Training With Dr.Romanov: RUNNING TECHNIQUE Archives

RUNNING TECHNIQUE

ELITE RUNNERS & HEEL-STRIKING
One of the most common questions to come when discussing running technique is "how come elite runners heel-strike?" A very simple answer here - nobody taught them any better. First of all, not all elite runners land heel first. As a matter of fact, the best ones showcase forefoot or midfoot landing. It might seem otherwise because of the photos used in magazines, advertisements, etc. All of that is simply an orchestrated effort by the shoe manufacturers and their cohorts to sell the shoes that they make. Press is plugged into this because of millions of dollars in paid advertising,... [Continue reading...]

ABOUT RUNNING TECHNIQUE
An article in UK's Runner's World’s February 2009 issue prompted this one. It is addressed to all runners of all levels and coaches that subscribe to the belief that running form is "God given" and should not be touched, or that there is no perfect running form. The fact that the author of the article mentioned above managed to contradict himself several times will not be dwelt on. Considering, however, the number of people that will read it and accept it as is, coming from a biomechanics expert from a reputable University, it is easy to see how simple the... [Continue reading...]

HIGH KNEES DRILL IN RUNNING - POINTLESS OR HELPFULL?
If you ask us - it is pointless and is actually slightly damaging, especially if you want to run fast. The irony? This is one of the most popular running drills for speed. The popularity of this drill is due to the visual misconception of the movement that happens during running. What looks like an active move, is a by-product of another move in reality. Let’s see, what running is. Running is a movement in the horizontal direction. Movement in the vertical direction has a different name - jumping. Now, back to the high knees drill - an exercise that... [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...]

WHAT CAN A PROPER TECHNIQUE REALLY GIVE YOU
In the sea of advice on sports techniques available these days from various sources, it is easy to get lost and forget what's important, what's not important and what simply "comes with the territory". To truly understand the importance of acquiring the proper technique, one must clearly see the benefits of doing so. To many, technique is nothing, but a word that is so often used by others. My technique, your technique, technique this, technique that... before you know it, technique becomes a trendy topic and a blur. So, let's cut through the clutter and clarify the true significance of... [Continue reading...]

HEEL-STRIKING IS THE WORST WAY TO RUN
With various running styles available these days, it is now common to hear forefoot, ball of foot, midfoot (still can't digest this one since midfoot is actually the arch of the foot and it's not possible to land on it, but hey, I guess such mental imagery can help some?) or flatfoot striking recommended over the heel striking style. So, today, let's talk about what we can safely call "the worst way to run" - heel striking style. Before we go any further, let's state what the problem with heelstriking is. Majority of runners are heelstrikers and running is associated... [Continue reading...]

HOW TO KEEP GOOD FORM FOR SHORT, MIDDLE AND LONG DISTANCES
We have discussed in the past how to maintain your newly found good running technique. Today, we'd like to talk specifically about keeping your good form through short, middle and long distances. What seems to be three separate topics is actually a subject for only one discussion, because from the Pose Method® point of view, regardless of the distance you're aiming for, the technique you should utilize is one and the same. Following this logic, it is correct to assume that there is one unifying approach to keeping good running form for any given distance. So, how can one maintain... [Continue reading...]

DO YOU NEED TO KNOW HUMAN ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY TO BE THE BEST RUNNER?
There's been a need to write on this topic for quite some time now. It is a pity to witness so many lost in a maze of tibias, femurs, gluteus maximus, etc. In an applaudable attempt to understand the movement of the human body, some unwittingly cross into a very specialized territory of human anatomy and physiology. Yes, it is very interesting and fascinating, but dissecting your body is completely unnecessary if your only goal is to be a better athlete. And more often then not, it brings more confusion than clarity and understanding. There are different kinds of runners.... [Continue reading...]

5 STEPS TO BECOMING A BETTER RUNNER
Most runners always try to find ways to improve. Very often, they receive misguided advice and the time & effort go to waste. In this article, we'd like to offer you 5 simple initial steps to becoming a better runner. Adhering to these simple guidelines will eliminate half the unnecessary work commonly done as well as minimize chances of injuries. Start here to ensure your success. 1. YOU HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO RUN. The strangest anomaly of sports - while the technique in other sports is normally taught, running technique is assumed to be "natural" or "god given". That... [Continue reading...]

PREVENTING CALF SORENESS
When first starting with the Pose Method of running, majority experience calf soreness. While it is a common occurrence, it can be prevented and avoided. Follow the guidelines below to glide through the "beginner stage" and to build a lasting foundation to provide for a great running technique. START JUMPING ROPE AS SOON AS YOU DECIDE TO LEARN POSE RUNNING. This is one single best step you can do to help yourself! Start doing the jumping rope exercise as soon as you decide, and continue on while reading and learning. Start lightly and gradually increase the duration. You can also... [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...]

