OTHER ARTICLES A collection of articles on various POSE and other running related topics written by and/or about Pose Method® Certified Coaches and Pose Runners of all levels.
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Jeff with Nicholas Romanov, Ph.D. in Connecticut for Coaching Certification
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POSETECH.COM (USA)
May 10, 2007
A way out of Pain: Bring Enjoyment Back to Running
by Jeff Lambert-Shemo, ATC
Mention the phrase “POSE Method of running” in a running store and you are likely to receive a
blank stare or a look of distaste. Many, dare I say most, members of the running community view
running as an organic experience that requires little or no training … really, just a road, a pair of shoes,
and some heavy breathing. These same individuals tend to believe that adjusting a person’s natural gait
will only end in injury, pain, and tragedy. Yet, 65 percent of runners who lace up their sneakers and hit
the pavement will be injured in a given year, a number which has remained constant since the 1970’s. In
addition, according to the most recent studies, runners in America spend about $26 billion a year on
treatment for their running injuries.
How can this be if shoe companies are continually updating their shoes to protect us from injuries
during this most natural and organic activity? The answer is that running, like any other sport, requires a
technical expertise.
Which is where the POSE Method comes in. In the mid 1970’s, a Russian physical education
student on his way to earning his Ph.D. created a “method of movement” around the sport of Track and
Field. Dr. Nicholas Romanov developed those ideas into a system that has been taught to high-level and
recreational athletes around the world, and in North America since 1993, when he moved to the United
States.
Simply put, the POSE Method teaches runners how to use the forces of nature, especially gravity,
to their advantage, rather than fighting against them. The outcome is the elimination of the pounding
forces that shock the body with every step, which is what normally results in injuries. As a side effect,
POSE Method runners will also discover increased speed, efficiency, cadence and endurance.
Preventing running injuries can be confounding. Despite spending 10 years as a certified athletic
trainer and strength and conditioning coach, I had no idea until recently how to analyze a runner’s stride,
gait, cadence, speed or even efficiency to help them improve as a runner -- even when it came to
analyzing my own running technique. Unlike most any other sports (i.e. golf, baseball, football, soccer),
there is no standard with which to compare one runner to another until utilizing the POSE Method of
running.
I have had a long history of longing to be a “crazy” runner who has the ability to rise with the sun
and glide down the road with ease, smiling as their feet accept the pavement gently and bound forward to
the next wonderful foot plant. Unfortunately for me, my runs were more a jumble of grunting, sweating
and feet crushing the pavement below for 3, then 4, then 5 miles, then a week later, 6 miles. Then one
day, “BANG!” Shin pain, ice, stretch, exercise, try again, forced to take 6 weeks off -- spend another $86
on shoes that will supposedly save me from injury next time, and try again -- to the same result after 3
months.
In the end, I had decided “I am not a runner.” Even though I had participated in athletics my
entire life and have always been fairly fit, strong and healthy, I could not be a runner…until now.
I first received the POSE Method DVD from my parents for Christmas, then the book in January.
I started to run and train utilizing these resources, experiencing moments of greatness realized with
effortless running and lightly tapping feet on the frozen tundra below. These breakthroughs would last
mere minutes and rarely for an entire mile, but I would wake up the next day and give it another go…and
I was improving! Running was slowly becoming easier on my legs and more enjoyable in my mind, even
if I was still icing my legs every day. Then I decided to jump in with both feet (ice bags still attached.)
I noticed that Dr. Nicholas Romanov would be traveling to Connecticut for a POSE Method
Running Clinic and Coaches Certification Level 1 (out of 3)…I felt a strong desire to attend, and
eventually worked out the logistics.
On March 15th, 2007, I was in Connecticut. The night before my real debut to the world of the
POSE Method, I laid on my hotel bed with ice on my feet and my shins. I had grand hopes that Friday’s
running would be light, and Dr. Romanov would address my running technique, completely eliminating
my pain.
Day one was great. After 12 hours with Dr. Romanov, my mind was overflowing with
information about gravity, physics, the running POSE, PULLing my feet from the ground, feeling my
bodyweight on the ball of the foot, falling forward, and focusing on my perception of running. At the
end of the day, Dr. Romanov, another coaching prospect and I went out for Chinese Food, had a Tsingtao,
and retired to our rooms for a well-deserved rest. Day one required NO RUNNING! It was working. My
feet were already feeling better!
The next morning I woke sure that we would run at some point, so I swallowed 3 Ibuprophen
caplets with my eggs, bacon, Belgian waffle and coffee (hotel buffet…couldn’t resist). The day began
with lecture…Gravity, Physics and Perception. As a “Coach in Training” I was confident in my newly
acquired understanding of correct technique, and was hoping that this would assist me with my own
application of the technique which I had felt only intermittently back in Ohio.
Following a few hours of lecture, Dr. Romanov stood behind an impressively complex video
camera to capture our running technique for all to see. My legs were getting nervous. I had to perform
just 30 meters running slowly and 30 meters running fast, and my feet ended up feeling more painful than
ever.
Following the short run, Dr. Romanov taught us a few drills based on his quick dissection of the
groups’ skill and technique, and my feet began to feel a little better. He asked us to do a little more
running incorporating even more of the drills we had performed, and my feet were felling pretty good.
Running began to get easier with PULL-POSE- FALL echoing within my cortex along with Dr. R’s
favorite quote – “Pull God*%mn your foot from the ground.”
As we walked back to the classroom and I contemplated filling some bags with ice, I realized that
my feet no longer hurt. In addition, the Ibuprophen I had taken in the morning had definitely worn off
hours earlier. “This was working.” Our group reconvened inside and painfully viewed the video of all 15
of us running with terrible technique and little skill; some were trying to run utilizing the POSE Method
we learned from the book, and others were “heel-striking” the way that we have always run naturally.
We concluded our second 12 hour day, and for the first time in two months, my feet and legs did not
require an ice session after running. We were all excited yet tired, so Dr. Romanov and I met up with a
few members of the course for a nice, long dinner to get better acquainted, without running shoes.
Sunday morning, thee Ibuprophen just in case, a bagel, an apple and a cup of coffee (the buffet
was out of my system), more lecture, some flexibility exercises, and off to run on camera and drill again.
By the end of the day I was anxious to watch the latest running videos so I could observe my newly
realized pain-free running technique prior to my flight back to Cleveland. I smiled as I watched myself
run across the screen. Not only did my feet not hurt, but my running looked like the Michael Johnson
200M video we studied the day before -- just not as fast, not as fit, and without an Olympic crowd. I was
amazed that, when viewed in slow motion, I am utilizing a very similar technique to one of the fastest
individuals in history. My feet, according to the video camera, were each touching the ground in the
running POSE for only 1/10th second before PULLing up off of the ground, followed by a FALL back to
the POSE…now this sequence simply continues indefinitely and…SUCCESS.
I bounded through the airport concourse thinking POSE-FALL-PULL. Since the POSE Method
Clinic, I have been running utilizing the technique, and I can say I am finally that guy…the one who
smiles and glides, just at 212 pounds. I am a runner, finally.
Now that I am running correctly, as do all successful POSE Method runners, I wear only minimal
shoes or Racing Flats for running. In the POSE Method, the shock of the foot landing hard on the
pavement does not exist, and a shoe with a big cushioned heel is not necessary. Instead, your body
simply utilizes gravity as you FALL forward and utilize your muscles’ natural elasticity in the running
POSE to begin your next sequence of FALLING. I have learned to run with skill rather than effort, and
within only a few weeks, my mileage returned to 6 miles…and without any pain or soreness, just
enjoyment to be outside again.
The POSE Method is the first and only true standard with which we can evaluate running style,
efficiency, cadence and technique. It is useful for ANY runner and can be performed by elite runners as
well as recreational runners and 10 minute milers. It is the only technique of running which has been
scientifically proven to “reduce eccentric loading of the knee by up to 50%” (Arendse et al., Reduced
eccentric loading of the knee with the Pose Method of Running. Medicine & Science in Sports &
Exercise: Volume 36(2) February 2004 pp 272-277).
Benefits of POSE Method Running
- Radically improved form
- Increased Speed
- Better Endurance
- Decrease Injuries
- Increased Flexibility
- Faster Recovery Time
- Increased Running Efficiency
- Reduce Knee Impact by up to 50%
- Run Faster with Less Discomfort
Jeff Lambert-Shemo, ATC is a Nationally Certified and Ohio Licensed Athletic Trainer, a POSE
Method Certified Coach-Level 1, a Certified Pilates Instructor, and is a Strength and
Conditioning Coach Specializing in POSE Method Running Technique, Sports Specific Total
Body Training (TBT), Home-Based TBT, Functional and Balance TBT, Post-Rehabilitation
TBT, and Flexibility Training. He can be reached through his business and his website
www.JLSfitness.com or by telephone at 440.343.4772. He is located in Lakewood, Ohio and
works with clients all across Northeast Ohio.
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