Swissball Exercises for Runners

Posted on September 10, 2009 by CoachJay

While I like this video, these exercises are not as important as this series of exercises or this warm-up routine. But I do like the efficacy of these exercises compared to this swissball “activity” or this swissball video, even though there is a thread of viability in the first and a lot of viability to the second.

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  • coachjamespowell

    Hey Jay,

    As a Coach would you suggest doing more general strength routines like this and the ones on your video or lifting weights (i.e. bench press, cleans, etc.)? Which one produces better results for a high school cross country team?

    Thanks

  • http://hamiltontrack.blogspot.com hamiltontrack

    When i first saw this video, i had the vision of me bringing out a dozen swissballs for my team…

    and then spending the next hour debating the athletic virtues of swissball dodgeball with my athletic director…

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    I won't be able to answer in amazing detail because even though it's a simple question, the question is in essence, “How do you coach all of the non-running stuff?” The answer is long and maybe later this fall I can get my thoughts down.

    Here are my quick thoughts.

    First, the series of videos and the progression I wrote for RunningTimes.com is the best place for a HS team to start.

    http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=…

    Then, the next step in my mind is use General Strength activities as part of the metabolic training, especially in the time between cross country and outdoor track.

    http://www.coachjayjohnson.com/2009/03/anatomy-…

    Finally, the weight room is a great place to train, yet I'm confident that with 2 medicine balls and two shot puts you can accomplish a great deal at the track; the movements in Olympic lifts basically ask the athlete for triple extension at the ankle, knee and hip; you can get triple extension at the track with a med ball and s shot.

    This is a good question, but I'll have to save the detailed response for a later date.

  • Jaime Molina

    Do you have any exercises or moves to prevent 'jumpers knee”?

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    I'm not familiar with jumpers knee, yet after looking it up online I have a feeling that some of the suggestions in the thread below would be helpful

    http://www.coachjayjohnson.com/2009/07/coach-ne…