Strength training is a must for runners, whether your goal is to get faster, prevent injury, or simply help your miles feel easier. And this mini-band workout for runners is a great routine to slot into your program to reap those benefits.
In this video, which is the next installment of Sweat With SELF’s Fitness for Runners series, you’ll take on a lower-body and core workout that only requires a mini-band. Rhandi Orme, a certified run coach and personal trainer, and trainer Quan Bailey lead you through a routine that’s focused on firing up the small muscles in your lower body—particularly your hip abductors, or the smaller two of your three glute muscles. These muscles, which make up your side butt, are super important for stabilization and play a big role during running.
Your hip abductor muscles (the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus) work primarily in exercises in the frontal plane of motion—think side-to-side movement, like with a lateral shuffle. Your gluteus maximus (the largest glute muscle), on the other hand, works primarily when moving in the sagittal plan, or forward and backward movement (like a squat). In this mini-band workout for runners, you’ll be working in both planes of motion for a complete workout that fires up every part of your butt.
Moves like the lateral band walk, standing leg extension, and side-lying leg extension will focus on your hip abductors, while exercises like the glute bridge and forward monster walk hit your gluteus maximus. And the glute bridge hold with abduction combines both planes of motion to work all of your glutes in one move!
This routine is also heavy on the single-leg work—with moves like the banded knee raise—which help your body get used to the single-legged aspect of running. Every time you push off the ground, you’re working unilaterally, which makes it even more important to build up those stabilizing muscles in your butt.
So grab a mini-band—the thicker the band, the more resistance it’ll give—set aside 20 minutes, and get ready to strengthen your butt and improve your running form!