Preparing for the London Marathon with TenPilates

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Advice for runners from Master Trainer Luke Meessmann

Luke Meessmann is Master Trainer at Chiswick's TenPilates. Here he gives his advice on how to prepare to run the London Marathon.

Aside from actually running, you need to be performing exercises to improve your core stability, strength and flexibility in order to improve the efficiency of your running and reduce the risk of injury.

The key areas to target and improve are:

• Stability / strength – gluteals (bum), abdominals, adductors (inner thighs)
• Mobility / flexibility – hamstrings, hip flexors, gluteals, calf muscles, quadriceps, spine.

The TenPilates method targets the key areas mentioned above and is one of the most effective method of improving your strength, stability and flexibility in preparation for the London marathon.

Each TenPilates class focuses on isolating and strengthening the muscles that will improve the stability of your hips, legs and lower back, which is of particular concern for runners training for the marathon. The classes also focus on stretching and mobility of areas that are notoriously tight in the running population.

The classes are dynamic, upbeat and fun – providing the perfect environment and training system for cross training for a marathon. The Chiswick studio even has dedicated seasonal classes in the schedule which are designed specifically with runners in mind.

3 Months To Go: Planning and preparation

• Seek the advice of a podiatrist or staff at a professional running centre to have your feet assessed and the correct trainers for your foot type fitted.
• Sign up for the TenPilates running club, running twice weekly from both Chiswick and Notting Hill Studios. You can incorporate this with The London marathon running plans that can be found on their website www.virginlondonmarathon.com. You can choose your fitness level based on their criteria and follow a plan detailing how long you should run for, what type of run you should do each day and also what foods you should be eating to keep your body adequately fuelled during your training.

The TenPilates running club at Chiswick

The team at TenPilates are known for their community spirit and dedication to helping people achieve their fitness goals. As such, three of the trainers (Luke, Neil and Nick) are running the Marathon in April in aid of the British Lung Foundation. To support this worthy cause and also to provide an alternative method of training to our impressively effective method of Dynamic Reformer Pilates we have started a running club in our Notting Hill and Chiswick studios.

The running club is open to everyone (both current and future TenPilates clients alike) and is a great opportunity to meet the trainers and run together with a friendly and sociable group of people (plus improve your fitness along the way).

Running club sessions in Chiswick currently run on Thursday evenings at 6pm and Saturday afternoons at 1pm. The sessions last for 55 minutes and take place on Chiswick common (we run as a group around the common and incorporate steady jogging and interval / speed training into the session). The sessions also incorporate both static and dynamic stretching in order to prepare your muscles for running prior to the session and improve recovery afterwards. The team have also developed a ‘Running with TenPilates’ leaflet which highlights the benefits that our impressive training system offers for runners and also provides a series of foam rolling exercises and stretches designed to maintain flexibility and reduce the risk of injury for all runners.

The running club costs £30 for 30 sessions, and also gives those who join free entry to TenPilates’ upcoming 10K with TEN events, - with all the proceeds going to the British Lung Foundation. So why not pop down to the studio and meet the team and go for a run. We promise you will have a lot of fun, improve your fitness and support a worthy cause doing so. If you would like to support the team in their efforts to raise money for the charity please visit our Justgiving page www.justgiving.com/TenPilates.

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February 16, 2010