One leg hill hopping – Plyometric Conditioning
In the first of our video demonstration blogs we’ll look at ‘one legged running’ or ‘one leg hill hopping’ as a way of improving your running. One legged running will help build up your distance-per-stride by strengthening the calf muscles and achilles working on the forefoot drive.
More demonstration videos and a full explanation of one legged running can be found in my article ‘one legged hill running and sprinting‘.
One leg hill hopping can be done up to twice a week and incorporated into a 30-45 minute easy run, just as you would incorporate a fartlek run. Run naturally and on an uphill section just start hopping, only do 5 hops on one leg before changing legs. Repeat and then continue running freely. Your heart rate will rise and it will take a while to recover. Ensure that you are fully recovered before doing another set.
Key Points:
- Maintain steady running pace between hops, do not stop to rest.
- Try and think of this as one legged running
- Drive with the arms, and the leg will follow
- Never hop on flat sections or down hill
Next time we will look at Wind Sprints for improving cadence.