The moves in this workout will focus on mobility and full range of motion so your body can recover from any soreness. Perform this twice in the week following your race to prepare yourself for the next training block.
Before getting started, be sure to go through the Warm-Up routine first.
Post-race workout at a glance
Divers: 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions per side
Prone Handcuffs: 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions
Scorpions: 2-3 sets of 4-6 repetitions per side
Seated 90/90s: 2-3 sets of 4-5 repetitions per side
Lateral Lunge Stretch: 2-3 sets of 4-5 repetitions per side
Cat Cow: 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions
Jump to the other weeks in our series:
In-Season Strength: Normal Week
In-Season Strength: Recovery Week
Video Transcript
Ryan Kohler 0:03
Following your race or event, you might be left feeling sore in that coming week. So this session is designed to promote recovery by allowing you to work on mobility and your range of motion. So with that, let’s get started.
0:14
This Divers exercise is great for post-race week, because we’re going to move through a full range of motion and upper and lower body to workout some of those sore areas. So this exercise is called The Diver, and it’s similar to a single leg RDL, but we’re going to bring in some overhead extension. So we’ll go into this movement lifting one leg off the ground and driving it up toward the ceiling, and at the same time, we’ll reach forward as if we’re diving into a pool. So we’ll do that, come back, and then repeat.
0:49
This next exercise is called Prone Handcuffs, and it’s a great way to work through full range of motion in the shoulders. So what we’ll do for this one is lay on our stomachs. We’re going to start with our hands extended out overhead, and bring them down till they come behind our backs, rotating our palms up, and then we come out from there and extend back to the beginning.
1:13
This Scorpion exercise is a great follow-up from that Handcuff exercise we just did, because we’re moving in the same position from shoulder mobility down to hip mobility. So what we’ll do for this is get into that same prone position with our hands outstretched at our sides, and bend one leg to 90 degrees. And then driving with the leg and the hip, open yourself up and try to touch that heel on the other side. And then same thing—starting with the hip, drive yourself back to the beginning, foot down, and repeat on the other side.
1:50
This movement is called Seated 90/90s. So this is a great way to work on that internal and external hip rotation, particularly when you’re sore after racing. So for this, we’ll start in a seated position. And we’re going to drop our knees down to one side, going for approximately 90 degrees on both legs. And then we’re gonna flip over to the other side and do the same thing. This is where you might notice some changes from the left to right. So that may give you some more insight on what areas you need to work on, but a great way to just open those hips and get through a nice full range of motion after your races.
2:31
This Lateral Lunge Stretch is similar to what we did in our Lateral Lunges for the dynamic warm-up, except this time we’re going to focus on feeling the stretch in the hamstrings and the inner thigh. And on the other leg, where we’re lunging, allowing ourselves to go through as full a range of motion as we can. So we’ll start off here in a nice, wide stance with our toes pointing forward. And then, again, we’ll drop the hip over that rear foot. Let yourself settle in over here and just feel that stretch. You could also give yourself more support and just go fully down as far as you feel comfortable. Drive back up on that side, and then repeat on the other. Again, you can let yourself go a little bit farther into that lunge, and then come back up. To intensify this a little bit just like we did in the dynamic warm-up, you can come down, bring that toe up toward the ceiling, hang out here for a few seconds, and then return and repeat on the other side.
3:32
This Cat-Cow exercise is a great way to finish up this routine, because it just allows you to move your back through a nice full range of motion and flexion and extension, and it’s quite relaxing to finish up on. So what we’ll do to start here is get into a prone position on our hands and knees. We’ll have our back in a neutral position to start. And then we’re going to sort of hollow ourselves out, raise that spine up and flex it as much as we can, and then we’ll drop down and extend it. Think about almost having a little weight pulling you down at the belly button. And then just repeat that up and down. This is a great way to just stretch things out if you have a tight lower back from running or sitting on the bike for a while.
4:17
All right, that’ll do it for our post-race week mobility session. So hopefully you’ve picked up some good exercises you can use to feel more ready for your upcoming training block. So thanks for joining us and we’ll see you next time.