THE BALL, THE SOLE OR THE ARCH OF THE FOOT?
The question of how to land the foot in running is not a new one developed just recently. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century there were developed several different points of views. For instance, P. Bokin in his book "Walking, Running, Jumping And Other Kinds of Natural Motion of Humans," published in 1910 in St. Petersburg, Russia, discusses flat foot landing, which he considers to be the most useable, heel landing, useable sometimes, and toe landing, very rarely used in running. He sincerely believed that landing on the heel allowed the runner to... [Continue reading...]

THE CORRECT WAY OF LANDING IN RUNNING - ON THE BALL OF THE FOOT
Why is there a battle over how we are supposed to land in running? Why has such a seemingly simple question become so complicated and the subject of discussion? During the running boom of the 70-ies through the 90-ies it has become a well-known and well-established opinion that landing on the heel is the only option to run properly, with less injuries, more economically, etc. Any other options were rejected for no obvious reasons or for some made up reasons such as: landing on the forefoot is only suitable for elite runners, etc. Well, there was no scientific proof or... [Continue reading...]

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... [Continue reading...]

WHAT IS BAD RUNNING FORM
When we talk about running technique, there inevitably comes a question about good and bad running technique. If we can’t distinguish one from the other, than there is no way to correct what is wrong and to learn what is good. This problem existed, in one way or another, in all spheres of our life, throughout entire history of humanity. It was always resolved, in every field, by developing a standard at each step of historical development. Application of this standard made it possible to recognize any deviation as an error or mistake and make a step to a higher... [Continue reading...]

MY REVIEW: TEACHING RUNNING
Just came back from my last, one-week, trip to New York with some fresh impressions from my clinic in La Palestra, a private club, located just across the street from Central Park. An impressive city as always, full of life with lots of everything: shows, shops, restaurants, skyscrapers, crowds of people, lots of celebrities and lots of runners in the park racing and training. New York is always at the top of everything regardless of the field and is also a good litmus test for new things. Twelve years ago I was doing my presentation on the Pose Method of... [Continue reading...]

RUNNING TECHNIQUE FOR EVERYONE™: From Average Joe to Pro.
As we discussed before in the previous articles the idea of the existence of the same technique for everyone is still alien for most people. When we speak about the difference between an average Joe and an elite runner, it seems enormous. On the surface, for the naked eye it looks very different, indeed. In “average Joes” we can see slower pace, lower cadence, visible efforts applied and no harmony of movement in general, while in pro runners with their fast pace, high cadence, effortless and harmonic movement, everything seems to go just easier and smoother. Well, it is certainly... [Continue reading...]

RUNNING TECHNIQUE FOR EVERYONE™: from overweight to average.
Common vision of running as a difficult and almost impossible physical exercise for overweight people, which could crush their bones, joints, ligaments and tendons, is unfortunately confirmed by reality. In spite of obvious benefits running could bring to their cardio-respiratory system and consequently for their overall health, the possible injury side of this exercise scares away people with overweight condition. Is there no hope? Are these people condemned from running once and forever? The answer is no, there is hope and this hope is the Pose Running technique. One of the most asked questions I am faced with at my... [Continue reading...]

BACKWARD RUNNING
This topic popped up on our website seemingly from nowhere, with an attempt to give an explanation for its use as a facilitator of the Pose Method. Some description of backward running came from an article on our website and gave an idea of using its biomechanical similarities as the base of positive implementation of backward running into teaching Pose. Certainly I am familiar with this article, but I never paid any attention to this similarity and never saw backward running as a facilitator of the Pose Method technique, even though I occasionally used it myself in teaching and training... [Continue reading...]

RUNNING ON HARD SURFACE
I guess, many people run on hard surface, but some have no other choice, but concrete as their “preference”. Conventional medicine put running on hard surface as one of the most important causes of injuries. And at first glance it seems to be a logical conclusion. Indeed, isn’t concrete really a hard surface without cushioning, which could create an impact on our body? It is difficult to say “no” in this situation. But is this true? How many people still run on the streets of New York, London, Paris, etc. and have no problem with the surface they run on?... [Continue reading...]

BACK TO BASICS
Very often, may be more often than I want to see, I observe people running out of what could be considered an acceptable running technique. The thing is not so much about running technique itself, but about movement in general, which, to put it politely, could be described as lacking basic culture. The whole picture appears to be consisting of lots of different movements barely connected with the main movement – running. When you look at a good dancer, or any other skillful performer, you can see only the leading movement without noticing other small details accompanying the main one.... [Continue reading...]

