Original Strength for Runners: Go, Baby, Go

by Sarah Young

We were born to run. We were also made to move. Our birthright is movement in all its forms.  As babies, we began laying the building blocks to be runners by doing such seemingly mundane things as lifting and controlling our big heads (which weighed about 1/3 of our baby bodyweight). As babies, we started fine-tuning our internal gyroscopes – our vestibular systems – so we could balance our heads over our bodies and our bodies over our limbs. We rolled. We rocked. We went from four points of support—crawling–to two points–walking. And not only did this strengthen our tiny vestibular systems, it also sharpened our proprioception so we could know where our bodies were in space. As babies we were very busy.

And as babies, we started tying our “X” together. Imagine drawing a line from the tip of your fingers on your right hand to the tip of your toes on the your left foot. Now do the same from your left hand to your right foot. This is your ‘X’. A well tied-together ‘X’ allows each of us to tap into our reflexive strength–this is our Original Strength. We did this not by going to the gym, but by moving from our center via rolling and crawling and learning to control our heads.  It is these simple, natural movements that gave us the strength to walk and run to begin with.  If we want to run well, it will serve us well to take a step back in order to take a leap forward and practice the philosophy of “WWBD?” (What Would Baby Do?). As runners, it would serve us to reclaim our Original Strength.

As babies we worked to develop our bodies to claim our birthright of movement. As babies we wanted to get moving. We wanted to join the party. We wanted to go all bipedal with our locomotion so we could get our hands on the bright shiny things we saw. We moved our bodies in all kinds of wonderful directions. We left no movement pattern unexplored. We extended and spiraled and flexed and moved side to side and end over end. We made full use of our tiny ‘X’ architectures. All that movement exploration gave us the ability not only to walk, but also to run.

Then, a not so funny thing happened. Somewhere along the line we stopped moving in all those amazing patterns. We started spending more and more time in flexion (sitting all day in a classroom, then behind a desk at work as an adult). And all that time in flexion, at the expense of all the other ways we learned to move, started to undo our core strength (read: untie our Xs). Our glutes got amnesia, our transverse abdominii got sluggish, our obliques started forgetting to fire, and our postural muscles went offline. Add to that the stresses of life got us breathing from our chests–and not from our diaphragms. Moving from our centers became less and less of an option. Our internal gyroscopes got wonky and we lost our heads, or at least our ability to control our heads.  Our equillibrioception (sense of balance) became dulled. And balance is crucial if you’re going not simply to run, but to run increasingly better.

The old adage is true: if you don’t use it, you lose it. And many of us have lost it. We have lost our claim to movement and our claim to running efficiently and powerfully– and all because we stopped practicing the fundamentals. We became “dirty compensators” without reflexive stability. We started moving in ways our bodies weren’t really designed to move. And while we continued to run and train and race, our bodies started talking back at us. We became less efficient and our bodies paid the price. Running is natural and it shouldn’t hurt. But once we’ve unraveled our  ‘Xs’ and have undone all the hard work and solid movement foundations we laid down when we were relatively new to this world, running more often than not becomes an accident waiting to happen. We often become hot messes in motion!

So how can we clean up the messes we’ve created and begin to reclaim our right to movement? How can we reclaim our birthright of running? We can start by getting back to the basics. We can begin by taking “baby steps” to reset our reflexive strength and stability and refine our equillibrioception. This is what the Original Strength Systems is all about. Returning to the basic movement patterns we did as wee ones in order to “press reset” so we can start cleaning up how we move. And yes, it really is that easy.

Both Aleks “The Hebrew Hammer” Salkin (the guy in the video at the top of the page) and I have worked with many endurance athletes. Many come to Aleks because they know they need to get stronger to help with running performance and either avoid or recover from an injury. Aleks is an amazing strength coach. When runners come to me they are generally injured or have a history of injuries.  I’m primarily a bodyworker who focuses on movement. I help runners with their injuries and with their running form and training to get them back to doing what they love, running. Aleks and I come from different backgrounds but we were both drawn to Original Strength (OS) out of our passion to help people move better and feel better. We’ve both studied a variety of movement systems and we are in total agreement that nothing is as simple and powerful, as Original Strength, to keep a runner up and running. We know this because we’ve watched runners transform with OS. It’s really pretty cool.

In the video, Aleks demonstrates some very basic OS resets. Each reset is briefly described below with a basic explanation of why each reset is important. We’ve selected basic OS resets because if we’re going to start cleaning up our movement messes, we might as well return to the basics.

The Original Strength Runner’s Flow should only take you about five minutes to complete. You can use the flow as a part of your warm up and your cool down for running. You can also use it in the morning to help you “press reset” to meet the demands of the day. You can use it when you feel sluggish and need a quick pick me up or when you’re stressed and you need to chill. Yes, this basic Original Strength Runner’s Flow was designed with runners in mind but it has benefits far beyond running.

The Original Strength Runner’s Flow 

1) The Original Strength Flow for runners starts with breathing. Why? Because breathing is one of the most powerful ways you can press reset and restore your body. Stressed breathing (read: “911” breathing or chest breathing) takes us away from breathing with our diaphragm. And our diaphragm is connected to many of our core muscles. It is how we are designed to breathe. It is how we begin to tap into our reflexive strength.

