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DR.ROMANOV'S ARTICLES Dr.Romanov has written many articles. Easy to read and understand, these articles will help you understand Pose Method® better and will introduce you to a new approach to running and training.
POSETECH.COM (US)
August 24, 2004
Pose Method for Senior Runners
by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
This topic became very popular recently in discussions on the running forum on this website. I understand it completely because I had lots of experience with this particular running group during my personal training work. At this age the necessity to change the lifestyle becomes urgent, because the previous sedentary life brings so much negative consequences that they force you to start doing something about it.
But for most newcomers the world of exercise is mostly inaccessible because of the absence of basic skills, so their choice naturally goes to a seemingly simplest exercise - running, where, by a commonly accepted opinion, you don't need to learn anything, you just know how to run, because it is the most "natural" movement on Earth.
Lots of people were caught dead in this trap with all its consequences: injuries, frustrations, unhappiness and so on. Then their bad experience scares the followers and creates an opinion that at this age you can't start running and gain something valuable for yourself.
Do not rush to any conclusions yet, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You just need to learn how to run, as you did with everything else in your life. At the beginning it may seem unreal, but believe me, it is very real. It would only require your efforts and your time to go through. You have to learn to think, feel, see and do something you never thought you should do to make your life more enjoyable, but this is the case.
By the age of 50 most people accumulate lots of bad habits and fears, which they have never been aware of. The first steps will take a lot from you, and you'll need to open your mind, feelings, adjust your muscles' work and neuromuscular patterns for these changes in order to start building a new you. It's a long way and your life in running will be long, too.
The first hurdle is your mind. Are you really ready to sacrifice and keep going, when the pleasure is not even on the horizon? Do you believe that you are capable of doing what needs to be done? I could assure you that it's quite possible for any level you are at, if we are not talking of Olympic level performance as your final goal. If it's so, then, please, welcome to the new world of running with the Pose Method®.
The second obstacle is your neuromuscular coordination. Not the strength of your muscles yet, it'll be our next step. Did you notice that you can allow yourself a very limited use of your body? Any deviations from your routine, your well established life habits of movement are very difficult. You get up from your bed, walk around the house and get to your car. That’s about it. In a car back maneuver you have a problem to turn your head or neck, or your torso around its own excess. Changing the lines is also a problem for the same reason as well. Yielding to a lady at the door confuses your movements and you prefer not to do it at all. In other words, your space/time perception is far away from your needs when they extend beyond your routine life. Running is even further away from your expectations.
But then you listen to your fellow runners, read the "Runner's World" magazine and get the wrong idea that running is possible for you without any preparation for it. Just get a pair of cushioning, motion control shoes and you are ready to run. That's where all your problems, frustrations, pain and no pleasure have found you. Was it what you were looking for?
Now you finally got the idea: if you want to run with pleasure, you have to learn how to do it, as everything else in your life, like driving a car. You need to get a license first, before you hit the road. Ignoring this simple rule will only extend your misery.
The Pose Method® offers you the simplest way to reach your goal, but you have to start learning how to run. On the surface, the running technique requires only elementary coordination, but it is difficult because you never learnt it. That's why, for example, a simple requirement to keep your body weight on the ball of the foot is the problem. You never did this before consciously, so your muscles are not familiar with this request, particularly when you run fast or long. But to keep your body weight there is the crucial point of the whole running technique, because you are falling from this point forward by using gravitational pull, the most powerful force available in our movement.
The next thing you need to do is to change support from one foot to the other, while you are falling. Here the next challenge arises, how to pull your foot from the ground while you are falling. Your body just doesn't have any idea about this action, which requires very unusual coordination. In younger years people may have learnt this accidentally, if they trained in some fields where running was part, but by the age of 50 even these people usually lose it. So, there is only one conclusion here, you have to learn it.
When you get the idea about the fall and pull as real actions, then your next step would be to work on your specific and nonspecific strength level. In both fall and pull actions you are working with gravity and gravity doesn't really care how old you are, what is your current position, and how much money you have on your account. Gravity asks you to deal with your weight (that's how gravity manifests itself) and at this moment of truth your muscles should be ready to respond in the best way possible, in each step you produce in your running journey: in the morning, at noontime, in the evening, uphill/downhill, under the rain, against the wind, in a warm or cold weather the rules are still the same. You have to deal with them.
Age is a relative issue. In most cases, your psycho-emotional condition is much more important than your biological one, which, of course, I don't want to dispute, but still. When you learn to run, you have to forget about your age and get into the learning mood without any hesitations or embarrassment, otherwise you'll never learn anything.
You also need to develop a proper perception about your body in space/time/efforts terms. When you turn right or left, produce your pull or push actions in certain rhythm and with the minimum necessary muscular efforts for these movements, you work on your proper neuromuscular patterns.
In a short version my advice is going to:
- Set your mental condition to pursue your running goals;
- Start from developing coordination and perception in your body;
- Develop a necessary beginning level of specific strength;
- Increase your level of coordination and specific perception for running;
- Help you go to the next level of strength conditioning related to springiness/elasticity in running;
- Increase the length and speed of your running as long as you can maintain the proper running technique;
- Help you learn new elements, perception of running.
Your physical abilities are limited, but your skills have no limits. It is a life long journey.
So don't be afraid to start your journey, the reward will be priceless: a new lease on your life. Isn't it something you were looking for?
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