SOUND AS A TOOL OF PERCEPTION

This is a rather interesting topic and it has occasionally come up on the forum in the past. Reading about it again recently, prompted this topic for our "Training Tuesdays" this week.

What is sound and how can we use it, in our case, to learn to run better?

In relation to running or moving in general, sound is a characteristic of interaction of material bodies. It can be loud or quiet, shuffling or pounding, etc., and can be used as one of the best feedback systems provided to us by Mother Nature. The quality and the type of sound we produce can serve as a guideline for learning to move better.

Whether you're just starting out with your physical regimen or have been at it for a while and are at a pretty high level of competitive sports, you can use sound to analyze your movement in general and/or to make quick adjustments while in motion. In running, for example, the ideal sound is a quiet, "pizzicato" tap, so if there are any other noises like shuffling, dragging, etc. you know you have to fix it. Each sound can indicate a particular problem and an experienced pose running coach can identify and correct them during the routine training sessions.

As with anything else, it is important to cover the basis, i.e. if you sound like an elephant running your first focus should be on learning to move lighter, unless you're making it a point to announce your presence - there is no need to stomp the ground. Besides being quite damaging to your limbs heavy walking and running is simply inefficient.

More experienced pose runners could use the sound to learn to strike a better pose, fall and pull quicker. It is better done under the guidance of a coach but if you're training on your own, you can still achieve great results. The road starts with an understanding of how the given material bodies interact. It will take time, repetition and practice, and definitely focus and effort. But once learned, it will become a second nature to move with poise and grace without making a sound.

Article by Dr. Nicholas Romanov
Composed by L. Romanov