A Pilates teacher recommends these six moves to help runners get stronger and avoid injuries

Running is a great, low-cost activity that boosts your mood, helps with weight management, and keeps your lower body strong.

However, it’s not without its risks. Running injuries are both common and frustrating and a sudden twinge in your knee can put an abrupt halt to your running regime.

Building up your speed and distance gradually will minimize the risk of injury, but if you want drastically to lower your chances of a sprained muscle you should do some strength work.

You don’t need much equipment for this—Pilates routines like the one below are ideal. Try tagging it onto the start of your run session twice a week.

How to do the six move Pilates for runners routine

There are six moves in the routine:

• The Hundred
• Bird dog
• Plank
• Bridge
• Scissors
• Lower-body stretch

The Hundred

Sets: 1 Reps: 100

• Lie down on your back and bring your knees up, bending them at a 90° angle so your shins are parallel to the floor. Your arms should rest next to you.
• Lift your head and shoulders off the mat and look towards your belly button. You can keep your legs at 90° or extend them out at a 45° angle for a challenge. Your lower back should stay pressed into the mat.
• Raise your arms and pump them up and down vigorously. Inhale for five counts and exhale for five counts. Start with 20 pumps and work your way up to 100 as you get stronger.
• Finish by bringing your knees into your chest and lowering your head and shoulders.

Trainer tips: This targets your abdominal wall, along with muscles in your upper back, arms and shoulders. It’s particularly great for waking up your core muscles and arms, which play an important role in forward propulsion while running.

Bird dog

Sets: 1 Reps: 8-10

• Start on hands and knees. Engage your core and maintain a neutral spine.
• Extend your right arm in front and the left leg behind your body.
• Return to start position then switch arm and leg.

Trainer tips: This targets your rectus abdominis (six-pack muscles), erector spinae (located along your spine) and glutes. This will help stabilize your lower back during running and it’s also a good way to practice moving your body’s extremities away from its center, which is the main movement pattern of running.

Plank

Sets: 1 Time: 10-60 seconds

• Start on your hands and knees then lower your forearms to the ground, keeping your shoulders stacked above elbows.
• Extend one leg back at a time. Maintain a neutral spine and don’t allow hips to sag.
• Hold for 10-60 seconds, depending on your ability, then finish by lowering your knees and pushing back into a child’s pose.

Trainer tips: Planks primarily target muscles in your core. Having a strong set of muscles here can help improve your running posture.

Bridge

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10

• Lie down on your back with knees bent and feet planted on the floor.
• Engage your core then lift the hips and lower again with control.
• For a greater challenge, perform a hip thrust. Place your shoulder blades on a bench then lift the hips up and down.

Trainer tips: This will fire up the gluteus muscles in your backside, which are responsible for providing power when you run.

Scissors

Sets: 1 Reps: 8-10 each leg

• Lie down on your back and bring your knees to your chest. Lift your head and shoulders off the mat, keeping your neck long.
• Extend legs to a 45° angle and hold one of your calves. If you can’t reach, hold behind your thigh.
• Pull the leg twice towards the chest and then switch legs.

Trainer tips: A great move for activating the abs and stretching the hamstrings.

Lower body stretch

Sets: 2 Time: 15 secs

• Lie on your back with a towel or yoga strap nearby.
• Bend your left leg and place your foot on the mat.
• Bend your right leg and loop the strap or towel around the sole of your foot.
• Extend the right leg up to feel a stretch in the hamstring. Hold for 15 seconds.
• Press the left hip down and move your right foot out to the side, keeping your leg straight and maintaining tension in the strap. You should feel a stretch in your inner thigh. Hold for 15 seconds.
• Bring the right leg up and cross it over the body, keeping the right hip down on the mat. You should feel a stretch in the outside of your rear thigh. Hold for 15 seconds.

Trainer tips: You can do this last set of stretches before or after a run.

Shop Pilates mats

You can perform workouts like the one above using a towel, but it's much more comfortable if you practice on a mat like one of those below.