How Does Mo Farah Keep His Running Form?

Have a look at Mo's core strength routine designed by The Oregon Project 

If you click on the link below you'll be given an insight into some of the running specific core conditioning routines that Mo Farah and Galen Rupp use to achieve their success. Further down is the story of how The Oregon Project revolutionised the American athletic programs' training methods.

The main principles are to improve your spine and hip strength and control in order to give you a better base from which to drive your legs and arms.

Mo Farah's core routine

The Oregon Project was set up in 2001 by athletics coach Alberto Salazar who had a vision of how to resurrect the once dominant elite American distance athletes. It's goal was simple: to enhance performance whilst reducing injury. The strategy was to ensure that their athletes would not only win once, but again and again without breaking down.

Salazar believed that no athlete was perfect and if underlying biomechanics and movement deficiencies were improved, they could create a stronger more powerful and successful group. This revolutionary approach required a rethink of how an athlete was managed, so the project created a team that gelled elite track coaches with elite strength and conditioning coaches. Each athlete would undergo weekly assessment of their biomechanics, allowing any weaknesses and imbalances to be highlighted and then addressed with  newly designed running specific programs.

In more recent years, the project has become a training stable for some of the most celebrated athletes in the sport. An image that clearly encapsulates it's success comes from the closing stages of the mens 10k final at the London 2012 Olympics as Farah is seen clearing the finishing line to take gold with Rupp just a few strides behind him in silver. 

Watch Mo Farah's core routine and try and add all or some elements of it into your training to help you perform better during your runs and reduce your chances of injury.

Tom Lowes B.Ost MSc (Sports Med)
Registered Osteopath - Sports Injury Rehabilitation

Twitter @SportsMedOsteo