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POSE METHOD® BOOK CHAPTERS Quickly becoming a reference book for health professionals and physical education specialists, Pose Method of Running book covers a lot of interesting topics, raises questions and provides answers where there were previously none.
PREFACE to "POSE Method® of Running"
By Nicholas Romanov, Ph.D.
April 18, 2004
This is a book quite unlike any other you have ever read about running. Why? To begin with, it starts with the assumption that there are only four reasons you might pick up another book about running:
1. You want to run faster
2. You want to avoid injury
3. You want to lose weight
4. Someone who had no clue what to give the runner in his or her life gave it to you
Now, here’s why this book is totally different from any other running book out there: it assumes that you don’t know how to run, indeed that very few runners know how to run.
Most running books proceed from the assumption that running is not a skill sport but instead is a training sport. These books center their advice on training information -- how much to run, how hard to run, how to cross-train, what to eat, etc. All of which is valuable information, but doesn’t address the central issue of how one runs.
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Let’s say that you wanted to take up a new sport such as skiing, tennis, golf, ballet or martial arts. Before you got into training for those sports, you would be expected to learn how to do them. It would be the most obvious thing in the world to sign up for lessons or perhaps enroll in a one-week introductory course to get started.
By contrast, the advice given most beginning runners can be summarized as follows: 1) buy a good pair of shoes & 2) don’t run too hard at first. And even if a novice runner did feel the need to seek out professional guidance on running technique, as opposed to training routines, where would he or she turn? Local running clubs? Personal trainers? High school or college coaches? In the absence of any generally accepted theory of how to run, the odds against finding informed, reliable advice are astronomical.
Hence this book, The Pose Method® of Running, the result of over 25 years of studying human movement and developing a singular approach to running technique. Never before has a running book started with the notion that you must first learn how to run before you begin to train for running.
Instead of loading you down with information on exercise heart rates, pacing, tactics, rest, and nutrition – all of which are very important components of the total running experience – The Pose Method® of Running gets right to the heart of the matter with drills and routines designed to make you an efficient, capable runner. And once you know how to run, you’ll find that all the rest of it comes very easily and naturally.
Think about it. If you can’t hit a tennis ball over the net, there is no sense in playing a match. If you can’t drive a golf ball past the end of the tee, why tee it up for 18? And if you can’t run in a relaxed, efficient, injury-free manner, why toe the line at a local 10K or triathlon?
The Pose Method® of Running in all likelihood will be easier to use for novice runners, who have no preconceived notions of technique and training, but it may have more long-term value for veteran runners who may have become frustrated by chronic injuries or failure to improve beyond a certain plateau. The novice will appreciate the simple steps necessary to adapt to the Pose Method® and will literally be able to get off on the right foot in taking up the sport.
By contrast, an experienced runner brings along the baggage and expectations of many years in the sport. Someone who is used to logging 30, 40 or 50 miles a week and knows all his or her PRs (personal records) by heart may balk at the patience required to rework a running stride put in place by years and miles. If you are in this category, relax and open yourself up to the possibility that you stand a chance of becoming a much better runner once you really know how to run.
In fact, I believe that a true understanding of proper running technique will have a greater impact on your running performance than any other single factor, including the use of performance enhancing drugs. It’s sad fact of our times that success in running, cycling, swimming and other endurance and strength sports is almost always put under the microscope of suspicion, so widespread has the use of illicit substances become. Even worse, this “doping” has not been limited to elite athletes but has filtered its way into high schools and jr. highs and is quite likely to be found among masters athletes who definitely should know better.
Depending on the substances involved, doping can not only lead to long term health issues, but also may actually encourage overtraining and bring on debilitating injuries in the short term. I firmly believe that you will be better served, both in the short term and the long term, by avoiding the lure of performance enhancing drugs and concentrating your efforts on a much more natural method of performance enhancement, learning how to run properly. Your performances will improve, your health won’t suffer and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that your improvement is 100% you, and not something that comes out of a pill or syringe.
Will the Pose Method® of Running truly make you a faster runner who suffers fewer injuries? The answer is clearly “yes”, if you master the technique and make a sensible training regime a part of your life.
Will it help you lose weight? Let’s be perfectly clear – this is not a diet book and should never be construed as such. But, if you combine your sensible training regime with an equally sensible lifestyle incorporating a healthy, well-balanced diet, the proper amount of sleep and minimal indulgences in alcohol and sweets, you’ll achieve the right weight for your body – and never even have to think about it.
And you know what? You may even thank the person who gave you this book in the first place, particularly if you grow to love running even half as much as I do.
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