Pliability for Runners

What is Pliability?

I love and believe in pliability. In fact, improving my pliability was a major reason I was able to set the world record while staying healthy and injury-free. Pliability works!
Becca Pizzi, first American to run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days

Pliable is defined as a person or thing that easily bends or is influenced. It can describe anything from leather, plastic, or wood to the nature of public opinion, and everything in between. In the realm of exercise physiology, the word pliability takes on a similar connotation and can be defined as the ability of our soft-tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia) to be compressed without excessive resistance or discomfort. It is a clear, easily deduced physical attribute that many exercise professionals now rely on when assessing an athlete s or client s health and fitness.

Pliability is the foundation of muscle health. A muscle that is not pliable cannot contract, cannot gain strength or power, lacks nutrition and hydration, is prone to injury and cannot perform as intended.
Physical therapist William Hernandez with Delos Therapy

Delos Therapy is a thriving physical therapy practice based out of Chicago and is part of a recent movement in the health/fitness industry. This movement values improving pliability before anything else before strength, before flexibility, before training. This simple concept has been known and practiced by individuals for decades, and over the past 10 years is moving quickly into the mainstream (including Tom Brady's TB12 training center, where the pliability of NFL football players is valued just as much as pure strength).

As Mr. Hernandez suggested, pliability is perhaps the single most important building block from which a healthy, strong, and coordinated athlete can be fully developed.

Are Your Muscles Pliable?

If you are pliable your muscles are soft when relaxed, and while relaxed, feel little to no

Table of Contents

Pliability: A Global Challenge
Stopping the Injury Cycle
What is Pliability?
The Science Behind Pliability
Getting Started: Learn About You
Improving Pliability is in Your Hands
Self-Tests: Range Of Motion
Self-Tests: Strength
Final Checklist
10-Week Programs for Returning to Running
FAQs Pliability for Junior Athletes Pliability for Explosive Sport Athletes
Pliability for Job-Based Running Requirements
Pliability for Master Runners
Final Thoughts: A Coach s Perspective
References

Joseph McConkey, MS, is a running coach and exercise physiologist, specializing in deducing and correcting causative factors to repetitive motion injury. He has worked with the full spectrum of running athletes, from first-time runners, to marathoners around the world, to Olympic athletes at the elite high altitude training camps of Ethiopia and Kenya. He has coached at the club, college, and pro levels and have been the director of the Boston Running Center's Gait Analysis Lab for the last 10 years. Joseph's expertise on injury-prevention has him regularly presenting at hospitals, rehab centers, running camps, and club events. Joseph holds the highest accreditation by the USA Track and Field Association and the IAAF (the international governing body of track and field), as well as a Masters in Exercises Science with a focus on Injury Prevention and Sports Performance.