Strengthening the abs and low back

1. The Bridges of Madison County (Y)

Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, hip width apart and your arms at your sides, with palms turned down.
As you inhale, raise your hips to a comfortable height, returning them to the floor as you exhale.
Repeat the exercise 10 times.

2. The Bridges of Kenya

Lie face down and stretched out on the floor with your feet about shoulder width apart, then lift up your body so that you are balanced only on your forearms and toes. Keep your elbows on the ground, directly below your shoulders and your forearms and hands pointed straight ahead.

Now 'tuck' your pelvis - ie rotate your pelvic girdle by pushing the lower part of your pelvic area toward the ground while the upper part of the pelvis rotates away from the ground. Your hip area shouldn't actually come any closer to the ground - indeed your whole body should be in a fairly straight line from your toes up to your shoulders. When you 'tuck', you are just rotating your pelvis, not moving it up or down. It's important to complete this exercise as directed because it is crucial for improving what I call your core strength - the strength of the muscles surrounding the pelvic girdle, which promote powerful, economical, injury-free running.

Hold the above position (body supported only on forearms and toes, pelvis tucked) for 15 seconds, then lift your right arm off the ground, straighten it and point it straight ahead, holding it in the air for 10 seconds. Then return to the supporting position.

Repeat with the left arm.

Now lift your right leg up in the air and hold for 10 seconds before repeating with the left leg.

Now - and here's a move you'll always remember - lift your right arm and left leg in the air simultaneously, holding them up for 10 seconds.

Repeat with the other arm and leg.

Rest for 1-2 minutes then repeat the entire exercise once more.

Once you've completed the second set, stay in the basic position for one additional minute, keeping your pelvis tucked and your body in a straight line.

Now, flip over on your back and lift yourself up so that your body is supported only by your forearms and heels! Again, your body should be linear, with your pelvis tucked and your elbows below your shoulders. Stay in this basic position, then lift your right leg off the ground for 10 seconds.

Return your right heel to the ground, then repeat with the left leg. Return it to the ground and hold the basic position for 30 seconds.

Now flip over on your right side and support your whole body with just your right forearm and the outside of your right foot. Your body should be a straight line, inclined upwards from the foot to the shoulder, with your right leg off the ground and your left foot simply lying on the right foot.

Lift your left leg straight up (abducting the hip) for 10 seconds, then lower it to the starting position.
Repeat the last two steps on the left side.

3. Half shoulder stand at the Great Wall (Y)

Lie on your back, facing a sturdy wall, with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, just touching the base of the wall, arms by your sides with palms down.

Now place the soles of your feet up on the wall, with your knees at a right angle and your thighs parallel to the wall. You may need to slide your buttocks closer to or further from the wall to achieve this position.

As you inhale, press down with your hands, push your feet against the wall and lift your hips as high as you can. Then, bend your elbows and bring your hands under your lower back. Press your elbows and the backs of your upper arms on the floor for support, while keeping your neck very relaxed.

As you exhale, take your right foot off the wall and extend the right leg until the big toe is directly over your eyes. Hold this position for as long as you comfortably can, breathing in a relaxed fashion as you do so.

Then, return your right foot slowly and in a coordinated fashion to the wall, and repeat the sequence with your left leg.
Repeat a few times with each leg, and then - when you want to come back to earth - lower your pelvis slowly to the floor.

4. The Cobras of India (Y)

Lie face-down, with your legs spread at hip width and the tops of your feet on the floor, your forehead resting on the floor and arms extended back along the sides of your torso, with palms touching the floor.

As you inhale, raise your chest and head and sweep your arms like wings out to the sides and then all the way forward, keeping your legs on the floor.

As you exhale, sweep your arms back and lower your torso and your head slowly to the floor.
Repeat this raising and lowering 10 times, then stay in the raised position for 8 breaths before lowering your upper body and ending the exercise.

Fortifying your upper body

1.Bench dips

Sit on a bench or chair, with your hands at your sides holding onto the seat.

Keeping your hands in the same position, slide forwards off the chair and move your feet as far forwards as possible, so that all your body weight is supported only by your hands and the heels of your extended feet.

Lower your buttocks to the floor (or almost to the floor), and bring yourself back up again, completing one rep. Carry out 30 reps in total.

2. Feet-elevated push-ups

Lie face down and place your feet on a bench or step about six inches off the ground, position your arms slightly beyond shoulder width, and keep your body perfectly parallel with the ground as you push up.
Bend your elbows and lower yourself until your chest touches the ground lightly, then extend your arms fully as you come back up. Perform 16 reps in total.

On alternate days, use triceps push-ups, spreading your feet to shoulder-width apart and placing your hands together to make a diamond shape with your thumbs and index fingers. You then your chest to touch the diamond shape of your hands. Also try 'wide-angle' feet-elevated push-ups, with your arms extended further to the side than usual.

3. Pull-ups (sit-ups)

First do five regular pull-ups (with your hands just a little wider than should-width apart and your palms facing forward.
Now do five reverse-grip pull-ups (with your palms facing you).

