Lockdown Challenge 2 - Golf Ball Magic

CHALLENGE TARGET - Improve Hamstring Flexibility 

Last week it was all about strength -  this week it's all about flexibility.

Strengthening key stabilising muscles, is without doubt, one of the most important things a runner can do to help prevent injury.

Strong muscles help to keep key structures stable during running gait, helping to provide stability for joints from your ankle to your pelvis.

Weak muscles can create instability which can put pressure on tendons and joints leading to inflammation and injury,

However,  developing strong glutes, calves, quads and core alone, is only part of any injury prevention programme.

Release tight connective tissue

By also spending time releasing connective tissue and stretching tight muscles, you can help improve your biomechanics by releasing tension in the tendons.

There are a number of ways you can do this at home without the professional skills of a physiotherapist or sports massage therapist (although nothing can quite replace them), but using golf balls to release tight connective tissue on the soles of your feet (often) provides one of the most visual results of tissue release therapy. 

Time to touch your toes

This challenge is easy.

  1. Take off your shoes and socks.
  2. Keeping your legs straight, slowly bend down and see if you can touch your toes.
  3. If you can't quite reach, make a mental note of how far away you are from touching.
  4. If you can reach, make a mental note of easy you find it.
  5. Take two golf balls and place one under each foot and spend 5 minutes massing the bottom of you feet.
  6. Repeat step 2 and see how far away you are from touching your toes.
  7. Spot the difference?
  8. If you did, head over to the GH Training Facebook page and let us know how many inches you improved.

Impress me and win a copy of my book

Send in your videos to the GH Training Facebook Page of you attempting or completing the challenge and if you impress me over the series of lockdown challenges - a copy of "The Marathon and Half Marathon: A Training Guide" could be yours.

New Challenges will appear every 2 weeks, so keep checking back and see what challenge is up next.

If you missed the last challenge on Single Leg Glute Bridges, head over to the Lockdown Challenge 1 page.

Login to the Hub

For more information, tutorials and vlogs about the importance of flexibility and myosfacial release," login in to the GH Training Running or Trekking Hub.

Available to subscribing Charities and their participants only, ask your Event Manager for your unique login code.

If you'd like more information about the GH Training Running and Trekking Hubs and how you can gain access, please get in touch.

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