Running Drills For Beginners

Drills are a great way to establish proper form and movement patterns into our muscle memory as well as a way to improve recruitment of the proper muscles when you start to get fatigued. If you’re new to running or have never done drills before, I’ve compiled some great drills for beginners. These can be done after an easy warm up jog or at the end of a run 2-3 times/week. You’ll want to do each drill for 20-30 seconds, with a slow jog back to the start. If you have time to run through the drills 2-3 times, even better! If you want to just jump straight to the video, scroll to the bottom of the post and check it out!

The first two drills, Side Skip and Carioca (Karaoke), are focused on the strengthening the tiny stabilizing muscles in your feet that are crucial to proper form and strength. Stability is key to running, so while these drills may seem easy, they can make a huge difference!

The next two drills, the A and B March, are geared towards activation and recruiting the proper muscles in your glutes and hamstring to improve power. The most important part of the marches is to focus on the knee drive and the pawing motion you make when your foot hits the ground - almost like a scraping. This will recruit those big power muscles in your glutes and hamstrings and enhance that forward power.

Check out the video and let me know if you have questions!