Jay Dicharry: Developing Athleticism and Functional Fitness For Better Endurance Performance

We are joined by biomechanics expert and functional guru Jay Dicharry, PT, to develop your offseason and ongoing functional strength program for better endurance sports performance and injury resilience. On this episode we dive into how endurance athletes (runners, triathletes, etc) can develop better overall athleticism, neuromuscular fitness, coordination and motor control: Stability and mobility needs for runners and triathletes How to restore motion (mobility) and develop stability Planes of motion: saggital, frontal, horizontal Exercise focus examples: lateral stability, core, hips, legs, foot, ankle joint Why it's important to work with your unique anatomy (we're not all from the same cookie cutter) Try this: foam roller between shins, drive big toes into ground Reactive vs proactive balance (reactive = flopping; proactive = you CAN stabilize) Common exercises Jay continually prescribes to athletes that work Shoulder blade position & its importance Pigeon Bridges with the glutes, and not your back or hammys Talking about overhead squats and hip hinges, and why these are specific to an endurance athlete's overall wellness and performance (despite what some may argue) Lacrosse balls or Yoga Tune-Up Balls for T-spine mobility Avoiding over-prescribing and keeping it simple How often if ever does Jay see his programs not work or take way longer than expected... and why? Why do certain runners get the same injuries in the same spot over and over. On injury rehab: why rest is good initially to decrease inflammation but it DOES NOT cure the problem The Linsey Corbin story of 2014: A 9-mile long run for Kona coming off injury, how realistic is this for the rest of us? More resources from Jay: Anatomy for Runners (book) His blog Getting ready to go minimal Fixing broken runner