Good Form Running addresses the four most important biomechanical issues
influencing running form today. Running and walking are important skills to be learned
yet for most of us we have never been taught proper form. Good Form Running is the
opportunity to keep you exercising longer, more efficiently and injury free.
Running faster, in good form, injury free and reaching personal goals are what runners
strive for. As children we ran naturally and in good form without constraints. Through the
years, our footwear has evolved providing cushion and protection for our feet, disabling
our mind/muscle connection. By wearing footwear, our muscles adapt to specific
movement patterns. In many cases these specific movement patterns equate to
inefficient running forms that lead to muscle stress and even injuries. Our muscles and
mind need to be taught how to work efficiently together by practicing good muscle
memory exercises. Good Form Running and proper footwear are keys to lessening the
stresses that causes strain and injuries while running.
Chi running, Pose running, Romanov’s theory and even barefoot running are among the
many types of running forms that are often discussed today. Although you can get lost
in the history of running forms and their individual idiosyncrasies, there are specific
reoccurring body movements that appear within each one. These common principles
are the foundation to Good Form Running: Posture, Lean, Midfoot and Cadence. Our
simple four point guide allows runners of all ages and abilities retool their muscles and
mind to run more efficiently, injury free and maybe even faster.
Posture and Arms
Standing tall, engaging a strong core and staying relaxed are keys in your
transformation to good form. Compromising our posture by leaning past our ankles
forward or backwards redirects our energy into the ground resulting in wasted energy.
You may hear terms such as the “v” position or “bucket seat,” depending on the
direction of the lean. Resetting your posture by reaching for the sky automatically
engages your core to get you out of these positions.
Arm use provides us a significant increase of power. Keep arms relaxed and at a 90°
angle, moving in the forward motion with a strong wrist. Crossing over the body’s
midline or over rotation of wrists, arms and torso can cause undo stress on our knees,
back, neck and shoulders.
Lean
In good posture, a slight lean from your ankles, a mere shift of your body weight
forward, will allow you to utilize gravity to pull you forward versus using muscle force. A
proper lean allows you to engage a strong forward motion from your gluteus, the largest
muscle group in the body. Commonly we drag our leg with the quadriceps, the third
largest muscle, causing us to become unbalanced and our hips to shift within our
running movement.
Midfoot
When we refer to midfoot we are referring to the middle of your foot. Landing
underneath your body on your midfoot gives stability and efficiencies that we lose when
over striding and heel striking occurs. Heel striking is like putting on a brake with each
step potentially causing shin splits, runner’s knee, iliotibial (IT) band syndrome and
other force-production injuries. Over striding sets us up for heel striking and takes away
the use of the greatest spring in our body – the knee. Think about the motion of riding a
bicycle: our knee is slightly bent moving in a circular pattern. Now convey that to the
movement pattern of running: lead with your knee, land on your midfoot and keep the
stride behind you coming from the power of your gluteus.
Cadence
Cadence studies go back to research comparing speed and stride length. Findings
proved that increasing the rate of foot strikes shortened stride lengths and lessen the
opportunity of injuries. Aiming for 180 foot strikes per minutes brings the other 3 point’s
full circle to reach Good Form. Increasing your cadence eliminates the opportunity of
reaching out to heel strike, shifting at the hips or compromising our posture and lean to
unnecessary stress and wasted energy in running.
Long term changes in biomechanics takes many miles of practice and focus but Good
Form Running allows an easy and simple transition to better form. Join runners from all
over the United States who are embracing these 4 simple points. Effective and
immediate Good Form Running is the future of running.
Sign up for a class today or visit
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