More cross-training for runners: BOSU for ITB syndrome, swimming

I gave the BOSU balance trainer a respectful and terrified shout-out earlier this week, when I learned dozens of new ways it could kick my butt at the gym.

I am now convinced it not only has the ability to kick my butt, but possibly to find world peace. This thing is kind of magical.

My runner-friend Amy suggested her own BOSU routine, suggested to her during physical therapy for ITB syndrome. In addition to sharing a name, she and I share this pain-in-the-butt (or, more appropriately, hip) condition that never, ever seems to go away. Here’s how Amy describes her routine:

First, I do all my exercises with BOSU flat side up, blue side on the floor. Here’s the “runner’s routine” my PT recommended:

-Squats with 10-lb med ball: 3 sets of 8
-1-leg raises in following positions: 3 sets of 15 seconds/each
(all of these require you to balance on one leg in the middle of the ball while doing something else with other leg)
-leg bent 90 degrees at knee (shin parallel to ground)
-leg bent 90 degree at hip (quad parallel to ground)
-leg extended 45 degrees out from side of body
-leg extended back 45 degrees/body forward (think swan)
(Once you get good at all these, close your eyes, which makes it harder to balance and puts more strain on your ITBs)

I thought these would be along the lines of my dreaded leg lifts, which provide an almost-instant sense of stability in my hip muscles, but don’t do much in the way of a traditional workout. Kids, something about these balancing exercises had me sweating like … well, they had me sweating a whole lot. Today, my glutes want to kick my butt (they find they’re not so well positioned to do so, luckily).

Also rocking my cross-training workout world yesterday: a new swim workout modified from this page. My 3,200-yard workout:

300 warmup

3X300 free with pull buoy. Take six hard strokes every 50 yards.

5X200, first 50 fly, next 150 free.

3X300 free with pull buoy. Take six hard strokes every 50 yards.