 How's everyone doing today? How you doing around the world? It's good to see everybody in the comments and thanks for all the comments yesterday Man a lot of inspiring words being shared about how people remain grateful through injuries through tough running shoe situations and all that so, okay I am recovering coming back from that 5k race that took a little more out of me than I expected I have the calf sleeves on right now. Just working on that compression And so I'm heading into the gym to yes show you my full full full full core workout routine that I do once a week in The gym, but before that I'm gonna go do a nice easy run remember yesterday I took the day off no running and my legs are feeling my legs are saying thank you. Thank you. Thank you They feel really good today. I'm not out of the woods yet Still need to be very on the ball with respect to everything just it's like it's it's from here to the marathon and Beyond but I just got to be really on the ball with taking care of the leg There we go six miles 10k I'm gonna continue to strive to convert my miles into kilometers a couple people have been asking recently If I could do that and sometimes I do forget but today was a 10k and probably I don't know what the pace was I'm guessing like 815 830 pace per mile. So and I'll convert that to kilometers back in the studio Oh, man, okay into the gym and feeling good still some tightness in my left foot That is the foot that struggled with a plantar fasciitis last year So I need to continue to monitor that massage Strengthen ice all that good stuff. So anyway, we're gonna get in there roll it out and then show you the the core workout All right, and I should mention the core workout that I'm about to do was I'm adopting. It's not my core workout This is what we used to do at the University of Colorado and the former lifting coach there Who was my coach went on to coach the San Diego Chargers? He became their lifting coach? This was a while ago. I'm not sure if he's still there now, but Vernon was his name Vern. We called him. So anyway, uh, yeah It's a doozy. It's a doozy. Let's do this. Come on Something happened today What is today? April 11th Three year three year of daily blogging three years today I totally forgot three years of daily blogging today three years ago. I started so that 2016 crazy April 11th 2016. I woke up one morning and said here we go. Here we go It feels It feels like three years It's been a haul it's been a haul a lot of early mornings late nights editing all that good stuff. Isn't that crazy? Nice. Yeah, now become Spider-man car Anyway, just thought I'd let you know and oh, it's crazy we will have to throw a party at like that I don't know five-year five-year party Honey good stuff good stuff crazy. All right, we're going to the shooting three years in a row Publishing a daily vlog. It's crazy. Thank you all for being here And I just got a message from a buddy saying congrats on passing 13,000 subscribers Well, it's like that's great and all like thank you for the congrats, but it's like it's not me It's you so thank you for coming on board for sticking with me through thick and thin. It's absolutely Inspiring okay, here we go in case you missed it. I did unbox another pair of Nikes That's right the Nike Wild Horse 5 go check it out upper right hand corner in case you did not see that second video from yesterday It was a pretty fun unboxing. All right. Remember yesterday. I received the email one second from Slovenia it was a challenging email these are the shoes you're about to see on your screen the shoes that a young man I believe he's 18 years old is wearing right now in Slovenia So I wrote this young man back and asked him so what is your shoe size and this is what he sent I saw your YouTube video and I'm really really grateful for this. Yes I have only this pair of running shoes and I wear EU size 44 or nine and a half in the US so that came in at 1242 PM but I received another email today Listen to this another email at 858 a.m. He said hi I'm from Slovenia, and I always wanted to give shoes to your giveaway, but sending shoes to the US is a hustle I get it. It's like shipping costs are expensive So he said in your last latest video you mentioned a guy from Slovenia that has really bad running shoes I had he goes on to say I have 44 and a half size Pegasus 35 EU size I can give them to him They are two months old and have around 30 kilometers in them about 18 miles So they are in way better condition than his current running shoes by the way the fit is a little small for 44.5 so they might be good for someone with size 44 keep up the good work that is amazing Oh my goodness on the three-year anniversary of this daily vlog It makes it all worth it all the late-night editing all the the filming and the external hard drives and the Computer crashing and whatever challenges might come forth from publishing a daily vlog the fact that maybe This this man in Slovenia is able to connect with this young man in Slovenia and get shoes like exchange running shoes Like it makes it all worth it. So I just found that's amazing So I'm gonna connect them both and it sounds like this young gentleman is gonna get some very very gently used Pegasus 35 how cool is that? Okay moving on? Let me pull up my notes here on core work. Let's do this Why should runners do core work? So as runners we are very well known for Overuse injuries meaning we're using the same muscles tendons ligaments through our gait cycle Hundreds and thousands of times over and over and over again well to help stabilize our glutes our