Few things are more satisfying to a committed trail runner than getting away from it all to soak in nature’s ambiance. There is nothing quite like it, and the experience is all the more enjoyable when we find ways to reduce the stress repeated trail runs placed on our joints and knees. Fresh air, chirping birds, and the absence of incessant noise pollution are unable to be fully soaked in when tightness and discomfort overtake our lower body extremities.
Total Trainer home gyms give us the means to moderate and banish trail run-induced lower body stress. Its functionality is amplified when the home gym’s Pilates capabilities are used in conjunction with the Barry Method, which combines the best elements of Yoga and Pilates. Its low impact nature blends seamlessly with the Total Trainer to engender the flexibility necessary to excel during a long distance trail run.
Unstable terrain and winding paths can instigate knee and join pain, but this circumstance is not set in stone: preventive measures are available to be taken beforehand. In fact, we can protect against these maladies by working Barry Method exercises into our Total Trainer sessions. Purposeful workouts designed to strengthen the lower body are sure to yield a windfall of desirable results during the next trail run.
One such workout we need to integrate is the squat. It has name recognition nearing 100%, but the percentage of us who understand how it is applicable to other seemingly unrelated activities is much lower than this. Raising awareness of its varying forms will keep our joints operating smoothly during each attrition test on the trail. The intensity of this strength training workout increases the further we go down into the squat position; we do not need to worry about over squatting if proper form is being used. By pulling ourselves back up using the hip flexors, we are participating in a range of motion sure to produce the powerful bursts necessary to blow through the trail run’s finish line.
Since they are ideal for simultaneously targeting the hips, torso, and legs, squats deserve a closer look from each runner keen on the idea of remaining injury-free while engaging in their road cardio hobby.
Thanks to the squat’s high name recognition, we can all picture half squats and full squats done in a rack using a weighted dumbbell. Perhaps we are also familiar with the Total Trainer’s Extra Large Squat Board that allows for gravity resistance squats without a barbell. In addition to these, the Barry Method offers another unconventional squat routine on the Total Trainer. Implementing it during our next session on the home gym is destined to contribute to the lower body’s ability to sustain powerful strides during a trail run. It is known as the Sit to Stand Squat, and allows for increased muscle memory while strengthening quadriceps and solidifying the torso along the way.
The Sit to Stand Method is performed using the Total Trainer glide board, and it acts as a gravity resistance variation of standard squat workouts. Keeping your fast twitch fibers guessing is a net positive for improving your personal record race time, and instituting this variation of regular and Total Trainer squats will do just that.
To do the Sit to Stand Method, begin by lying on your Total Trainer glide board, feet planted on the floor and knees above hip level. Cup hands behind your head, and slowly raise the body from a sitting to standing position. The head is kept tucked between your knees, slowly being raised as you straighten the spine to begin the process of standing upright. It is returned to this between-the-knees position while you sit back down again. Remember to keep fingers intertwined behind your head during the entire range of this exercise’s movement.
The Sit to Stand Method will increase your physical balance and coordination, targeting the muscles of the core and lower body in one uninterrupted sequence. It isolates the pelvic floor from the hips, lower extremities, and the core, contributions whose impact pays off during a trail run at junctures when your performance would otherwise begin to fade. This is just one of the Barry Method exercises that is enhanced by the Total Trainer, and every devoted runner needs to consider giving it a try the next they mount their Total Trainer.