HOW TO DO THE FIRST STEP IN RUNNING

The first step is important in any running because it sets a proper or wrong pattern of repetitive movement and basically defines the whole run. So, we could say that our run is as good as its first step. Most runners have no or very slight idea about how they do the first step. It comes from a seeming insignificance of it and most coaches and athletes are usually not paying too much attention to it. And indeed, why we should pay attention to the first step, when a whole running technique is something that we consider natural, meaning that we know how to do it?

Therefore, if it gets to the point of occasional discussion of the first step issue, we mostly operate with our common sense and experience and do not connect the first step with our run as a whole and do not realize its importance for the rest of the run. From this point of view, it looks right to move the airborne leg forward and make a propulsive thrust for the body with the support leg by unbending it in all joints and then continue this sequence.

So the first step sequence of movement from the traditional point of view could be boiled down to the next bullet points:

• Stand in place on two legs
• Lean forward or bent in the waist
• Move one leg in the air and forward
• Push the body forward by unbending the support leg
• Land on the airborne leg and produce the next thrust of the body forward

This sequence is based on priority of muscle efforts in running and on our own activity to propel the body parts and the whole body forward.

In the Pose Method the first step is based on the same premises as the whole run, i.e. one single step with a priority of gravity as a leading force for moving the body forward:

• Stand in place on two legs
• Lean forward
• Get one foot airborne, but do not move it forward
• Pull the support foot under the hip
• Pull the first foot from the support when it touches the ground

As you see, there is quite a difference in the sequences of events from the point of view of where our efforts are going or directed: to produce forward propulsion or to assist gravity, which plays a primary role for our forward movement. These different patterns of movement of the first step eventually influence the whole run, setting up different neuromuscular patterns and interaction of forces as different systems, defining, at the end of the day, the efficiency of our run.

Dr.Romanov