PERFECT RUNNING FORM - Techniques PRO Runners use to Run Faster

it's just incredible to watch elite runners in motion their technique seems to somehow make running look effortless yet we all know the reality when it comes to getting out there and running mile after mile running's hard and if you've ever seen yourself running on video there's probably a bit of a difference between the running technique of elite runners and how you see yourself running but we can all definitely pick up some powerful tips from studying the running technique of great distance runners like eliot kipchoge bridget koskai and jakob ingebritzen let's take a look at some of the key elements of running technique that these top level runners have mastered and i'll explain how you can apply each one of these to your own running to improve your own running form number one posture and forward lean when it comes to running with proper technique i'm a firm believer that it all starts with your posture you might have heard runners talking about achieving a forward lean as brilliantly demonstrated by ken elisa bekele in this slow motion footage now you can see that he's running with a whole body forward lean rather than simply bending forwards at the waist which is what i see so many runners doing bending forwards at the waist may feel like you're leaning forwards but in relative terms you're pushing your hips back and leading with the chest instead try focusing on the feeling of holding your hips high up and forwards as you run this should feel like you're maintaining more of an aligned posture from top to toe as you then increase the pace you can allow yourself to lean forwards with your whole body as if you are kind of leaning into a headwind that in itself will help you find a more efficient posture to help maintain that force momentum as you're running number two stride length your stride length or the distance you cover with each running stride is an important factor that dictates your pace cadence or the number of steps you make per minute is the other big factor now most elite distance runners run with a cadence of about 180 steps per minute or above and whether that kind of cadence is something that we should all be aspiring to as runners is actually quite an interesting topic and one that i've already made a video about so i'll leave the link to that one down in the description but when it comes to stride length measuring the absolute distance from let's say left foot fall to the next left foot four is actually less helpful than understanding where your foot lands relative to the rest of the body when it strikes the ground you can see from this slow motion footage of elliot kipchoge that he lands with his foot beneath a flexing knee this is exactly what we should all be looking to do regardless of whether you're naturally a heel striking runner forefoot runner or land on your midfoot the reality is that the closer to under-reflecting knee you can land your foot the more of a midfoot runner you'll become anyway now for some people that'll mean if they're a heel striking runner the heel strike will just become less pronounced more gentle runners who land their foot ahead of a more extended knee striking the ground too far in front of themselves are described as over striding and tend to heal strike more aggressively putting more stress and strain on their joints particularly their knees their hips and their lower back so the obvious question is how can you then increase your stride length to run faster without over striding well let's use this video of jakob ingebrigton to explain it's all in what's known as the stride angle the difference between maximum hip extension and maximum hip flexion on opposing legs so as one leg is driving backwards how high is the knee drive on the leg that's driving forwards at the same time i tend to focus on the hip flexion the knee drive components of this when coaching so as to tap into the crust extensor reflex again i'll leave a link in the description to a video that explains more about the cross extensor reflex and why that's important but for any given pace if you're creating sufficient hip flexion high enough of a knee drive then you'll find that you don't need to over stride to maintain that pace conversely if your knee drive starts to drop for that pace and you're not creating enough hip flexion the only way you can maintain the stride length you need for that pace is to over stride if you get it right you'll be able to land your foot beneath the flexing knee as you run as the pace gets faster the knee drive needs to get higher and higher as you need to generate more stride length and of course the opposite is true for slow and steady paces just don't allow your knee drive to get lazy on those easy runs as that's where you start to over stride and you'll know if that happens as your foot strike starts to feel that little bit heavier that little bit more i suppose poddy if you like number three foot strike okay so hopefully i've set this up in such a way now that it makes sense when i say that the type of foot strike you run with isn't something we need to set hard rules about i'm okay with seeing runners who land with a heel strike just as long as it's a light heel strike underneath a flexing knee as we can see from bridget koski here it's the extremes that should be avoided if you're running with a really heavy heel strike then your best bet is to fix your posture your cadence and your stride length and most likely the over stride that caused the aggressive heel strike will be resolved similarly i only really want to see a pronounced forefoot strike from sprinters or some middle distance runners forefoot running feels light springy and fast i get it but it's not a technique that most long distance runners can maintain without experiencing some sort of calf and achilles type issues at some point as you can see from elliot kipchoge here a midfoot strike is a more sustainable technique for efficient long distance running number four running arm action how you use your arms when you run is such a misunderstood topic most runners just think that their arms swing back and forth as part of their overall running action and don't really give it a second thought but in reality your arms are fulfilling an important function in creating balance both from a rotational perspective and side to side as we can see from bridget koskinen these images she has quite a pronounced cross-body arm swing this is present to balance out the movement around her hips and pelvis as she runs for an elite runner she's got a surprising amount of excessive side to side and it's hard to see on video but no doubt rotational movement around her pelvis but she gets away with it due to the counterbalancing effect of her very unique arm swing so if you notice in your own running technique that your arms are doing something unusual then perhaps consider what they might be compensating for experience tells me that usually it's a sign that more strength and stability work particularly around the hips pelvis and core is needed while we're talking about arm action there's another powerful tip that you can use to improve your running technique when you feel tired on a run and let's face it that's when form usually tends to get sloppy for most of us if you focus on maintaining a quick rhythm with your arms your legs will follow the rhythm try it yourself that'll help you maintain a high cadence and again stop you from over striding it's most effective when you keep a fairly short arm position as you can see here from eliot kipchoge in this footage

Channel: James Dunne

Views: 704,033

Keywords: running technique, running form, eliud kipchoge, kenenisa bekele, brigid kosgei, jakob ingebrigtsen, slow motion running, elite runners, proper running form, how to run, foot strike, running posture, running arms, running cadence, james dunne, kinetic revolution, running, how to run properly, running gait, correct running technique, proper running technique

Id: pofBa80GAwg

Length: 7min 20sec (440 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 21 2021