Next five behind-the-neck pull-ups: instead of placing your chin above the bar you make the bar touch the back of your neck, as close to your shoulders as possible.

Finally, five 'commando' pull-ups: facing sideways, placing the thumb of your left hand directly next to the little finger of your right hand, pull yourself up, touching your right shoulder to the bar; lower yourself, and then pull up so that your left shoulder touches the bar; when you've touched both right and left shoulders, you have completed one rep.

Strengthening your lower body

1. One-footed heel raises

Stand with relaxed, erect posture, with all your body weight supported on your right foot, with your right knee barely flexed and your left leg flexed at the knee so that your left foot is off the ground and your left shin roughly parallel with the floor.

Contract your right calf muscles as strongly as possible, so that your right heel rises off the ground and you rock forwards on your foot, supporting your full body weight on your toes and extreme forefoot. That's the starting position.
Now, let your right heel move back towards the ground smoothly, evenly, and swiftly. As you do this, body-weight support will shift from your toes and forefoot to the mid-foot region.

As your right heel touches the ground, let your right ankle and knee flex naturally - slightly more than they would during the stance phase of running, keeping your right hip slightly flexed;

Now immediately rock back up onto your toes, plantar-flexing your right ankle at the same time as you straighten your right knee. Hold this position on your toes for two seconds - and you have completed one rep!

Continue for 15 reps on your right foot, then repeat with your left foot. As you perform the exercise, move rhythmically and without any hesitation in the overall movement (except for the two-second 'holds' on tiptoes), and try to maintain good balance, posture, and stability at all times - even if at first you have to grab a wall, fence, or other structure for support. Try to maintain a running-specific posture at all times, and try to sustain a 'feeling of relaxed running' as you rock back and forth on your foot. Don't scrunch up your upper body, and don't look down at your legs as you carry out the movements, but stay relaxed and rhythmic at all times.

2. Partial-squats/partial squat breakdowns

Stand with your left foot directly under your left shoulder, keeping your left knee just slightly flexed and maintaining relaxed, fairly erect posture. Hold a barbell (initially with no weights attached) so that it rests on the top-back of your shoulders just behind your neck; you may incline your upper body just slightly forward for balance. Most of your body weight should be directed through the mid-portion of your left foot. Your right leg should be flexed at the knee so that the foot is not touching the ground at all, although you may occasionally need to 'spot-touch' the floor for balance.
If you were carrying out a traditional one-leg squat from this position, you would normally bend your left leg at the knee and lower your body until your thigh was almost parallel with the ground. But for the partial squat you should go only about half way towards this position so that your knee is flexed at an angle of around 135o.
Then, return to the starting position, maintaining upright posture with your trunk. That's one rep!

Complete 10 reps then - without resting - descend into the 11th partial squat, but instead of rising back up hold the position for 10 full seconds. We'll call your body alignment during this 10-second period the 'static-hold' position;
Without resting, rattle off 10 more reps, maintain the static hold on the 11th rep for 10 seconds again, hit 10 more reps, and then hold statically for 10 more seconds on the 11th rep. That's one set! To summarise, a set proceeds as follows (with no recovery at all within the set):

10 partial squats
10 seconds of holding your leg and body in the down position
10 partial squats
10 seconds of holding
10 partial squats
10 seconds of holding

If you can complete this full set, add 10 pounds to the barbell for your next session.

Once you have become quite good at this exercise, you can - provided you have no hint of knee pain - change the basic exercise over to partial-squat breakdowns. The movements in the breakdowns are the same, but instead of using the 10-10-10-10-10-10 pattern. you perform as many reps as possible with a given weight, eventually reaching a failure point (an inability to continue the squatting). Once you have reached this point, you should walk around for a few seconds and then begin partial-squatting again, this time with roughly half the weight you used for the first set. (For example, if you used a barbell with 90 total pounds, you could remove all the weight, leaving you with just the 45lb bar, or you could shift over to two 20- or 25lb dumbbells held in your hands.) Once failure is reached with the reduced weight, you again recover briefly and then embark on more partial squats with even lighter resistance. Naturally, you should repeat the overall pattern on the other leg, too. These routines are called 'breakdowns' because you are effectively breaking down the resistance, or total weight, in order to keep your gradually fatiguing muscles working at close to the top intensity of effort they can sustain. The name is apt in more ways than one, since your muscles feel as though they are breaking down as you attempt to keep going.

The finale

Jog or cycle easily for 10 minutes to cool down.
Stretch your muscles lightly.
Take cooling breaths (Y). To do this, sit comfortably, relax your body, and pucker your mouth, leaving just a small space for air to pass through. Inhale slowly yet forcefully through your puckered mouth. Exhale gently through your nose, and then repeat this pattern 20 times. At the end, you will feel totally relaxed and ready to complete the rest of your day. You will also have gone a long way toward preparing yourself for your upcoming season.

Owen Anderson