hamstrings those big Muscles in our lower legs especially but also in our upper body like our pecs our biceps We have stabilizing muscles that is your core So you have remember we talked about last week how to run faster go check it out do strength work so as runners, I'm a big big proponent of Making sure all of the strength work that we're doing all of the core work that we're doing is Designed to help us move as straight as an arrow And so all of the core exercises that I'm about to show you they're designed to help us stabilize and support the major muscle groups that are doing the heavy lifting through our gait cycle, okay? You're ready for this exercise number one the foam roller. That's right The foam roller is more of a warm-up, but I put it in the core exercise category Why once you put the foam roller on the ground you get off your feet and you're down low to the ground you start Rolling back and forth working the kinks out of your legs. You're warming up your muscles But what you're doing you don't even realize it you are firing your back muscles and your ab muscles Whether you want to or not so you're rolling back and forth and the key is nice and slow and you're also working your upper body It's amazing. So foam rolling is exercise number one I usually do three minutes at least just rolling back and forth back and forth, okay? Exercise core exercise number two and I should also mention all of these exercises I would ease into them. Don't just go do what I'm about to show you like all at once You're gonna have to build up to it slowly. Okay exercise number two the jump rope and once again This is more of a warm-up. It's a little outside of the traditional core exercise category But as I get on as I get that jump rope and I start jumping It's amazing how much better I feel afterward and I realize it is if your legs are tired You might want to skip this but I love it for once again firing your upper body Firing your hip flexors firing. You are working your core. It's it's might be minimal But you are working your core and as runners we often may be Might not be as strong in the hand-eye coordination category But believe it or not for fast turnover the better your hand-eye coordination the better So jump roping also helps with that. Okay exercise number three for your core for runners in the gym Good old planks. That's right. You guys have probably done planks before they usually hurt pretty bad These will fight the plank you get down on the ground you put your elbows on the mat The key is you want to be as parallel to the ground as possible You want your hips to be you don't want your hips to be too high nor too low And you want to squeeze your stomach squeeze those abs when you're doing this that'll make the burn extra tough And then you hold it for me I like to do three sets by one minute by that third set you are burning. Oh, it feels good And yeah, you just hold it there and just squeeze and by the end of it You're gonna be hurting pretty good and core exercise number four Just stay right there on the mat But turn over get on your back put your knees in a bent position and then basically this is called Left middle right. That's right. This is gonna be working your traditional Abs so that six pack and you're gonna be going left middle Right, just like you see it on your screen there right middle left left middle right And I do three sets by 30 seconds and just go back and forth back and forth And you really want to push your hands through your legs like really extend through and you might have to build up to that But oh again, it hurts by the end and core exercise number five Flutter kicks. That's right. Just lay in on your back. Stay right there in that position Lift your legs off the ground. Make sure your back is nice and flat on the ground. You can either cross your arms That's what I like to do or if you need to you can put them off to the side for a little Stabilization, but I like to cross them and basically you're flutter kicking So you're kicking your legs make sure your legs are straight and you're kicking your legs and you can point your toes as well and Then just kick your legs as fast as possible boom boom boom boom boom kick your legs kick your legs hip flexors This is working your hip flexors. You will work your core as well You'll feel it burning in your abs eventually But all your hip flexors and I do three sets by 30 seconds for the flutter kicks and core exercise number six If you're working the front of your torso, so your abs you also need to work your back. That's right You're lower back especially so just flip over onto your stomach Extend your arms straight out your legs straight out the back and this is called Superman's or Wonder Woman's whatever you want to come. All right So Superman's and basically go slow three sets of ten and you're gonna raise up That's right raise your legs and arms up at the exact same time Try and hold it in the up position for about a half a second to a second Once you're at the top and then let back down as slow as possible and then raise back up Three sets of ten. This is gonna be working your entire back But especially your lower back, which is so important especially for downhill running your lower back can often Absorb a lot of that downhill pounding at least that's what I have found on the trails and really focus on this Superman exercise because we work on the front of our core so much I think we often overlook our backs and core exercise number seven reverse crunches This is gonna work your upper abs. So basically you're gonna bend one knee You're gonna put