Pressing Reset with breathing: Lie on your back with your knees towards your chest. Place your hands over your knees. Feel your lower back come in contact with the floor. Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth but not touching your teeth. Your mouth will be closed and you will breathe in and out through your nose. As you breathe in, feel the breathe go down into your toes. Feel the space between your ribs and your pelvis expand to the front, the sides, and back. Try to take twice as long to exhale as you do to inhale. Example: inhale for a count of three, exhale for a count of six.

You will take 5 deep breaths. Feel free to do a few more if you like. Please do not rush this step.

2) The next Original Strength Reset will be Head Nods. This OS Reset is all about helping you to regain head control. You will also probably find that your neck will be looser after this OS Reset.

Lay on your back, knees bent and feet on the floor. Place your arms at your sides with palms up. The back of your head will be on the floor. Now with your eyes, look to your left and then turn your head to the left allowing your eyes to lead. Then you’ll turn your eyes to the right and have your head follow your eyes turning right. Roll your head side to side this way. Think of nodding “no”. Go only as far as you can without discomfort. You will get more benefit this way. Do 10 of these back and forth.

Next it’s time to nod, “yes”. With your head centered you will look down with your eyes and roll your head downward. Then you’ll look up with your eyes and roll your head back. Eyes lead. Remember to only go as far as is comfortable. Do 10 of these.

With both of these it is important to keep the back of your head in contact with the ground as the ground will provide proprioceptive feedback.  And nodding “yes” and “no” will get your head moving and stimulate your vestibular system. Once again, Pressing Reset with nods can help you regain control of your head which will enhance balance.

3) The next OS Reset is ‘Dead Bugs’. This reset will help to strengthen your gait pattern as well as your reflexive strength.

Lie on your back with your knees toward your chest (knees will be past hips) and your feet off the floor. You should feel your low back in contact with the floor and your sacrum off the floor. Raise your arms to the ceiling. This is your start position. Now extend your right arm overhead while simultaneously touching the floor with your left foot. Left knee will remain bent. Return to start position. Now extend your left arm overhead while touching the floor with your right foot. Right knee will remain bent. Return to start position. Do 10 repetitions on each side. This OS Reset is designed to get your brain connected to your body and to help tie your X together.

4) The next OS Reset is ‘Windshield Wipers’. Lay on your back with your arms at your side (palms up), bring your knees to your chest. Rotate your lower body to the left as far as you can while keeping your opposite shoulder and arm in contact with the ground. Now roll your lower body to the right as far as you can keeping your left shoulder and arm in contact with the ground. As you roll your lower body back and forth be sure to keep your upper body relaxed.  Among other things, this OS Reset will offer your body the rotational patterning that is important for running. Do 10 Windshield Wipers.

5) The next OS Reset you will do is Rocking. Roll over onto your hands and knees. Hands on floor under your shoulders with your arms straight. Knees will be under your hips. Your feet may be plantar or dorsi flexed behind you depending on your comfort level. You will now gently lift your chest and your eyes will be looking at the floor in front of you at about a 45 degree angle. The crown of your head will be pointed up. The position you will be in will resemble a baby getting ready to crawl. Now you will simply rock backwards and forwards. Only go as far backwards as you can easily maintain the curve in your low back. Do 10 OS Rocks. This OS Reset will help to open your hips while enhancing your reflexive strength.

6) Next you will Press Reset by doing OS Baby Crawl for 1 minute. Crawl forward and backward. Your body positioning will be the same as it was for OS Rocking. Crawling will help you tie your ‘X’ together for gait as well as smooth out rough spots in your running form. Crawling can really turn on your reflexive strength. You have gait receptors in the tops of your feet. So if you allow the tops of your feet to gently drag behind you when you crawl you can wake up those receptors. And please remember, if you land hard when you crawl, odds are you will land hard when you run. You want to crawl fluidly and lightly as Aleks does in the video.

7) The last OS Reset is marching. You will march for 1 minute. You will march forward and backward. Be sure you allow your arm to bend when it comes forward and allow your arm to go into extension when it moves backward. And just like crawling think about landing light. Your marching should be fluid and light like Aleks’ marching in the video.

In summary, your body is wise beyond any of our years, and built within it is all the answers you need in order to access every incredible nook and cranny of ability that awaits within. Baby, you were made to move! Implement the above Runner’s Flow throughout your week during your training.  Done properly, the change will be noticeable in a day; undeniable within 6 weeks.  And you were planning on getting 6 weeks older anyway, right?

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Sarah Young MS is a licensed massage therapist, Original Strength Coach, ChiRunning Instructor, and certified Titleist Performance Institute Level 1. Her goal is help people move and feel better. She lives near Detroit, MI and works with clients both in person and online. You can reach her at sarah@asimplewellness.com.

Aleks Salkin is a Level 2 StrongFirst-certified kettlebell instructor (SFG II), StrongFirst-certified bodyweight Instructor (SFB), and an Original Strength Certified Coach. He is currently based out of Jerusalem, Israel and spends his time teaching clients both in person and online. You can reach him at aleks.salkin.sfg@gmail.com. Original Strength website is: http://originalstrength.net