SOUND MIND SOUND BODY: ASICS HOME TRAINING PROGRAMME

The Asics Frontrunner Team demonstrates how to maintain a sound mind and sound body while training at home solo or with your family.

No matter what kind of runner you are, it’s important to maintain a sound mind and body to stay healthy, which is why we’re sharing some top tips from the Asics Frontrunner team. Below they highlight some of the different ways in which we can maintain both our physical and mental fitness, with everything from family workouts, running, and training, to creating a home gym and having a go at yoga to mix it up a little.

During these changing times of staying at home it is important to maintain a sound mind and body to keep our health. This series brought to us by the Asics Frontrunner team highlights the many different ways in which we can do this, from family workouts, running and training, to making a home gym and some yoga to mix it up a little.

ASICS - the name is inspired by the acronym for the Latin expression "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano" ("You should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body"). These words made a deep impression on founder Mr. Onitsuka, inspiring his dedication to making athletic shoes with the aim of nurturing healthy minds and bodies of young people through sports in post-war Japan.

And so the mantra “Sound Mind, Sound Body was born”.

Forty-five years later and once again we are faced with unprecedented uncertainty and stress. BUT just as Mr Kihachiro believed, I too believe and know that when we are sound in mind, we are sound in body. The two go together and are inextricably linked. With a healthy mind, we will be motivated to move however we desire and when we move our bodies, we move our minds to become optimistic, energised and clear.

A Sound Mind...

...is not necessarily devoid of stress. Stress is an insidious and ever-present part of life coming from work, family, sport or competition demands. When we experience these things our autonomic nervous system is switched on; we have a rush of hormones and neurotransmitters (e.g. adrenaline and cortisol) so we can contend with whatever the demand/stressor is. This is a finely tuned system that allows us to activate energy and oxygen and quickly transport it to where it’s needed most (our heart, lungs, muscles, and brain) not to the things we don’t need right at that moment; such as digestion and sleep. As such, stress helps us be ready and perform. We must embrace it and learn to have a sound mind so we can navigate it in a more positive way.

A Sound Mind is a mind that notices, accepts and respects this stress response.

A Sound Mind is one that can deal with elevated stress before it becomes a problem or leads to low mood.

A Sound Mind is one that isn’t so overwhelmed that it tips our physiology into a state of overdrive or exhaustion

A Sound Body...

…is one which is ready and able to handle the physiological demands that our bodies go through in times of stress. It absorbs training stress and/or life stress well, bouncing back to perform again when needed. And most importantly a Sound Body is also one that has its needs met. These include movement, sleep, nutrition, self-care, rest and recovery.

1. Full Body Workout with David Flacke

David Flacke is an Asics FrontRunner, Personal trainer, Neuroathetics and passionate athlete from Cologne, Germany

7 Exercise circuit training:

Lunges Front + Back
Squat Combination
Push up + Kneelift
Front Crawl
Seesaw
Side Plank
Plank Jacks

2. Running Drills and Skills with Dennis Light

Dennis Light is an Asics FrontRunner, run coach and independent entrepreneur from Beekbergen, Netherlands

10 Running Drills

Hiplock
Tripling
High Knees
A-skips
High knees single leg
High knees squat combo
B-skips
Butt-kicks
Straight leg bounds
C-skips

3. Yatzy Workout for the Family with Kim Borge Kolstad

Kim Borge Kolstad is an Asics FrontRunner, HR advisor from Jessheim, Norway

Rules:

Define how many exercises you want to play with
One dice for kids and two dices for adults
Every eye is 10 seconds of activity
Have fun

The eyes show the amount of repetitions, for static exercises every eye is 10 seconds. Begin with a fun warm up before the game.

4. Train like a Pro with Louisa Lippman

Louisa Lippman is an Asics Athlete, Volleyball player from Germany.

Exercises:

Lunges (10x per leg / both sides)
Sea Urchin / goldfish 10x
Hip bridge 10x
Plank on ball 30-45sek
Moving arms in Sling (6x every side = 12x)

10-15 repetitions, 2-3 rounds. If you don’t have a pilates ball or sling you can change these exercises to push ups, sit ups and a plank for 30-60 sec.

5. Make Your Own Gym at Home with Rey Smart

Rey Smart is an Asics FrontRunner, Personal trainer from London.

Exercises

Legs:

Weighted lunges
Squat Press
Jump squats

Arms:

Upright rows
Biceps curls
Walk downs

Core

V sits with (knee tucks)
Russian Twists
Plank rows

10 reps and 2 sets. Complete the 9 exercises and then do another set.

6. Yoga for Runners with Sandra Blanz

Sandra Blanz is an Asics FrontRunner, Yoga instructor, Co-owner of Yogasana from Cologne, Germany.

Exercises

Seated Twist
Cat Cow with hip opener
Cat Cow
Deep Low Lunge
Twisted Low Lunge
Savasana

Do every pose on both sides for 5 deep breaths

7. Glute Strengthening Circuit for Improving Running Form with Eilish McColgan

Eilish McColgan is a 3000 metres steeplechase and 5000 metres runner. She represented Team GB at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016 and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018. She is the Scottish record holder in the 3000 metres steeplechase with a time of 9:35.82.

Glute strengthening circuit for improving running form

Exercises: