So I wanted to share a good outline for anyone interested in starting their own running club. These days every gym, studio, or physical fitness place I have noticed starts a little group accountability club AKA a running club. Usually they are only created to instill some sort of community outside of your regularly scheduled programming, and they have little or no barrier to entry.
All you need is a pair of shoes, a leader, and some great weather. You’re all set.
I laid out a few considerations and other topics to include in your club below;
Promote It
Use technology and create a “source of truth”
A common issue in many of these first time clubs, happens when coaches or gyms use their stories to share where they will be meeting. My advice create an event, a group on facebook, or something that people have to signup or press a “confirm” button too. To often a story on your social handle doesn’t really give the accountability that many people need.
- With F45 studios we had the ability to create a “Run Club” class which members could book on the app. This way it’s great to get some metrics and see how many people are booking, and for attendance.
- Create a strava group, facebook group, facebook event, or Garmin group.
More places the better. Remember maybe everyone might not have these social media platforms. Any service that doesn’t require a login would be best, for example creating a special webpage (https://chrissandoli.net/f45run/) <—this was taken down now, is a great way to make sure everyone is not missing information.
Maybe grab some phone numbers and create a whats app group for everyone to be involved. - Remember to capture some photos and videos throughout the whole activity. Be quick and capture your runners in their natural form.
- Ask around through the use of polls, email, text, or in-person and figure out what everyone wants out of this running club. Some will want this for accountability, and others want this to improve their overall fitness.
Welcome Members to the Group
- As soon as you have some new faces in your group, welcome them to the run. Share your background, and what the general idea is of the run for today!
- Ask why they are joining in the club, what their goals might be, and what they want to get out of it.
- List the goals that you have as a run club leader to tell everyone what to expect, and maybe call out some races along the way.
Communicate the plan
Maybe your gym uses microphones, TV screens, or an app to communicate the workout for your team. Well, if you are going running you won’t have any of that (maybe a microphone). This is where you’ll need to have a strong and clear voice to project the route and flow of the running club session. It’s best to plan this route beforehand, and have your warmups and cooldowns prepped as well.
Warmup
Priming the body before we go on our run. It helps get the blood flowing into the parts of our body that we will be using on our run. They are helpful to activate our hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, and core etc. As you’ll notice through the warm these movements are getting more dynamic.
Pick a space about 20 meters long, enough for everyone to start moving themselves forward towards a marking. All exercises done for 30 secs a piece
| Type | Warm Up | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|
| A | Ankle Circles Hip Circles Hamstring Stretch Quad Stretch Lunges Walking Knee Hugs External Hip Rotations Lateral Lunge with Arm Reach across Jumping Jacks Butt Kicks High Knees Side Shuffle Arm Circles | Lunge hold Hamstring stretch Quad Stretch Touch toes High Plank |
| B | Quad Stretch Hip Opener Straight Leg Swings Lunge Hands Overhead Lateral Squat Hamstring Stretch Inch worm Jumping jack Squat touch and reach High Knees A skips Side Shuffle | Downward Dog to Runners Lunge Deep Squat and side to side lateral movement Adductor Rock Back Quad and hip flexor stretch Glute Bridge Lying Figure Four Plank |
| C | Jog half a mile Standing High Pull (knee to chest) Standing glute table top Hamstring ScoopQuad PullSingle Leg Alt RDLA Skip High Knees to Butt Kicks Squats with external hip rotation Lunges with Balance and Side Bends Mountain Climber Glute Bridge to alternating knee drive | Runners lunge Side Lunge Forward fold (touch toes) Quad Pull Reach your toes 90/90 hip sway on the floor |
| D | Jog around the studio Calf Raises → External Rotation + Squat Quad Pull → Hamstring scoops Overhead Lunge → Hamstring PumpTabletop → Spider-Man LungeInchworm → Jumping Jack High Knees → Buttkicks Alt cherry pickers – Bounds Straight Leg | Arm Swings Shoulder Rolls Warrior Twist Left and Right Side Rocking Lunges Deep Squat and Hold Touch Toes Calf Stretch |
Run
- Prepare your run ahead of the actual class time. Make sure that you have your distance laid out whether it’s a 5k or 10k. When planning your route make sure that you avoid as many cross-streets as you can. It adds another variable, and makes it dangerous for your group.
- If you can nominate a few captains in your group to help lead and pace others through the run.
- Check in on members throughout the course to make sure everyone is running a good steady pace.
- Circle back if you need, and let the group finish out the course if you are with the slower paced running group.
Cooldown and Stretching!!
The few sample cooldown routines I have listed in the block above!^
- Spend about 5- 10 minutes going through a more static stretch with the group.
- Take this time to gauge how everyone is feeling after the run, and any thoughts or feedback.
- Most importantly use this time to chat and get to know your members.
After the Run!
Below are a few pointers of what you should do once your run finishes! Keep the engagement and coaching going throughout the week
Share the run!
- Post any photos that you took before, during, or after the run to your social media handles! This is the easiest way to get the word out to other members of your gym that you even offer this as an addition to their regular gym routine.
- The second follower is always the leader. If you have your run club coach, that’s great sharing and posting about it, but the second person in the group is always the leader. They start the momentum and others will join.
- I’ve always found that after the run while you still have a good group, going through some core is always a great way to end the session. Check out DAREBEE 2150+ Workouts if you need some ideas!
Christopher Sandoli 
Leave a comment