your opposite foot on that knee and then you're gonna pull Toward your face and you're gonna go three sets. I like to do three sets of 15 for this one And it's it's also it's also a benefit It's gonna stretch your your glutes basically and your upper hamstring So it's like a it's a workout, but it's also a stretch so pull it towards you both sides three sets of 15 Oh, and this is again your upper abs. It's called the reverse crunch core exercise number eight here We go the exercise ball crunch Okay, and what's nice about this one is that you are also gonna be working your upper body So get an exercise ball put it on the ground and then you're kind of gonna do a Superman move to get on over the ball and then you're gonna end up in a push-up position And then you're gonna put your toes on top of the exercise ball and then basically just like you see on the screen there You're gonna pull the ball toward your chest You're gonna pull your knees toward your chest and you're gonna do three sets of ten ease into it work up to that You don't have to start there and again this one if you can only do one core exercise I would recommend this one. It's a full body workout. You are gonna you're working honestly like your entire body I'm trying to think of a muscle that you're not working like it's your entire body. It's amazing It's called the exercise ball crunch three sets of ten. I love that one and core exercise number nine We are almost there stick with me. You got this you can do this too Okay, I learned this one again from my CU lifting coach who went on to work for the San Diego Chargers So that's got to give him a little bit of credence, right? I think he knows what he's doing So I call it I forget what he used to call it, but I call it the dirt digger That's right. You lay down on a bench you grab the bench right by your head And then you let your legs hang off the bench so they're just down on the ground and then basically you're gonna get a little momentum and you're gonna use your Legs in a digging motion so you're gonna dig into the ground and then lift them up Dig into the ground and then lift them up and basically your knees are gonna come all the way up to your face And then back down again and oh it's working your your your your lower quads your upper quads your hip flexors Really once again everything, but it's it's called the dirt digger on the bench Just dig in your legs dig in your legs and one of the good challenges with this one I would recommend is trying not to touch the ground with your feet So just like come as close to the ground as possible without touching the ground And you just want it to be nice and smooth nice and smooth and last but not least all the single leg Dynamic three sets of eight for each leg here. We go. This is how you do it you get up on one foot So you're balancing so you're working on your balance and your hand-eye coordination with this one as well You get in the running position Balancing on one foot and basically you're gonna go all the way down to the ground with your opposite hand Touch your toe Sending your opposite leg back almost like a figure skater and your opposite in your hand as well Your other hand as well back and so with this one your hips are gonna be screaming at you I feel it the most in my upper glutes and my hips. I love it. It's so good And so now why do I do this core exercise last basically? We're not wrestlers. We're not kayakers We're not soccer players where we are upright runners We are straight as an arrow runner. So I like to end the core exercises like to get off the ground Stand up get back into the running position and remind myself, okay, why am I doing all of this core work? I'm doing this core work to get better at running right to get faster running to stabilize those major muscle groups For my running gate. Okay, so that's why I like to end with this one. You're still working your core it's still very difficult, but you're back in that upright position and Basically, it's almost like the plyometric movement that I've taught you in the past. Mr. Roboto. It's kind of like that one So, okay, there you have it. Those are my 10 core exercises for runners If you have any questions, let me know down below. I hope those made sense I tried to be as clear as possible with the filming and explanation Okay, of course core is gonna be the keyword core is the keyword and the question of the day Do you do specific core work in the gym or at your house? That's what's nice You can do a lot of this at your house. Okay. Do you do that? If so, what is your favorite core exercise? And why and I'll just let you know my favorite is definitely that exercise ball crunch I just love that one. It's kind of fun to do and you're definitely getting a full body Workout. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that is it three years of daily vlogging in the books What a what a gift to have you here I just got a text actually from someone saying congrats on 13,000 subscribers. So it means I think we must have hit 13,000. I actually don't know actually let's just pull it up Let's see here. Where are we out here third? Oh my gosh. Wow, okay 13,010 that's amazing you all rock. Thank you for being here Thanks for watching and spreading the word about this channel. Frankly, we're just getting started. Shall we do another three years? I think we shall see beauty work hard work hard work hard. That was crazy I was just signing off and I think the battery on the camera died seek beauty work hard and Love each other. We'll see you tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow