Training With Dr.Romanov: POSE TRAINING Archives

POSE TRAINING

BODY MOVEMENT ON EARTH
Here on Earth, there are rules and regulations that were "written" by Nature and were in effect way before Adam and Eve came around. Many of those "rules and regulations" have to do with gravity and it's not a surprise, since gravity is the leading force in movement and in life. If gravity didn't work the way it does - none of us, not even the planets in our solar system would be here, or at least not in that shape and way. Is it not a puzzle that as powerful as gravity is, as omnipresent as it is and... [Continue reading...]

2 REASONS TO WORK ON MAINTAINING GOOD FORM
There are plenty of reasons to work on achieving a proper technique in any sport of your choice and there are even more reasons to work on maintaining that technique. These tasks require focus and dedication, but the return on your investment of time and effort could be of unprecedented heights. One thing is for sure, if you ignore your form, it will not get any better and will most likely only get worse over time, but if you work on it, then at the very least you can bet on staying injury free and in the best case scenario... [Continue reading...]

CLIPLESS OR NOT?
Do we recommend clipless pedals? No and yes. It depends on a couple of things. We don't recommend using clipless pedals to beginners and anyone looking to improve their cycling technique. These devices would not help in development of proper perceptions needed in cycling technique and they would actually simply get in the way since those things require their own getting used to. "Falling over" seems to be one accepted funny "hurdle" on the way to pedaling with clipless technology. It also takes a precious second or ten to get out of them so you would benefit on shorter distances... [Continue reading...]

STRENGTH CONDITIONING. WHO NEEDS IT? YOU DO.
Proper strength conditioning helps you create and maintain your ideal body and is a vital step on your way to an injury free lifestyle in sports and in general. Good strength training can add that extra "umph!" to your movement when you're out and about simply handling your business. Proper strength training regimen is very important and will also help you develop a great looking, super performing and well balanced body without any "bodybuilder" bulges or endurance athletes' trademark muscle-free frames. In running, when the objective is to move the body forward through space and time, every fiber of your... [Continue reading...]

3 CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHAMPION
Have you ever wondered what really makes a champion? What are the characteristics, what are the qualities that one must possess to be a champion? Our innate physiological abilities predetermine our position in competitive sports, and for the most part not much can be changed. But there are other qualities and abilities that we can work on and experience great improvement. The basic requirement to success in sports is of course technique, technique and technique. But assuming that you got a handle on that, this is what Dr. Romanov considers the next level of development of a champion. State of... [Continue reading...]

LEARN TO JUMP – IT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE
What sounds like a marketing ploy is actually an old but forgotten truth. Jumping as an activity, as an exercise, is one of the three basic ones that are considered "the natural physical movement" of a human being. Those "natural movements", running, jumping, throwing, and other natural activities collectively called "Track and Field" were part of the Olympic Games since the beginning. Jumping as a movement is listed along with other natural human movements, but the effect that it has on the human body, puts jumping in a league of it's own. Compared to other athletic activities, the effects of... [Continue reading...]

4 REASONS TO NEVER STRETCH AGAIN
The general claim is that stretching will help you warm up and relax your muscles, and it's good for you. It is actually believed that it is important to stretch before training or racing. Sorry to disappoint you but stretching does not do any of those things. To warm up before training, you need to actually do a "warm up" routine. Instead of relaxing muscles, stretching actually tenses them and can tear the muscles, so if you feel sore and tense after your stretching routines, now you know why. [Continue reading...]

5 SIGNS OF OVERTRAINING
Sport specific training is not the simplest of tasks, yet so many attempt to train and to write training programs without really having a clue of what training process is. As a result, there are too many overtrained athletes in danger of being permanently injured.

It is necessary for every athlete to be aware of these important signs of being overtrained. [Continue reading...]

WE SEE AND FEEL ONLY WHAT WE KNOW AND UNDERSTAND
When it comes to technique and training, it is very common for novice runners or athletes in general to believe that what they think they see is what is really happening. Do we see things as they really are? Or do we only see what we know and understand? When a person in a position of influence speaks - people listen and accept it “as is”. We "filter" lots of information that way. But in the absence of a leading opinion, we're left to decipher everything by ourselves. If we do not have knowledge of a particular subject, then our... [Continue reading...]

DR.ROMANOV'S SAMPLE TRAINING ROUTINE FOR RUNNERS
Runners always ask about Dr. Romanov's training routines - what's included, in what order, how many reps, etc. While all real training sessions are built around each athlete that Dr. Romanov works with and everything is suited to fit his/her particular needs and goals, there are basic guidelines that will work for everyone. For runners who are already familiar with and can execute the Pose Running Technique fairly good, Dr. Romanov recommends to follow the below described basic structure of a training session. It will help you build a solid foundation and develop good training habits. It is easier to... [Continue reading...]

WHY ARE RUNNERS CONCERNED WITH WHAT TO DRINK, WHAT SHOES TO WEAR, BUT NOT HOW TO RUN?
Isn't it an interesting question? The list of runners' concerns could be easily extended, but the concern of "how to run" still would not be there. If I start teaching somebody how to drive a car from a perspective of what he is supposed to drink, which shoes he is supposed to wear and so on, but not from the point of view of technique and skill of driving a car, I wouldn't last too long as a teacher in this field, have no doubt about it. But guess, how many people have a luxury of being a coach in... [Continue reading...]

JUMPING WITH ROPE - BEST EXERCISE FOR YOUR FEET!
I recommend this exercise at all my clinics, presentations, private lessons and consultations. Why is it so useful for running, and especially for the development of running technique? What benefits can we get from such a simple exercise? How can you use it and incorporate into your training routine? To illustrate some positive aspects of this drill, I would use boxing as an example, where jumping with rope had been very popular since the beginning of this sport. When was it “invented” and by whom is unknown, at least to me, but it became one of the most easily recognizable... [Continue reading...]

HOW TO USE STRETCH CHORDS?
In the Pose Method of Running we use many different exercises and tools to learn and teach the key elements of running: Pose-Fall-Pull. One of the most efficient tools for this matter is the stretch cords, which we are using to develop a proper perception of all three elements. I call them framing exercise, because the goal is to develop a perception of the Pose and other related elements. I would like to repeat again that the logic of the Pose Method of Running is to utilize external forces through use of key elements. But in order to do this,... [Continue reading...]

POSE METHOD AND PHYSICAL CULTURE
Culture - latin cultura - fineness of feelings, thoughts, tastes, manners, etc., civilization of a given people or nation at a given time; development of the mind or body by education, training, etc., behavior that is socially taught, rather than instinctive or individual. Thorndike-Barnhart Student Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers, 1992 p.270. My daughter's advice and discussion on Pose Tech's Running Forum initiated by Poser123 made me think about this topic, which was supposed to appear anyway in the long run, as an urgent necessity. Why do we need to talk about the Pose Method, especially in relation to running, in connection... [Continue reading...]

ABOUT CONSERVATIVE NATURE OF PEOPLE OR WHY WE DON´T LIKE NEW THINGS
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. - Charles Kettering Yes, it is true that people do not like change and you can get proof of it everywhere around, in any area, from children´s behavior to science. For example, look at the life of Afred Wegener, (1880-1930), a German climatologist and geophysicist, who in 1915 published an expanded version of his 1912 book The Origin of Continents and Oceans. This work was one of the first to suggest continental drift and plate tectonics. He suggested that a supercontinent, he called Pangaea, had... [Continue reading...]

RECOVERY
WHAT IS RECOVERY? By Thorndike-Barnhart Student Dictionary (Harper Collins Publishers, 1992, p.924) recovery means “coming back to health or normal condition.” This is the main meaning of this term, but the problem is to know what is the normal condition or in other words – the standard condition. The sport science has no distinct definition of this term, it is too descriptive to be usable in our training. Nevertheless, we are operating with this term, using it more or less close to it meaning. We are guided mostly by our feelings: “I am tired, I need a rest to get... [Continue reading...]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VIDEO ANALYSIS
Modern technology allows everybody to have and easily use video cameras letting us have a look at ourselves from aside. It is particularly important to do when we are talking about movement in order to get some feedback. So the idea of having a feedback is very good, if you know what to look for. Video analysis, being a seemingly simple thing, will not give you any result, if it does not contain an accepted standard to compare your performance with, and if you do not have special knowledge for performing such analysis not only qualitatively, but also quantitatively. There... [Continue reading...]

PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Every once in a while we read on Pose Forums statements like: "well I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing but I still have aches and discomfort, and it doesn't feel right and I just don't understand what the problem is." It sounds like a dead end and I'm sure it must feel like a confusing dead end to what you thought was going to be a solution to your running related dilemmas. Now let's examine this situation. When you say "I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing" do you know for sure that you're doing everything the... [Continue reading...]

RACING FOR THE FIRST TIME
First race brings many questions and uncertainties, lots of expectations and worries about your skills and an ability to be where you would like to be, concerns about which shoes you need to wear and the weather. Only one thing is certain - that everything is uncertain and the nagging question inside: “What to do and what to remember?” doesn’t let you find peace. Well, you should know – you are not alone experiencing this hectic condition, but knowing that won’t make you feel better. You’re still starving for knowledge and a desire to reduce unknown factors. First of all,... [Continue reading...]

WHY DO WE NEED A TEACHER/COACH?
How do we learn everything? Obviously, in everyday life there are lots of things we can learn by - books, manuals, instructions, and sometimes just by common sense. It refers to learning to work on a computer, cooking food, assembling some simple gadgets at home, using some machinery, etc. Even exercises could be learnt by video/book instructions. Last several decades saw the development of ideas in health and wellness by using exercise and fitness which are now accepted as a part of everyday life. Sport education materials are produced on a high business level. It almost eliminated the necessity of... [Continue reading...]

SITTING AT THE DESK ALL DAY
Yes, it is a problem to be at the desk all day. There are lots of negative consequences from this if do not know how to deal with them. These problems can range from mild fatigue in the lower back through to soreness in the hips, sciatic pain or even piriformis syndrome. The strange thing is that all of these problems occur from simply sitting for a long time in the same position - a position not seemingly "dangerous". In the beginning this position creates only a slight discomfort and nothing more - but left unchecked it will cause any... [Continue reading...]

DO YOU NEED TO USE A METRONOME IN YOUR RUNNING?
We have been discussing this topic for a while on the forum, but, I guess, for many runners the importance of using this device for the improvement of their running technique and running performance is still not clear. So I have to get back to this topic to bring more light and understanding to this matter. Let's start from far away, from a general notion that all our life contains some rhythm or many different rhythms such as heart beats, breathing, work and rest, day and night, a moon cycle, a year, etc. Our running is just a small... [Continue reading...]

HOW TO TRAIN AND RACE IN THE HEAT - part 2
Body Temperature Limit One of the most vital components of a successful training in the heat is an ability to sustain the temperature of the body at a level allowing its efficient functioning. Professor T.Noakes in his book "Lore of Running"(1) wrote: "To live, we humans must keep our body temperatures within a narrow range (35 to 42° C) despite wide variations in environmental temperatures and differences in levels of physical activity. However, during exercise, the conversion of chemical energy stored in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into the mechanical energy that permits exercise is extremely inefficient; as much as 70 per... [Continue reading...]

HOW TO TRAIN AND RACE IN THE HEAT
It seems to be a simple question, but the answer is complicated. Heat is a complex problem, which should be approached from the points of view of your mental, psychological and physiological conditions, your technique, your food and drink, your outfit, shoes, your time of training and training load, the weather conditions during the race you are preparing for. Heat could be complicated by dry or humid air. If you live in a place where heat is normal, such as Arizona, South Florida, or Texas and you are supposed to race there, it is one story. But if you live... [Continue reading...]

STRENGTH DEVELOPMENT IN RUNNING
What does it mean to have strength in running? Does it affect your ability to run longer or faster? Is weight lifting a necessarily part of training in running? Those are not simple questions. There are tons of questions like these, if we start thinking in this direction: What level of strength is enough for running? What is this strength about? Is it about muscle size or something else? How many exercises and which ones of them are enough to keep strength condition on a level facilitating your running ability. I am not going to answer all these questions now,... [Continue reading...]

WHAT DO I DO WHEN I GET TIRED IN RUNNING?
This question came up during a coaching meeting in the Netherlands and it reflects a very interesting mind-set regarding performance from coaches and athletes. Indeed, what can we do when fatigue emerges in our run? Do we have some options in how to deal with fatigue? Obviously not many options exist, nevertheless many coaches and athletes "hope" that there are some magic tricks to go around, gambling with rising fatigue by using something yet unknown to science. Is it a question "what do I do?" when a tennis player, swimmer or any other athlete in any other sport get tired... [Continue reading...]

MILEAGE IN RUNNING
A little historical retrospective could give us a clearer picture of the role the training volume (in layman terms, mileage) plays in running. For many years it was overestimated and sometimes the number of miles some runners put per week, and per month was reaching the edge of humanly possible and there was no room to "grow" and put more hours of running in the existing time frame of life. We got crazy for a while, reaching some kind of the tipping point in the "swing" of our mental pendulum trying to find the answer to our question. The majority... [Continue reading...]

RUNNING & TRAINING: in reply to the forum topics
I do understand your questions and your skepticism as well. Running success paradigm had been build during many years as an aerobic development concept, which was primarily dependent on training mileage or volume of running. Historically it was confirmed by the Olympic success of Emil Zatopek and others, and was structured into some successful systems like the one by Arthur Lydiard. It was the time when VO2max concept was a dominating practical application in endurance sport. Since that time our vision of VO2 max has changed and we have a different understanding of its value now. Nevertheless, the volume of... [Continue reading...]

SKILL TRAINING
How should I train and learn the Pose Method? It sounds as two controversial things, excluding each other. Indeed, when talking of endurance training, our common sense tells us that we need to run substantial mileage in order to achieve our goals. From this point of view, any emphasis on running technique will obviously cut our mileage. This looks scary, as it seems to be bringing the loss of our training ability and aerobic capacity. We don't think of technique as a factor of improvement of our performance because the main factor there, in our opinion, is our aerobic capacity.... [Continue reading...]

WARM UP & COOL DOWN IN TRAINING
From my own experience I know that very often small elements of the training session structure, that is, the beginning, which is called warm up, and the end, which is called cool down, are omitted by many runners. Reasons for this are numerous: from efforts to save time, to just plain neglect, as of something of no importance. Both attitudes are wrong. What kind of role does a warm up play in the training session? The most obvious answer is to warm up the muscles, ligaments and tendons, and prepare the nervous and cardio-respiratory systems for the specific workout. Normally... [Continue reading...]

The ACTION CONCEPT
From my clinic experience and e-mails of our students I picked up one big problem in learning the Pose Method technique. Despite there being only three major elements of the Pose Method our students are having difficulty in mastering them and even more then this, they complain that it is a problem for them to keep those right during longer running. Indeed, the Pose Method of Running consist of 3 major elements of technique: Pose-Fall-Pull. On the surface it is a very simple combination of elements and it makes us wonder why is it difficult to maintain it over the... [Continue reading...]

POSE METHOD AS A WAY OF MOVEMENT
QUESTION: One unanswered item from my post "Marathon good, but when do I get my speed back?" is how can I work to use Pose effectively in sports such as football, soccer and basketball where starting, stopping, turning, and jumping are valued as much a raw speed? My concern is that while I'm using Pose as much a possible when running straight, I'm doing things that are normally not desirable (braking, pushing off, landing in front of GCM, etc...) when I need to stop, turn, etc. While I understand that I need to come out of Pose to stop, after... [Continue reading...]

FASTER RECOVERY AFTER MARATHON
What does it mean to finish a marathon? The finish line looks like a battlefield with runners wobbling and hobbling around with pain allover their bodies and mind. For most runners it also means continuous suffering from muscle soreness, ligament and tendon pain for days and even weeks, when walking up and down the stairs is a real torture. Are we really supposed to pay like this for the pleasure of running a marathon? Is there any way to avoid this or at least reduce these unpleasant consequences? What does muscle, ligament, and tendon soreness mean? It means that all... [Continue reading...]

VOLUME IN RUNNING
The volume in running was and, I guess, will be a hot topic for a long time. I've never been against volume per se, but I always questioned how much is enough to run faster or, in other words, what is the priority of volume in training, which is, in my opinion, just another training tool to use to run faster. It's not our goal to run more, but to run faster is. At the point where fast running starts to deteriorate from running too much, the limits of volume come. On the other hand, decrease in the speed of... [Continue reading...]

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FREEDOM TO PERFORM YOUR BEST
The psychological freedom to perform at a higher level rests within all of us, but as human beings we habitually place limits on that freedom. Given the reality of life, your psychological freedom is your ability to minimize the effect of the natural limitations and rise to your highest level. To do so, you must consciously work on developing your mind-set and psyche for running. But most importantly, you must work on your running technique. Belief in your technique gives you the confidence to move past your limitations and explore your true potential. As you move forward with your development... [Continue reading...]