London Marathon: 10 no-equipment exercises to prevent running injuries

Tomorrow’s London Marathon will see around 40,000 runners will take to the streets of the capital.

The 26.2-mile race, which spans from Blackheath to Buckingham Palace, is back for spring after the coronavirus pandemic led to it being held in October over the last few years.

Celebrities including Chris Evans, Adele Roberts and Harry Judd will be taking part, with the mass participation event expected to start in waves between 10am and 11.30am.

Although it’s set to be an exciting day, marathoners will have a lot on their minds amid the fanfare. Months of effort – from practice runs to chafing prevention – will have gone into this big moment, but final preparations are an important part of long distance running success.

Injuries are most common in the week leading up to a marathon, but it’d be a shame to waste all that hard work and fall at the final hurdle, so effective warm-ups and strength work are key.

Dean Hodgkin, personal trainer and head of programming at TRUCONNECT, has shared his top 10 exercises to get you ready for the starting line – and they don’t require any extra equipment. On your marks, get set, go!

Leaps and bounds

‘To develop power, when you’re next out for a run, ideally on grass, lengthen your stride and increase your knee lift, so your overall speed decreases,’ Dean tells Metro.co.uk.

‘Focus on reducing the time your foot is in contact with the floor and really push off, so your foot action speeds up (even though your pace is slower) and you explode upwards and forwards.’

Target – 10 repetitions each side

Hill shuttles

Try not to only save downhill parts of practice runs for recovery, as you’ll see maximum benefits from switching things up.

Dean explains: ‘Uphill bursts will increase leg strength and downhill sprints help your legs to accommodate higher cadences so you can increase your top-end speed.’

Target – 10 repetitions of each

Decline squat

‘This will prevent a common runner’s injury problem whereby weakness in the inner quadricep muscle causes the knee-cap to pull out of line and rub against the boney bit on the end of the femur,’ says Dean.

‘Stand facing downwards on a slope with the feet pointing forwards and about hip width apart. Bend the knees and push the bum back to lower into a squat position, ensuring the knees point directly forwards, then return to standing.’

Target – 15 repetitions

Side leg lift

Start this exercise standing beside a bench or the bottom step of a flight of stairs, with your left foot on the step and your right on the ground.

‘Squat down, by bending both knees, then lift up and shift all your weight onto your left leg and at the same time lift your right foot off the floor and out to the side,’ Dean explains. ‘Lower back down slowly, under control.’

Target – 15 repetitions each side

Angled calf raise

Dean says: ‘Stand with feet apart on the edge of a sturdy bench or the bottom step of a flight of stairs, with your heels hanging off behind you.

‘Turn your toes in, holding this angled position, slowly raise the heels as high as is comfortable and roll onto the balls of your feet by strongly contracting the calf muscles then lower down under control.

‘Take a short rest then turn your toes to point out to the side and repeat the heel raise motion.’

This will help strengthen your calves and get your ankles warmed up and ready to race.

Target – 15 repetitions of each

Heel walk

‘This is a great exercise to develop strength in the muscles on the front of the lower leg, helping to reduce the risk of shin splints that affects many runners,’ says Dean.

‘Lift your toes as high as you can and walk around. You may lose your balance at first, as your posture will change but bear with it.’

He adds that, for optimum benefit, you should do this exercise barefoot.

Target – 1 minute

Toe scrunch

A toe scrunch is useful for strengthening the muscles and connective tissues in the sole of the foot. This helps prevents plantar fasciitis, an issue that a number of runners struggle with.

Dean advises: ‘Place your bare foot on a towel and drag it back towards you with the toes, pressing them into the ground at the same time.’

Target – 20 repetitions each side

Roll and release

‘The ilio-tibial band is a sheath of connective tissue on the outside of the thigh that can often become tight in runners, causing pain,’ says Dean.

He recommends laying on your side with a tennis ball underneath you, just below your hip.

‘Cross the top leg over and put the foot down and place the hands on the floor for stability,’ he continues. ‘Use your arms to slowly glide your body up and down over the ball so it rolls from just below the hip to just above the knee.’

Target – 1 minute each side

Retro running

It may feel a little silly, but according to Dean, occasionally running backwards ’can reduce the incidence of impact injuries to the knees and lower back’.

He advises including it in your warm-up, although ideally with a training partner to help be the eyes in the back of your head.

Target – 5 minutes

Barefoot running

Ditching trainers and running ‘naked’ improves lower leg strength and can increase your efficiency by reducing fatigue.

Dean adds: ‘Before you bin your running shoes, however, remember there are health and safety issues to consider, particularly outdoors.’

A short barefoot run on soft ground is a good place to start, and you can continue to built up frequency and time once you’ve recovered from your marathon high.

Target – 5 minutes

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