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Push your pace by building your below-the-knee strength and power

YOU PROBABLY KNOW THAT improving your stride calls for targeting three major lower-body muscle groups – quads, glutes and hamstrings. But they’re not the only players in the game. Your calf and ankle muscles are just as important for improving stride and pushing pace. Just think about how much you use those muscles. You activate them each time you stand or walk. When you run, your gastrocnemius and soleus – the muscles that make up most of your calf – produce the majority of that final push you need to propel upward and forward, says Paul Devita, director of the Biomechanics Laboratory at East Carolina University in North Carolina, US. And that thrust partially determines your pace and stride length. So ignoring those muscles can slow you down and contribute to a higher risk of injury.

Scientists have some idea of why this may happen. A recent Finnish study hooked runners up to 3D motion-capture systems and found that the overall effort required of the calf muscles was 25 per cent greater than that of the quads. That makes them more prone to fatigue over a long run or race, slowing you down.

Devita also found that ankle and calf muscles tend to atrophy as we age. He tested the biomechanics in runners between 20 and 60, and found that older runners had about one-fifth to one-third less ankle power. Runners can slow down this muscle decline with exercises that improve calf function, says Max Paquette, assistant professor of biomechanics at the University of Memphis, US. That means it’s never too late to start working those smaller muscles. And it’s not about running more or faster to try to reap the strengthening rewards. Paquette says doing so can boost your injury risk, especially if your body isn’t trained to handle the increase. Instead, incorporate these routines he designed into your schedule two or three times a week.

1 FORWARD SKIPS

Skip, bringing your front knee to waist height and your opposite arm forward. Keep your back leg straight and focus on pushing off and landing on your toes, always engaging the calves. Continue for about 30 metres, walk back, and repeat twice for a total of three sets of skips.

2 HIGH SKIPS

Repeat the same skipping motion as a normal forward skip, but this time explode upward each time your foot leaves the ground, adding as much power to the move as you safely can. Continue moving forward like this for about 30 metres, walk back, and repeat the exercise twice for a total of three sets of skips.

3 TOE JUMPS

Stand with your feet hip-width apart; rise onto the balls of your feet. With stiff (but not locked) knees, quickly jump up and down. Do three sets of 20 jumps. More advanced: Stand on your right leg with your left leg bent behind you. Hop on your right leg. Do five jumps and switch legs for one set.

4 DOUBLE-LEG BOX JUMPS

Begin by standing with your feet hipwidth apart; then rise up on the balls of your feet. Jump clockwise in a box shape – first about a foot forward, then to the right, then backward, then to the left. Repeat this five times. Reverse direction and repeat for one set. Do three sets.

Before a run, do these exercises as part of a dynamic warm- up