ECONOMY IN RUNNING
The reason we turn to this topic is a continuous discussion on Pose Tech running forum about relations between the Pose Method and running economy. The cause of this discussion was an article in Journal of Sports Sciences (J Sports Sci. 2005 Jul;23(7):757-64.) ”Effect of a global alteration of running technique on kinematics and economy”, Dallam GM, Wilber RL, Jadelis K, Fletcher G, Romanov N., with a conclusion that the global change in running mechanics associated with 12 weeks of instruction in the pose method resulted in a decrease in stride length, a reduced vertical oscillation in comparison with the... [Continue reading...]

I JUST WANT TO RUN! HOW TO RUN BETTER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO LEARN THE METHOD
I hear and read this all the time – I just want to run! I can’t be bothered with learning the technique! Why complicate simple things like running! I just want to go out and enjoy the run! And so on, so, I believe an article on this subject is due. Here's a very basic generalization of things and it’s a good start for everyone looking for a “quick, no obligation, fix”. Yes it is possible to run good not using a 100% pure Pose Method technique. I do it! I’m a recreational jogger, I run to “relax” and “get... [Continue reading...]

RANGE OF MOTION
What is range of motion in running? Is it equivalent to stride length? These questions appear again and again on our running forum. How are we supposed to understand these terms and how are they related with our running technique? Behind these questions stand our past experience and understanding that fast running is somehow related with longer stride length or bigger range of motion. We consider these terms as something similar, almost synonymous, though have some doubtful feeling that it may not be so. But because we use them freely and interchangeably in our everyday life and nobody argues about... [Continue reading...]

GOOD AND BAD HABITS IN RUNNING
Old habits die hard. - Proverb Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them far apart. - Confucious Habit is "a tendency to act in a certain way or to do a certain things; usual way of acting" as it described in Thorndike-Barnhart Student Dictionary (Harper Collins Publishers, 1992, p.496). Our habits are part of our life, influencing our lives to an extreme level in the good and bad direction. We fall into the habit of doing things not because they are good for us, but because we or somebody else got us into the habit... [Continue reading...]

TIPS FOR TREADMILL RUNNING
No matter how much I dislike talking about tips, I have to do it now because there is no time to write a manual for treadmill running. I'll do it later as a separate chapter for one of the planned books. For now I would like to pretend that it is a short version of it. We prepared a video clip with Severin for our Wednesday's Video presentation, which, together with this article, will give you some insight into treadmill running. As I mentioned before, treadmill running is a good tool for use in bad weather, dangerous outside conditions,... [Continue reading...]

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE RUN RIGHT?
In the absence of a video analysis and the feedback of Pose Tech coaches you basically have to rely only on yourself in order to keep your technique proper. What can we use to provide self control and correction to maintain good technique? How do we recognize the right and wrong technique in our running? We have only our mind and our senses or our perception in our possession to recognize the right or wrong technique perception. It comes as a perception of time, space, muscle efforts and tensions, body weight location, pressure on the ball of the foot, sound,... [Continue reading...]

TO PUSH OR NOT TO PUSH?
"To be or not to be? This is the question" This is how the push off problem looks for many people participating in this thread on the Pose Tech running forum. This reminds me of the Russian revolution, where everything was divided into two extremes: either you are with us or against us. Fortunately the world doesn't exist in this polarized reality, but on the opposite, it exists as a cooperative, integrated system, where everything can have its own place. One of the best examples is the third law of Newton: every force has an equal and opposite force, both... [Continue reading...]

THE EXTENSOR PARADOX IN RUNNING
The original article below, devoted to the present topic, was published in Biomechanics of Distance Running in 1990. As you read the data and conclusions from this research you'll see that the running science community was not ready to accept the idea about the role of gravity as a motive force in running. A classical vision of gravity as a vertical force only was predominant in the scientists' minds and didn't allow them to look at the facts from a different aspect. The most important thing there, a relationship between extensor muscles and gravity as one non-conflicting system with... [Continue reading...]

DO WE NEED TO PUSH OFF IN RUNNING?
From the beginning of the running boom in the early 70s we know that in running together with the pleasure of it we get a lot of problems with injuries. Runner's World magazine survey stated in 1977 that 2 from every 3 runners are injured every year. And this problem remains unsolved even now, only today it's happening on a larger scale, because the number of people running increased from 15 million in 70-ies to 33 million at the beginning of the 21st century. No matter how much the design and quality of sport shoes have improved, how much... [Continue reading...]

In response to FRED WILT’S “TEN TIPS ON RUNNING FORM”
Fred Wilt was indeed an Olympic distance runner and became a famous writer and advocate of running in the 60-ies and 70-ies. His most known book "Run, run, run…" is an incredible collection of articles on science, history and methods of running and reflects his passion and desire to bring real knowledge to people. The value of his work is indisputable. However, not everything that he wrote on running technique still remains on the same level. It is necessary to introduce a modern understanding to his outstanding work and give to him appropriate credits. Below are our explanations of 10... [Continue reading...]