Running Backwards.

If you have ever attended one of our track sessions, you will have noticed that we always incorporate backwards running as part of our warm-up.

Here are some of the benefits of this as a warm-up tool that you might want to incorporate:

1. You reduce load on the lower limbs while getting some training in. Part of this comes from both the gait dynamic as well as the higher stride frequency that you go through.
2. You get to warm your body up for running while not placing more strain on the posterior chain. (The posterior chain muscles are the powerful muscles that include your calves, hamstrings, glutes, back muscles etc.)
3. You place a loaded strain on the all- important quads. This change in firing dynamic can be beneficial for people suffering from patella femoral pain issues.
4. Running backwards is tiring. Your pulse rate goes up quite quickly, which means that your metabolic rate increases as well. This therefore speeds up your body’s ability to warm itself up for exercise more quickly.
5. Running backwards tests your co-ordination. The neuro-muscular benefits are therefore huge. Part of the problem for endurance athletes is that they tend to repeat the same movement for hours on end and therefore lack the benefits that different movement patterns can bring to their bodies. 
6. We do add a number of other exercises to our warm-ups. These include mountain climbers, big toe push-ups etc.
7. A proper warm-up is vital, especially before doing speed work. I tend to include parts of our more structured warm-up to most of my runs, as I believe that they can play a major role in injury reduction.

The obvious danger to this exercise is the heightened chance of you tripping over something. I would only do this on grass, as you are less likely to hurt yourself if you do fall.

So, remember to run backwards from time to time, so long as it is safe to do so.

Regards,

Mike Roscoe.