Lower Leg Strengthening for Runners

By Bruce Cohn
Boston Globe, April 2005
 
With spring finally here and marathon fever in the air, more runners—both novice and experienced—are taking to the streets. Whether inspired by the stamina of world-class athletes or the desire to improve cardiovascular fitness, most runners often look to increase the distance of a run without taking certain factors into account.

One of the biggest problems with increasing your mileage for a marathon--or any distance run--is the problem of shin splints. This painful condition can be caused by overtraining, running on hard surfaces, wearing inappropriate shoes and/or not properly conditioning the muscles of the lower leg.

In addition to stretching and strengthening the calf muscles in the back of your lower leg, you should pay particular attention to the anterior tibialis muscle which runs down the shin to the inside edge of your foot. This muscle pulls your foot inward and upward and contracts twice as much as the other muscles of your lower leg during running. This makes it more prone to fatigue which can lead to increased risk of shin splints and stress fractures.

But take heart; there are a number of exercises that you can do to build up the muscles of your lower leg so that you can avoid injuries as you increase your mileage. These exercises are designed to strengthen your feet, ankles, calves and shins against injury. In addition, as you improve the strength of your lower leg muscles you may find yourself running faster and more strongly.

Walk or jog for ten minutes as a warm- up before performing these drills.

Hopping
Jump in place on the balls of both feet for 30 jumps. Do not let your heels touch the ground. (Think of yourself landing on a hot stove.) Rest for 15 seconds and complete another 40 jumps as quickly as possible. Rest for another 30 seconds and repeat both set of jumps.

Toe Walking
Walk forward quickly on your toes for 20 yards then point your toes outward at a 45 degree angle (like a penguin) and walk another 20 yards. Finish by walking pigeon-toed for another 20 yards. After completing this, skip on your toes in all 3 foot positions and then jog on your toes in all 3 foot positions. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat the walk/skip/run sequence.

Ankle Flex
Stand a foot away from a wall with your back to it. Align your feet directly under your hips. Lean back until your buttocks and back touch the wall and then keep your heels on the ground as you flex your ankles to pull your toes as close to your shins as possible. Lower your feet until they almost touch the floor and repeat for 20 repetitions. After 15 seconds of rest perform the same exercise only let your toes drop down only one inch after raising hem as high as possible. Do this quick ankle flex within a one inch arc for 20 repetitions. After a few weeks you can eventually progress to doing this exercise on one leg. To do so, position the foot slightly to the inside of the hip rather than under it and go for 15 repetitions on each leg.

Hopping Ankle Flex
This drill is similar to the hopping exercise you did before only now with each jump you are flexing your ankles to draw your toes upwards as close to your shin as possible. Begin with 20 repetitions and repeat for two sets with a minute rest between sets. Work your way up to two sets of 30 repetitions and eventually 40 repetitions.

Heel Walk
Walk on your heels with your toes pointed towards your shin for 20 yards. Rest for a minute in between and complete three sets.

Bruce Cohn is the Strength and Conditioning Coach at the Middlesex School in Concord. He runs FIT-TO-GO Total Sports Conditioning and is a nationally certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Bruce can be reached at 781-316-0061 or brucegym@rcn.com.