A GOOD RUNNING FORM

It would be logical after discussing a bad running form to move to a good one. What are the characteristics of a good running form? How are they defined in conventional running paradigm and why? Mostly a good running form is described loosely. It looks like the one that we discussed in the article on a bad running form, but possessing only positive attributes.

These kinds of descriptions mostly come from observation of elite runners and are based on some commonly accepted images of movement described as:

• Effortless
• Light
• Smooth
• Without muscle tension
• With quick legs turnover
• With short support time
• With almost silent landing on support
• With landing on a forefoot for most of elite runners
• With landing close to the vertical line going through the GCM
• With small vertical oscillation of the body
• With small upper body movement
• With slight forward lean or erect trunk position
• Without any vigorous arms or legs movement
• With a quiet and focused face

Well, it is quite familiar for everybody who went through even a short time of training and racing in running. Yes, all characteristics are well known, but nevertheless inaccessible for most recreational and age group runners. A common opinion is: “there they are, and here we are”, separating “them” and “us” as something completely different.

To accept this approach and consider a good running form as predetermined and belonging just to elites doesn’t appeal to me. A good running form, in my opinion, is the result of learning the skill, but not something inherited from your birth. I can accept the view that some people have more in their genes to learn quicker and better, but everybody could and should learn “a good running form”. Obviously, from what we described above, it’s very difficult even to grasp the idea of it, to tell nothing of being able to learn it.

A descriptive approach usually lacks systematic explanation and doesn’t give any real knowledge why it happens in this or that way and in any other. So what kind of running, does a good running form represent? Yes, we got the idea in general, about a smooth, effortless, light, etc., movement of the runner, but this is what we see, not what we understand and can actually reproduce.

The form reflects our relations with our environment, where gravity is the main component, which basically determines everything we visually perceive. So, what we describe as a smooth, light and effortless running just reflects how in sync we work with gravity. Certainly there are specific ways to do so and we have to learn and teach them no matter if we belong to the elite field or not. The Pose Method® is designed to make it possible for runners of all levels and all specialties, from short to long distances, from amateurs to elite.

Dr.Romanov

So, you want to run like a pro? There are several ways to approach that. Select from the following: Get the book & DVD Find a Running Coach Attend a Running Clinic