POSE-FALL-PULL CONCEPT

So, following a weekend clinic at my training studio, where Nicholas came out and presented Pose Method Running for about 20 hours, the idea of Pose-Fall-Pull came up with some of my athletes. They were trying to wrap their heads around this trinity, and like that other Trinity, the three one.

Here’s my understanding at this point:

The Pose is that singular position which allows an external force — gravity — to accelerate the body. Velocity doesn’t depend on voluntary muscular action Granted, the Pose is a conscious alignment, maintained by isometric muscle involvement and intent, but essentially, it’s static. This Pose places us on the precipice, preparing to Fall, and at that moment we begin falling. So, once we are in the Pose, we instantly initiate the Fall. The Pose is fixed, but its result is movement.

This resultant motion is only forward motion for a short time – until we fall beyond a certain point, a critical range from ~5° to ~30°, depending on the athlete’s objectives. After that, we’re falling downward. So our acceleration occurs within a narrow range, much like a unicyclist’s or pogo stick jockey’s. In such a position — falling — we cannot apply force to move ourselves forward. Speed is determined by just how much we can give ourselves to gravity. We maintain forward motion, and run by quickly changing support. That’s Pulling — “just pull goddamn your foot from the ground.” But the Pull doesn’t happen after we Fall, rather it happens as the Fall. The Fall provides for unweighting the support foot, so that foot can leave the ground. So, once in the Pose, we’re simultaneously falling and pulling.

In practice, a slight lag exists between command and action of the Pull.

The command to Pull is always in mind. Ahead of the Pose, we think: Pull!, yet the action occurs only as the Pose is reached, and falling occurs. As soon as the foot is removed from the ground the Fall is complete, releasing the body from the Pose…until the next point of support. The next Pose.

The Pull is really the only useful action in running. To appreciate this fact you must attend a Pose clinic. Seriously, without a guided tour of a dozen athletes’ individual running styles it’s nearly impossible to understand just how much extraneous movement occurs during each step. Usually, athletes straighten their support knee to push off. Others reach for the ground with their lead leg, often straightening the knee, then heel striking. A few, incredibly enough, think they can extend their stride out in front and then paw back at the ground to somehow draw their bodies forward. By the way, * both a popular, Santa Monica physical therapist and track and field coach of note advocate just such an unproductive and injurious maneuver. I’m not kidding. I’ve sat through lectures by the former and spoken about technique with the latter over the phone. Both make a strong case, until you watch video footage of Michael Johnson’s golden-shod track performances, or look at force-plate studies of running. He’s not a Pose runner per se, but he does a Pose-Fall-Pull nearly 200 times in as many meters.

Finally, the Pull does two things, first it allows for the change of support. Second, it attenuates vertical oscillation which accompanies the effect of the stretch reflex.

Since I mentioned Michael Johnson, I’d like to point out that running technique is the same for sprinters and distance athletes, but time of support — a consequence of cadence — is much shorter in the former. Sprinters unweight considerably faster than marathoners. Their cadences not so much determine how long they’re on support, instead cadence dictates how often they fall. Long and short distance runners may Fall through the same range of motion, but sprinters fall faster, and thus more frequently.

• To my knowledge, and to date neither has had the interest to truly investigate the Pose Method of Running, yet both openly criticize it. One, even berates Pose in national endurance sports magazines. The same offers running clinics (more like infomercials for his practice) touting technique based on “physics and nature.” Oh yeah?

by Christopher Drozd and Dr.Romanov