Want to Run Faster? Follow This Guide to Mobility Exercises for Runners

Runners are always looking for that ​thing​ to help them get faster and stronger. While racking up more miles and strength training certainly improves performance, you don't want to overlook your mobility routine.

Mobility is your ability to move your body through the intended range of motion of your different joints, according to David Jou, DPT, a physical therapist and co-founder of MotivNY. Basically, your mobility is how well you can move different parts of your body without any limitations, aches or pains.

When your goal is to shave minutes or seconds off your mile pace, mobility may just be the secret to increasing your speed. Running efficiently requires good range of motion in the upper back, hips, ankles and feet. Without proper mobility, your running form and technique go out the window, slowing you down.

When there's an area of your body that lacks mobility, other parts compensate, says Natalie Niemczyk, DPT, CSCS, creator of Revolution Running Physical Therapy. These compensations demand extra energy, which can cause you to fatigue, taking a toll on your overall speed.

Not to mention, poor mobility increases your risk of injury, particularly in your hips, knees and feet, Jou says. That's why runners want to make it a point to do mobility work every day.

Ideally, you should incorporate mobility exercises for runners into your usual warm-up, especially if you want to shave time off your pace, according to Sam Chan, DPT, a New York-based physical therapist. Speed comes from the power in your muscles. But when you launch into a run without any kind of dynamic warm-up routine, you can't get the maximum firing power out of your muscles.

So, if your usual running schedule is five days per week, aim to do five pre-run mobility sessions per week, too, Chan says. And if you build them into your dynamic warm-up, you basically feed two birds with one seed.

When it comes to the nitty gritty, you should choose movements that focus on running-specific muscles and joints. So, your pre-run dynamic mobility warm-up should focus most on your lower-body, including your ankles, hips, glutes and legs.

Generally, you only need to spend about 10 minutes on your mobility routine to give your body the warm-up it needs. But if you're feeling a little extra achy or fatigued, you can also foam roll your muscles, focusing on the glutes, hamstrings and quads.

Now that you know how to incorporate mobility into your running routine and which muscles deserve your focus, it's time to hone in on some specific exercises. Before your running workouts, do 10 reps of each of these moves, Chan suggests.

These mobility exercises for runners focus on all the major muscles and joints needed to improve your form and increase speed.

Improving the movement and flexibility in your hip flexors enhances your ability to drive your legs forward and back, Chan says. Extending and driving your leg into the ground propels each stride forward, which is how you increase your speed.

This stretch helps improve your hip flexor movement and strength, making it one of the top hip mobility exercises for runners.

Ankle dorsiflexion (bending your ankle to point your foot up) is part of every step you take when you run (or walk). And although it may seem like such a small motion, it can make a big difference where speed is concerned. Elite runners tend to show more ankle dorsiflexion than newbie runners when they run at fast speeds, according to a March 2015 study in ​Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.​

So, building more mobility in your ankle is a small but substantial tweak that can help you boost your pace.

Your core is what helps you keep an upright posture while you run, which is necessary if you want to run quickly, Chan says. After all, have you ever seen a fast, slumped-over runner?

This plank variation warms up your trunk, helping keep your spine straight and chest up as you run. Plus, this exercise warms up your shoulders, improving your arm swing and helping you gain momentum as you run.

An important part of sprinting (and accelerating in general) is driving your knee upwards as quickly and powerfully as possible, Chan says. This mobility exercise mimics that movement pattern.

Your glutes are the biggest muscles in your lower body (and entire body, for that matter) and they're key players when it comes to running quickly.

The gluteus maximus (the lower glute muscle) helps your hips bend and extend, which is what drives you forward while you run. Waking your muscles with glute exercises up before you run is necessary if you want to get as much power (and therefore speed) out of each stride.

This move mimics how your hamstrings move during during running. Along with your glutes, these muscles help your hips bend and extend, driving your legs forward to gain speed, Chan says.

The more mobile and speedy you can become with this motion, the faster you can run.