RUNNING FASTER - Secret to Running with LESS Effort

what if I told you that there's one simple change you can make that will have you running faster for Less effort and keep you running injuryf free it all starts with fixing a single fundamental mistake that most Runners don't even know they're making linder's running form is a great example of the problem I'm talking about I'm going to show you exactly how to fix what's currently causing a lot of wasted effort while she runs so you can run smoother and faster too here Linda's running at her long run Pace where running should feel easy light and efficient but I'd Hazard a guess that it doesn't feel like that for her you see there's a false assumption made most likely not even a conscious one in thinking that at this easy Pace it's more efficient to keep your feet low and not waste any energy through picking your feet up any higher than necessary to clear the ground I get the logic but in running with this type of technique you're actually making life much harder for yourself but probably not in the way you might expect let me explain before we did dive into this just imagine there's a hidden switch in your running form that can be flipped to instantly make you run smoother faster wasting less effort we're about to fit that switch together now whatever speed you're running at your case is a result of two things how much ground you cover with each stride your stride length and how quickly you're making those strides you're running cadence the problem with this type of low swung stride is that the only way you're able to achieve the ground coverage needed to maintain a steady pace is to let the lower leg swing forward and put you in a position where your heel strikes the ground ahead of a relatively extended knee over striding and slamming the brakes on with each footall running like this is not only less efficient than it should be but also puts more stress and strain on areas like The Shins and knees I've mentioned it in plenty of other videos here on the channel but something that will make this even worse is if you're running with two lower Cadence for the given Pace meaning that you have to overly rely on stride length to maintain the pace rather than leg speed in a moment I'll show you exactly how to correct this over striding problem both if Cadence is the main issue and if your Cadence is actually fine but the problem is more fundamental in your stride mechanics you won't want to miss how easily you can apply this to your own running but first let's think about the effort required to swing that leg through from stride to stride from the moment once your back foot lifts off the rear leg isn't just swinging forwards it's covering the ground needed for your stride length preparing you to the next foot strike imagine this if your leg swings like a heavy slow moving pendulum every stride cost you more energy but what if it was effectively a shorter quicker ticking pendulum that's less worth for your hip flexes smoother strides and a more efficient running form let's dive into how making this adjustment will not only feel more natural but can also prevent running injuries and fatigue and remember it's not all about high kicks or dramatic changes to your natural running form it's about finding that perfect effortless stride that feels like you're gliding not fighting through your run think of The Swinging leg as a pendulum on a clock the longer the pendulum the slower it's going to tick tock and the more effort it's going to take to actively move it from top down which is the role of your hip flexors in this case alternatively a shorter pendulum will ticktock back and forth quicker and requires less effort from the hip flexors to pull forwards now just hold that thought for a moment as the short lever long lever pendulum analogy will become really important as we start talking about fixing linder's running form let's start with some easy wins though because if you're over striding like this chances are that your running cadence is down in the 150s OR 160 strides per minute range which is too slow even at a relaxed long run Pace the easiest place to begin is to try increasing your running cadence by 5% for the given Pace I'll leave a video Linked In the description which details how to actually go about doing that be careful though as the biggest mistake Runners make when they try to increase their running cadence is that they don't actually reduce their overstride in response to the quicker Cadence they just start running faster that's why it can actually be helpful to work on increasing your Cadence on a treadmill as you can lock in the pace forcing you to adjust your stride to fit the new Rhythm but what if your running cadence isn't the root of your over striding problems whatsoever well if that's the case then increasing your Cadence will only result in you feeling like you're making comedically short choppy strides putting in a whole lot of work and getting nowhere fast that's where our pendulum analogy becomes really important remember how I was talking about the way that short levers are both quicker and easier to pull forward well from the point where the foot leaves the ground if Linda were to think about gently pulling her foot up a little higher off the ground almost as if she was running through puddles long grass the lever that is her swing leg gets ever so slightly shorter and easier for her hip flexors to pull forwards through that ARCA swing not only that but the leg will naturally swing through quicker helping to keep leg speed Cadence where it should be for the given Pace Linda will almost definitely find that in picking her foot up a little higher while it feels alien to start with and take some practice to find the sweet spot for the given Pace it'll reduce her tendency to overstride as she starts to land her foot beneath a flexing knee with either a lighter less aggressive heel strike or a gentle midfoot strike the best bit is that this focus on improving your swing mechanics on the leg coming forwards will actually through a rarely discussed phenomen on in your body called the cross extensor reflex improve the engagement of key muscles like your glutes your weightbearing standing leg and how many of us have been told that we need to use our glutes more as we run of course it's easy to get carried away with this and find yourself running around like a prancing horse high kicking heels to butt that's not the point at all and will at best leave you exhausted and at worst injure you but there's a point at which you can feel yourself gently picking your foot up a little more than usual for the given pace and land lighter underfoot That's The Sweet Spot I want you to look for in a moment I'll show you how to scale this approach from slower to faster Paces which really is the key to mastering your running form but let's quickly talk about how to practice this new running style to really reinforce the New Movement honestly there are a bunch of drills you could do to reinforce good running form Classics like the March and Skip series but I found that one of the best ways to really Hammer home the movement of picking your feet up and running from the hips rather than swinging the lower leg forward excessively is to run hill repeats the nature of running up an incline stops you from being able to overstride and forces you to pick your feet up to get up and on to the next stride less is more with these you could even finish your midweek easy runs with some gentle sets of uphill strides focused on form regular practice little and often will help the New Movement pattern sink in and go from conscious and awkward to subconscious and natural of course strengthening muscle groups like your carves hamstrings glutes and core will help no end that's where my bulletproof Runners program comes in you can learn more about that and get a 7-Day free trial from the link in the description now you've just unlocked one of the key secrets to running faster with less effort but this is just the beginning the next video linked on screen right now takes this to the next level showing you exactly how to adjust your form across different Paces I'll see you over there

Channel: James Dunne

Views: 347,670

Keywords: how to run faster, running tips, run faster, how to run faster without getting tired, running, running technique, running form, james dunne, kinetic revolution, kineticrev, improve running speed, improve running form, running for beginners, proper running form, how to get faster, speed training for, james dunne run faster series, perfect running form

Id: lTFl-EVeq6w

Length: 8min 2sec (482 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2024