, this increases joint mobility around the hip area, which is vital to have a biomechanically safe running gait. Tight hip flexors are common to runners and this prevents them from having longer strides. Greater mobility and stride can be achieved by pilates since it targets the problematic muscle groups that inhibit stride length.
Enhances Core Stability
When doing pilates, runners engage their core. Through this, they can develop adequate core stability. It is important to understand that the core is not just the abdominal area. Strengthening the core also involves stabilizing the muscles of the neck, shoulders, back, and hips. Runners experience injury due to stress on their limbs and lower back. With pilates, the muscles of the lower abdomen will be stabilized and strengthened, and this removes the stress on the lower back muscles as well. Better running posture can also be achieved by stabilizing the core muscles around the upper torso through pilates.
Improves Breathing For Sustained Running
The key to sustained running is a proper breathing mechanism. Runners who do pilates as cross-training develop stronger breathing muscles. It teaches runners to have sustained, even breathing through deep diaphragmatic breathing, enabling them to maximize their lung capacity. Deep breaths increase oxygen intake, which is an essential component of every chemical process in the human body. Oxygen increases the energy of runners, which helps them sustain their running speed.
Increases Overall Endurance and Injury Rehabilitation
With better flexibility, mobility, core stability, and the right breathing mechanism, runners enhance their endurance level. Pilates greatly focuses on the right body movements, and the exercises in a pilates class improve a runner’s range of motion. It also eliminates incorrect movement patterns that could possibly stress the muscles. Pilates also contributes to the endurance training that runners have in their regimen. Pilates for rehabilitation helps runners recover from injury and optimize muscle function. The exercises in pilates do not place pressure on the joints and assists in recovery. It can also decrease recovery time, so runners can get back on the field in no time.
If you’re interested to know more about the amazing benefits of Pilates, you can visit us at The Hundred Wellness Center today.
