In the eyes of many, the run reconditioning phase can be seen as merely a tick box to enable overground running. But not for Shane Kelly. Over 15 years working with British Athletics and the Royal Ballet has solidified this phase’s importance.

And when the classic ‘few laps to warm up’ is a calf’s worst nightmare, navigating this phase is critical.

Shane’s two-part Masterclass is overflowing with clinical take homes, but it’s his ability to traverse this pre-run phase that highlighted his experience.

It’s simple on the surface, but highly complex once dissected. Importantly, it’s consistent. It follows a very logical and systematic flow with each drill repeated across 10-20m depending on the phase (Fig. 1).

The deliberately shorter distances allows for high quality skill execution.

No boundary line plods.

As the athlete progresses, reducing the rest periods also enables a significant aerobic stimulus. Yes, this benefits their cardiovascular system, but importantly from a psychological perspective, this can be highly engaging for an athlete who hasn’t been running.

From this foundation, Shane then layers in his preferred exercises when rehabilitating a calf muscle injury (Fig. 2). All of which feature in Part 2 of his Masterclass.

Figure 2: A comprehensive overview of the drills Shane Kelly uses within each phase (*Click to enlarge)

The beauty of Shane’s earlier framework is its ability to be applied to any rehabilitation model. For example, Figure 3 (below) disects his progressions into further subclassifications.

This can act as a great framework when planning a mid-long term rehab.

Simply add or subtract other subclassifications such as region (proximal vs distal), muscles, joint dominance (uniarticular vs biarticular) and rotational demands depending on the injury.

Previous work from Chris Bramah (2021) and colleagues highlighted the kinematic changes of male runners with a history of recurrent calf muscle strains (Figure 4).

And whilst true casuality is multifactorial, this study highlighted there may be persistent neuromuscular deficits of the hip and calf muscle complex post injury. Therefore, depending on your athlete, this run reconditioning phase can provide a great opportunity to address any applicable kinematics.

The final piece that’s embedded throughout this run reconditioning Masterclass surrounds how to incorporate monitoring systems (Fig 5). When applied judiciously, tests such as isometric strength, 10:5 and drop jumps may all be important during the run reconditioning phase.

In many ways, it’s this Performance Model (Fig. 5) that perfectly captures Shane’s approach to his run reconditioning. Systematic and incredibly consistent.

For those seeking more:

Watch Part 1 of Shane Kelly’s Masterclass here

Watch Here

Listen to Episode 6 on the Sports MAP’s ‘How I Rehab’ Podcast with Shane Kelly

Listen Here

Re-read Brady Green’s The Assessment, Management and Prevention of Calf Muscle Strain Injuries: A Qualitative Study of the Practices and Perspectives of 20 Expert Sports Clinicians (2022)

Read Here

Reference List

Bramah C, Preece SJ, Gill N, Herrington L. Kinematic Characteristics of Male Runners With a History of Recurrent Calf Muscle Strain Injury. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2021 Jun 1;16(3):732-740.

Green, B., McClelland, J.A., Semciw, A.I. et al. The Assessment, Management and Prevention of Calf Muscle Strain Injuries: A Qualitative Study of the Practices and Perspectives of 20 Expert Sports Clinicians. Sports Med - Open 8, 10 (2022).