Stir-Crazy Challenge with Alysia Montaño: Running Drills
Don’t have the option to head outside or jump on a treadmill? Some run drills in your back pocket can help you feel like the runner you are in record time.
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This Stir-Crazy workout challenge is all about enjoying movement no matter what is keeping you cooped up. It’s two weeks in length, but you can expand or shrink it to fit your needs. Every workout is designed to support your running success, focusing on run-specific movements and drills, high-rep endurance exercises, and the mobility work you now know and love. These running drills are a bonus workout in this challenge, giving you something to sprinkle in whenever you need a little more movement in your day.
Running Drills Circuit
Do 12–16 reps or 30-second intervals. Fit in sets as time allows.
High Knees
Drive one knee up, and feel the lift as you hop-skip up to the ball of your foot; alternate sides. Drive your arms in a tight stride, opposite your legs.
Split Squat Jump
Start in a split stance and pop up. Switch your stance as you hit the height of your jump and land soft. Get your arms moving opposite your legs so you can tap that momentum.
Skater Jump
Jump from side to side. As you land, swing the inside leg behind you and touch down lightly before bounding back to the other side.
Single-Leg Deadlift to Knee Drive
Balance on one leg, extending the opposite leg straight behind you, and tip forward. Keep your back flat and pendulum-swing your leg back up to a high-knee stance. Work both sides.
Side Shuffle
Squat slightly and shuffle with fast feet in one direction; then return the other direction.
A-Skip
Hop-skip with high knees, swinging your arms to keep momentum.
B-Skip
Hop-skip, engaging your glute to pull your knee up (like the A-Skip), then swing your leg forward to extension. Move your arms for momentum.
Jump Rope
Keeping a slight bend in your knees, drive through the balls of your feet to bounce up and down as if you’re jumping rope.
Single-Leg Jump Rope
Standing on one leg and keeping a slight bend in your knee, drive through the ball of your foot to bounce up and down. Switch legs.
X Jump
Keep your feet together as you jump from corner to corner, hitting all four corners of a square—diagonally forward, back, diagonally forward, then back to the first corner. Switch directions halfway through the rep count.
Lateral Ladder
Get in a wide athletic stance and shuffle your feet from side to side, keeping your weight over the inside foot. Pump your arms for momentum and move as quickly as possible. Fast feet!
Day 2: Total-Body Muscle Endurance
Days 3 & 7: Flexibility + Mobility
Days 4 & 6: Plyometric Running Drills
Republished from Feel Good Fitness: Fun Workout Challenges to Inspire Your Fitness Streak by Alysia Montaño with permission of VeloPress.