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Physiorun
The Classroom
Your Weekly Running Strength Class
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This Week’s Class
Range Rover
A full hip mobility and stability circuit — unlocking your range, one direction at a time.
3 rounds throughout · 9 exercises
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Most runners train their hips for strength and forget to ask them for range. This week’s Classroom class puts that right — a full tour through every direction your hip is built to move in, before asking it to hold and control that range under load.
This circuit moves through both in the same breath — 90/90 rotations and internal rotation drills that unlock range, woven in between lateral steps, lunges and single-leg balance work that puts that range straight to use under load.
Nine exercises, three rounds, one continuous circuit — mobility and strength trained together rather than treated as two separate sessions.
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The Circuit · 3 rounds
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Unlock & Load
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1
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90/90 Rolls (Back Against the Wall) × 1 minute × 3
Seated with both knees bent to 90°, one leg in front and one out to the side, rock between positions using the wall behind you for control. Builds internal and external hip rotation together — the foundation range your hips need for the rotation that happens in every stride.
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2
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Lateral Step Lift × 30 seconds each side × 3
Step laterally up onto a high box or chair, driving through the stepping leg without letting the pelvis drop or tip. Builds single-leg hip strength in the sideways plane — the control that keeps your pelvis level mid-stride.
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3
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Sitting Leg Lift (Hip Flexion) × 30 seconds each side × 3
Seated tall, lift one leg from the hip without leaning back or rounding through the spine. Trains the hip flexor to work on its own, powering the leg swing that carries you into every next stride.
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4
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Curtsey Lunge onto Step/Chair × 30 seconds each side × 3
Step one leg back and across behind you onto a raised step or chair, lowering under control. Combines hip strength with rotational stability, asking the glute medius to control the hip through a diagonal plane most training ignores.
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5
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Adductor Rock Back × 30 seconds each side × 3
Four-point kneeling with one leg out to the side in abduction, rock your weight back towards that leg. Loads the inner thigh and adductors through a lengthened range — a muscle group that’s easy to neglect but essential for controlling side-to-side hip movement.
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6
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Side Lying Foam Roller Internal Rotation × 30 seconds each side × 3
Lying on your side with a foam roller between your knees, rotate the top leg to lift the foot while the knee stays anchored on the roller. Isolates internal rotation specifically — a range that’s commonly tight in runners and often the quiet cause of compensation further down the leg.
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7
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Side Lying Internal Rotation × 30 seconds each side × 3
Same side-lying position, this time without the roller, rotating the top leg through internal rotation under your own control. Takes away the external support, so the hip has to find and control that range by itself.
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8
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Aeroplanes × 30 seconds each side × 3
Balance on one leg, hinge forward with arms out wide, then rotate the torso open and closed while staying balanced. Combines single-leg balance, hip rotation and core control all at once — a true test of everything the rest of the circuit has just built.
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9
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Kneeling C.A.R.S (Hand Support) × 30 seconds each side × 3
Kneeling with hands down for support, take one hip slowly through its full Controlled Articular Rotation — the complete circle of movement your hip joint is capable of. The gold standard for finding, and keeping, the outer edges of your range.
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Watch the full class
Follow Along on YouTube
▶ Watch the Class on YouTube
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Want More Classes Like This?
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🏅 4 classes a month for just £7 — under £2 a class, less than a coffee
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Weekly Blog
Your Hips Have More to Give: Why Range Matters as Much as Strength
Ask most runners about their hips and they’ll talk about strength — glute activation, hip thrusts, banded walks. Ask them about range of motion and the conversation usually stops. Yet a hip that’s strong but stiff is still a hip that’s leaving performance on the table.
Running asks your hip to rotate, extend and flex through a real range every single stride. If that range isn’t available, the body doesn’t just stop moving — it borrows movement from somewhere else, usually the lower back or the knee, to make up the difference. That borrowed movement is where a lot of “unexplained” niggles quietly begin.
This is where tools like Controlled Articular Rotations — the full, slow circles you’ll feel in today’s C.A.R.S drill — have become a staple of modern mobility training. Rather than just stretching a muscle, they train your nervous system to actively control a joint through its complete range, which is a very different (and more durable) kind of flexibility.
But range on its own isn’t the finish line either. A hip that can rotate freely but can’t hold a position under load is still a liability mid-run. That’s why today’s circuit doesn’t separate the two — mobility and strength drills sit side by side, so the range you unlock gets put to work immediately rather than waiting for a second session.
Range Rover is built around that pairing — unlock the movement, then control it, in the same circuit. Nine exercises, three rounds, every direction your hip is built to move in.
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Top Tip of the Week
Move to the Edge, Not Past It
On the 90/90 rolls and the C.A.R.S drill especially, the temptation is to chase a bigger range by forcing through it. Don’t. The goal is to find the true edge of your current range and build control there, not to muscle past it and lose quality.
Move slowly enough that you could stop and hold at any point in the circle. If you’re moving too fast to pause on command, you’re moving too fast to actually be training the range — you’re just passing through it.
Done consistently, that edge moves outward on its own over the coming weeks — no forcing required.
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Nine exercises, three rounds, every direction — mobility and strength trained side by side, not as two separate sessions. Give your hips the full range this week, not just the strength.
James
Physiorun
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Runner’s Injury Guides
Dealing With Something Specific?
If you’re carrying a niggle right now, these dedicated guides walk through what’s going on and how to work through it:
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