The Running Pose | How to Run Better | Running Economy Test #1 of 12

Hi everyone We are ramping up to the release of a sweet program designed specifically for runners, it’s comprehensive not going to talk about that now We’re also ramping up to our running workshop which is going to be on January 3 that is completely free so make sure you sign up check the link and click to sign up because you don’t want to miss this if you run either recreationally, competitively, or for a sport you just want to get in on this workshop because it costs you nothing and it will give you a ton of useful information We’re going to lead up to that with 12 assessments for runners You can use these to assess whether or not your structure is sound to support your running - to support efficient, inury-free running The first assessment is this You’re essentially going to balance on one foot but you’re going to balance in the posture that is the key posture for running which is this You want to accumulate 2 minutes per side in this position. You’re going to be ⁶⁰⁄₄₀ which means approximately 60% of your weight toward your heel, or the back of the foot and the other 40% towards the front of your foot The way you want to achieve that is through a natural balanced position not through leaning back or leaning forward. Your three main weight centres, which are you skull your rib cage, and your pelvis they should be geometrically balanced over your foot OK, over the ⁶⁰⁄₄₀ split on your foot you want to have a soft bend in your knee Start straight and then just soften your knee so it feels kind of springy and from there you just relax your arms, relax your shoulders you don’t have to be in a running pose with your upper body this is just focussing more on the leg support and foot support and you’re just standing there and you should be able to stand here without swaying without too much active gripping from your toes You should be very basically relaxed and no uncomfortable arch in your back no tension in your lower back everything is just floating and you want to stand here for 2 minutes Once you’ve done 2 minutes on one side, you shift your weight to the other foot and the foot that you’re not standing on don’t have any unnecessary tension in it so don’t have it pulled up like this because that will mimick inefficient running in a sense of trying to drive your knee too high or don’t have it back like this because that would mimick too much drag of your trail lag when you run and these are common components of inefficient running technique so you want to be with your foot directly under your hip directly under your body so you just shift your weight and pick your foot up directly under your body and just let it stay there relaxed. Your foot shouldn’t be tense, it should be relaxed and again you’re nice and springy and you hold for 2 minutes. That’s the first assessment. Some common faults on this one would be too much tension in the upper body while you’re holding it Your shoulders should just be relaxed and your arms and hands should just be relaxed.

You don’t want to be like this trying to hold your balance. You don’t want to be like this, just keep your arms at your side. And you’re relaxing the upper body Common fault number 2 would be Bending at the hip So to compensate for lack of balance or foot strength, you’re going to try to counterbalance and bend at the hip to give yourself an artificial sense of balance You don’t want to do that, you want to be neutral as I said, your three main weight centres, pelvis, rib cage, and skull balanced, directly over your foot Another common fault would be arching in the lower back excessively So that’s like leaning back to try and hold your balance A kind of counterbalance in the opposite way So you shouldn’t be like this You shouldn’t have an uncomfortable arch in the lower back You should be totally neutral - your lower back feels to pressure or strain whatsoever It’s a very neutral position Another common fault would be too much stiffness in the leg and the feet Even if you have a bent knee there’s a tendency for people to have tension, so there’s no buoyancy in the body you want your knee to be bent but soft and it should be very easy for you to jump up and down relaxed in this position there should be no tension - no excess tension. Another common fault, the trail leg or the non-support leg is in some kind of awkward position, so it shouldn’t be out front, it shouldn’t be behind, it shouldn’t be driving your knee way up here and there shouldn’t be any tension in it either. It’s just shifting your weight, and pull your foot.

It’s like if you just 05:32 - touched a piece of glass with your foot, or a hot coal, and you just pull it straight up it would just come straight up, instinctively so that’s how you want the foot to pull off of the ground Another common fault would be forgetting to breathe naturally. Believe it or not, people are trying to balance and focussing on all these things, it doesn’t come naturally to them yet so they start holding their breath or breathing very shallow. You should breathe very relaxed into the diaphragm, a low breath and breathe in and out through the nostrils, there’s no need to breathe through the mouth during a standing drill. I think that covers most of the common faults, so see how you do with it. If you struggle with this, just standing in place in this natural posture which is the posture in running that everybody must pass through if you struggle holding your balance - being at ease while holding your balance in this position for 2 minutes on either leg then that’s definitely a signal, a warning of future injury or if you’re currently experiencing injuries it’s an indicator of part of the root of the problem So the workshop that we’re going to be doing for free and the program that we’re going to be releasing at the same time that’s targeted specifically for runners is going to address, at the root cause, all of these issues that contribute to injuries that make existing injuries worse and that make future injuries more likely We’re going to make it so that your body is properly prepared in a holistic way to run efficient and injury-free.

07:17 - Remember to keep your eyes peeled for assessment number 2 That is going to be coming following this one in the coming days. [Athletic Engineering Logo] .