Exercises for Getting Your Knees High for Running

The purpose of high-knee drills for running is to encourage efficient forward motion. Correct knee lift in running comes from proper form and shouldn't be forced. Exercises that elicit high knees do so by focusing on correct posture with attention mostly on the extension or the recovery phase of your running stride. Because many running videos, books and illustrations for high-knee drills show incorrect form, it's important to understand why you are doing the exercise and how you can correct your own form. Doing form exercises two or three times a week will give you noticeable results.

  1. High-Knee Drill

    • The high-knee drill encourages knee lift. Done correctly, this drill demonstrates how the recovery or extension phase of your stride -- the part that allows your heel to come up behind you -- is naturally followed by your knee lifting. Most people don't use proper form and lean back during this drill. To correct this problem, try the drill with a partner. Face each other and have your partner put his or her hands on your shoulders. Lean forward from your ankles into your partner's hands and begin to run forward, lifting your knees up high as you push off the ground with each stride. Your partner will have to move backwards as you move forward. Once you have the feel of good form, try the exercise without your partner. Two sets of 50 meters is plenty for these kinds of drills.

    Butt Kicks

    • Butt kicks are similar to the high-knee drill. These will improve both your range of motion and your leg turnover. Start out running, making sure you are leaning forward from your ankles. As you move forward, bring your heels up toward your glutes in a quick motion. It will look almost as if you are trying to kick yourself in the butt with each stride. Make sure you feel your hamstring muscles engage and swing your arms in coordination with your legs, bringing your right arm up as your left knee rises, as you would when you run. You will feel the exercise mostly in your glutes and hamstrings.

    Bounds

    • Leg power is essential for good running form. Bounds look like a running stride suspended in air with the front knee up high. These drills will work your quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves. Begin with a slow jog and, when ready, leap forward and upward using a high knee with the leading leg. Drive yourself up using your arms, making sure your right arm and left knee swing up at the same time. Land on that same leg and immediately move into another bound, this time leading with the opposite leg. Do two or three sets of eight bounds with a recovery jog between each set.

    Skipping

    • Skipping increases lower-leg power and aids in upward motion. You will notice your quads, calves and hamstrings being worked. This exercise can be playful, but it requires a great deal of energy, more than the skipping you remember doing as a child. The skipping drill is similar to the high-knees drill, only it requires more rhythm with an added skipping or hop step with each stride. Your arms should be at a 90-degree angle at the elbow, as they are when you run. Begin by skipping forward, only drive your leading knee and your opposite arm upward as you skip step. Your arms and legs should be in coordination like they are when you run, but the motions are exaggerated. Switch sides and continue skipping, propelling yourself both forward and upward with each stride.