ARMS WORK IN RUNNING

Improve your balance with IndoBoard!

The fact that we are returning to this topic for the third or fourth time tells me that somehow it has not been addressed satisfactorily.

Discussions about the arms work in running continue and the essence of this is continually debated in terms of the "intricacies" of the angle of bending, positions of holding and even the level of tension in the hands and fingers.

Such debate goes beyond a reasonable approach and basically points - on the one side - to an overestimation of the work and role of the arms, and - from the other side - to not understanding the real purpose of the arms.

So I would like to return to this topic with a slightly different approach and, most of all, to simplify the meaning of the work of the arms in running.

First of all, as an upper body part, the arms do not have any significant direct input into propulsion - either forward or up. The nature of the work of the arms is such that they are self-compensatory and move in a counter-phase rhythm; when one arm goes forward, the other goes back, when one is up, the other is down. Basically, they neutralize each other's input into our moving system - the same mass is moving in the opposite direction and the nett effect is zero.

Not only do the arms work to counterbalance each other, but they also move in counter-phase with the legs - further adding weight to their role in balance; working to maintain equilibrium.

With this logic, we can start to rethink what "arm position" means. The angle of the elbows, the placement of the hands is not about how you think you should look ("I want to appear as a nice, elite runner") or what power you imagine they can generate ("I am pumping powerfully"). None of these things have anything with the real function of their arms and their positioning.

But what, beyond balancing, is the role of the arms?

It's very interesting that nobody has considered the arms as perceptual mechanisms. Their role as incredible feedback apparatus is overlooked. Yet we can use this function if we just pay attention to how our arms are reacting to our movement.

For this matter, I need only to turn to the examples of children, or more exactly: infants. If you watch how they learn to walk, and pay attention to what they do with their arms, the role of these important limbs becomes very clear. Besides balance - which is visually obvious - infants use their arms as a kind of perceptual mechanism; a tool to monitor their perception of falling, The arms help them to identify with their movement. For example, if the movement goes beyond what they can control, they hold them in an out-stretched manner, away from their bodies, as a sign of impending danger. This preparation for falling is an instinctive and immediate reaction with arms - done without thinking.

The same thing happens to you when you fall further than you can handle running - you fix and hold your arms. When this happens, you are no longer using them for balancing; you are holding the upper body as a bracing, preventative measure.

You can see the same thing when people are walking, particularly the elderly. The arms and shoulders become fixed, bracing against the movement of the body. So the movement of the arms and legs is no longer synchronised - they are working against each other.

So what are we supposed to do with our arms in running?

Firstly, do not overestimate their role - they are not a propulsive component of your body. Try to avoid any work related with desires of thoughts that they are capable of producing this propulsion.

Secondly, give them freedom to be a reactive mechanism for maintaining your balance and for counter-balancing the movement of your legs. They need not be "held".

Thirdly, don't fall into the trap of thinking that there is only one "right" position for your arms. There is no such thing. Your arms need to be repositioned in accordance with your speed and cadence. The faster they go, the more rigid (but not fixed) they need to be and the greater the angle at the elbow. The range of motion of the arms in sprinting is bigger because the legs are working through a greater range of motion themselves, whereas in long distance running it is more functional for the elbows to be more bent and to use a shorter swing phase because the legs are not moving through such a great range.

So tension, angle and swing is all related to your speed of running and your cadence. We have to learn to automatically adjust these things - not getting caught up in a fixed position.

It comes back to the whole notion of the Pose Method as a skill - it is again about our perception. How we use our arms is directly related to our perception and this is something that we must continually strive to improve.

Article by Dr. Nicholas Romanovv