What’s the quickest way to improve your IPPT score? Our answer is the ultimate IPPT workout, a 15 min routine with two sets of the following exercise selection and sequence:

1. Foam Rolling

We start off with one minute of foam rolling. This can be either on your pecs, your lats, or your upper back.

Ultimately, our goal here is to increase your range of motion for your next exercise, the push up.

This is so that you can go lower on your push ups, avoiding no-counts during the IPPT.

2. Push Up Progression

After one minute of rolling, we go onto the next exercise, push ups.

For this workout, we’re going to do as many reps as possible, even if it takes more than a minute.

If you can’t manage five proper push ups yet, start off by doing it first on an incline on a stable platform or on your knees.

This is as mentioned in our push up video, where we also covered why we are doing maximum reps.

3. Hip Flexor Stretch Progression

The next exercise is the hip flexors stretch, and our goal here is to give you some time to rest after an all out effort for push ups, as well as prepare you for the next exercise, which targets your glutes.

There are a few ways you can stretch your hip flexors, and one way is to go into high kneeling position, raising the foam roller as high as you can, and then gently pushing you hips forward.

Do 12 reps of this, breathing out whenever you’re going into the stretch, and use this exercise to slow down your heart rate.

If this is too easy for you, you can always do it with a lunge, as well as other progressions.

To get the gist of this exercise, just try doing a glute bridge before and after stretching your hip flexor. You should be able to achieve greater range of motion after the stretch. Hence the sequence.

4. Glute Bridge Progression

And the purpose of this exercise is to improve your running, or in this case, your 2.4.

We’re only going to do 12 reps of this exercise, so if this is too easy, progress to tougher variations like the single leg glute bridge, and then the single leg deadlift and then add thoracic spine rotation if you need.

The whole idea is that we progress from bilateral to unilateral exercises to prepare for plyometric exercises as mentioned in our strength training for runners video.

The combination of strength and plyometric training will translate over to different areas of your running, and depending on your context, you’ll need a different mix of both to improve your 2.4.

5. Sit Up Variation

The next exercise is sit ups, or more specifically, something that will help you improve your sit ups.

To improve your IPPT sit up score, if you’re unable to do consecutive sit ups for a minute, work on getting there by doing as many sit ups as you can.

Once your challenge becomes less of doing sit ups consecutively for one minute and more of increasing your sit up speed for them to count during IPPT, work on more explosive sit ups by first doing weighted sit ups and then faster sit ups.

For that, you might need something like a bag of rice or some form of weights. If you don’t have those in your house, you can improvise by doing sit ups with the foam roller above your head.

Alternatively, you can swap the sit up for leg raises to improve your hip flexor strength. Likewise, doing it fast will also help you improve your sit up speed.

6. Lateral Squat Variation

The purpose of this exercise is to help you with your running.

Specifically, we want to progress towards plyometric exercises which includes hopping sideways because running involves not only going forward, but also less obvious lateral and rotational movements.

A sample progression is lateral squats, then lunges, followed by lunging with thoracic spine rotation, then assisted lateral hops, and then unassisted clockwise and anticlockwise hops.

Regardless of the variation you choose, go for 12 reps of the exercise.

7. Side Plank Variation

Next up, we have the exercises that trains your abductors and adductors. Or in layman terms, the inside and outside of your legs.

The purpose of these exercises is, once again, to improve your run.

Variations for the adductors, a sample progression is single leg side plank, runner’s side plank, and copahagen plank.

Pick the exercises most suited to your capabilities, and do 12 reps of those.

It’ll help you with your lateral strength, rotation strength, and counter rotation strength. And these will help you handle your running better.

8. Lateral Leg Raise Variation

For the abductors, start with side lying lateral raises, then progress to side kneeling leg raises, and side kneeling kicks.

Likewise, do 12 reps of these.

9. Calf Raise Variation (Optional)

Last but not least, we have an optional exercise in the routine – 30 single leg calf raises, alternating each side as you go along.

While doing this, also add in dorsiflexion on the other foot, which means pointing you feet towards you.

This exercise as optional because the goal here is to get you to baseline strength. Once you have that, it usually makes more sense to do future progressions with weights.

Until then, if you find doing these single leg calf raises and dorsiflexions challenging, work on them or start with doing both legs at the same time.

You’ll need the strength when you run, or at the very least, to keep running sustainably injury-free.

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