@DopeyBadger, I told you I would try to write up some thoughts about
Running Rewired by Jay Dicharry. So here are some of my initial thoughts.
Jay Dicharry is a physical therapist specializing in sports physical therapy. The book is not an attempt to convince the reader of some kind of "new approach", which is what the book
80/20 Running was, for example. Dicharry does incidentally reference research in the text of the book, but he doesn't exhaustively talk about studies that support his conclusions. (He does have five small-font pages of references at the end of the book.) He mostly uses argument from authority (as a PT), analogies, and anecdotes. I don't normally like this approach, but I have incidentally read enough hear and there to find him credible. Also, he's not really saying anything that is controversial or ground-breaking. What I find helpful about the book is that he has put his approach into a "package", so to speak, that I can take and use.
First, he says that a lot of running injuries, problems, and lack of progress comes from "broken wiring" - people have various mobility, stability, and postural issues that people unconsciously compensate for while running, and these issues lead to injuries and problems. So he says that the first thing runners need to do is "troubleshoot" broken wiring: identify your own mobility, stability, and postural limitations and problems and correct them.
The useful part about this is that he provides "tests" that you can do to figure out where your particular problems are. This reminded me of the ankle mobility test that your PT gave you - and in fact, that is one of his tests. For each test, he gives each possible result and what that means for you, and what exercises or stretches to do to resolve issues. Here are the tests:
- Hip mobility test (relating to pelvic tilt and hip flexors)
- Two ankle mobility tests
- Posture test
- Foot mobility test
- Foot control test
- Hip alignment check (not really a test)
Interspersed with these tests are the exercises and stretches that he indicates will help with the various issues identified. Fortunately, I don't seems to have any distinct mobility restrictions or issues, according to these tests. That seems surprising to me because I have really poor flexibility in some areas, but he does take care to define flexibility and mobility as different.
After this portion of the books, he talks about how to "Build a Bigger Spring" to improve your running. He discusses how mobility and strength training need to go together. He gets into strength training with significant weight and also discusses the value of plyometric training. Then he goes through explanations for many strength training exercises, including core exercises. There are numerous photos.
Finally, he puts together 15 workouts that are built from the exercises he described earlier in the book. Six of them are "precision movement" workouts rather than heavy strength training.
What I really like about this book is the fact that I can actually take out the routines and workouts that he builds and fit them into my overall exercise plan. He even talks about when you should be doing which types of workout (i.e., off-season or not), how often they should be done, whether there is a concern of doing them near a hard/long run, and when to discontinue them prior to a big race.
In fact, even before the 15 workouts, there are 7 of what I call "routines" that he lists as addressing various issues in the first portion of the book. My only complaint about these is he doesn't say whether these should be done on their own, and if so, before the 15 workouts? And for how long should each be done? I am thinking that: 1) these are all very useful routines for me to do; 2) this is a long-term program, so I shouldn't rush things. So I am doing these routines each for about 4 weeks at 2x per week. They are generally pretty low-intensity, so there shouldn't be any performance issues. (And in the mean time for strength training, I will continue with the routines I'm currently doing.)
An issue I am seeing for later on is that I'm going to need access to a lot more weight for some of the exercises. I like that he gives goals to reach for (i.e., the barbell hip thrust should reach 2x body weight; barbell back squat should reach 1.3 - 1.5x body weight), but right now I don't have that much weight. But it will take me quite a long time to get there.
Those are my thoughts for now. We'll see how things progress.
