Running Technique

Physics. Pure Physics.

Running is Physics. Physics is science. Science is logic. Science can be complicated, however. Running right is complicated, too. Small details matter. A lot. However, despite the complexity of the human anatomy, it is easy for us to change our running gait if we do it right.

Jaw-dropping improvements.

The effects of simple changes have been jaw dropping. I have had runners come in with knee pain from advanced-stage arthritis and leaving pain-free. I have had runners come in suffering from long-term shin splints and leave as if they had never had shin problems. I have had runners come in with a 6:45min/k training pace and turn into a 4:45min/k runner within 2 weeks. Same heartrate. I have had runners improve from 6:49min/k to 5:23min./k in less than 24 hours. I have also seen 2:48hr marathon runners shave 6min. off of their PR. The list goes on endlessly. Hardly anybody believes me when I tell them about the improvements I have seen in my clients. However, there is nothing easier than making runners faster; there is nothing easier than bringing ease to people’s running; because running – and all motion – is Physics. The Power of Physics is enormous. All I do is teach humans how to use Physics to create big changes by making tiny changes.

Re-activating instead or programming.

Changing your running technique is much easier than most people believe because we all used to have a great technique. Just look at small children and how athletic and lightfooted they look when they run. Our brains know how it is done. Our brains just need to be reminded of how it is done. We used to fly as children. All I do with my clients is remove the dust from their brains and reactivate motion patterns they already know but ignored for decades.

Teaching new motion patterns is hard. Reactivating old motion patterns is easy. You just need to press the right buttons inside the brain. With the experience of working with tens of thousands of runners, you come to know where the buttons sit and how you have to press them so runners do indeed turn into lightfooted gazelles.

Theory vs. Execution.

There is normally a big gap between theory and execution. Just because you know the theory, does not mean you are able to execute this theory in real life to get all of the practical benefits. I see this every day. The first 5 to 7 years of FLUGPHASE’s existence, nobody had ever spent a thought about running form prior to attending my workshops. Now, more and more come to me who have already spent hours, days, and weeks researching running technique on Google and YouTube. However, the rate of runners with good form prior to FLUGPHASE has not changed a bit. Of the 2000 who attend my live workshops in the German-speaking countries each year, there are normally 2 (0,01%!) who already have clean, efficient biomechanics. Knowing the theory is nice but does not get you anywhere if you are unable to put theory into practice. This is what I focus on: make you convert Physics, Anatomy and Physiotherapy into running faster, more lightfooted, and healthier.

What to look out for when changing your running technique

Be cautious if you change your footstrike. Change your footstrike using a well structured training plan.
Be patient. Yes, I have seen people improve by 2min. per kilometer within a week. However, it normally takes a million repetitions to automize a motion pattern. Not everyone is a coordinative super talent so for many, it takes many months to create and see positive changes.
Do your homework: strength, flexibility, and mobility are the pre-requisites for optimizing your running gait that you cannot skip or run away from!
Don’t try to change all 5 factors at once. One at a time. The human brain is not made for multi-tasking, so don’t give it task loads that it is not capable of handling.

Learn to Fly!

The Impact of Shoes on Running Gait.

There is one major reason why the vast majority of humans – including many pro runners - has such poor running technique: shoes. We were born without shoes. Yet, we wear them daily. They are supposed to protect us. They are supposed to cushion us. They are supposed to stabilize us. But why ??

Mankind is born to run. Our human anatomy is made to make us autonomous: to cushion us, to stabilize us, and to protect us using a perfectly tuned mechanical system made up of muscles, connective tissue such as ligaments, fascia or tendons, and bones. Our way of moving - our motion pattern - adds to the mechanical system: if you move efficiently, you protect your orthopedic health and save energy.

The products of the 80s were the start of a fatal development in the running shoe industry. This lasted until around 2006, when Newton Running came on the market. Still today, most running shoes on the shelves are extremely cushioned, high heeled, and many have stability units built in. They all do what we are made to do on our own. They make us weaker because what is not used in our body, retracts. Weakness makes us instable. Instability injures us. High-heel mattress shoes prevent us from running efficiently. A vicious cycle to be finally broken!

Switching to natural running or barefoot shoes is not enough, however. Our motion patterns were destroyed long ago. In the meantime, we have automatized inefficient and often times harmful motion patterns. The essential part of coming back to the human nature of efficient, natural running form is working on biomechanics, doing technique drills, re-coding the brain, and building up full-body strength and mobility.

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“I know how to run. Everybody knows how to run. Left foot forward; right foot forward; it is easy!”

I have had over 18.000 runners participating in my running technique workshops across Europe. From pro runners to inactive individuals that wanted to start running and do it right from the get-go. From 6-year-old kids to 80-year-olds and every age in-between. A mere 29 of those 18.000 already had very good running forms. None of them were the pro runners. Number 16 – a 50-year-old female hobby jogger - improved her pace for easy runs from 5:00min./k to 4:40min/k (same heartrate) within 48 hours after the workshop even though she had a better running gait than 99,9% of the runners out there. Even tiny changes to your biomechanical motion pattern can lead to big improvements.

2.
“You cannot change your running form when you are older!”

I have had over 70-plus-year-olds successfully improve their running technique and improving their times. I have had a 1972 Olympian and former Swiss 10.000m record holder who wrote me a few days after the workshop that he feels lighter running now. I have had 50-plus-year-olds running lifetime PRs after changing their running techniques. It is never too late to make changes. However, you need to have an open, curious mind to successfully make changes. Even the best coach in the world cannot create positive change in a closed-up mind. Attitude matters more than talent or training level or age.

3.
“You will get injured if you change your running technique!”

I do have to admit that changing your footstrike is very prone to injuries. You have to be extremely cautious and slow with changing your footstrike especially if you are not coming from a sport like T&F, soccer, or any sport that involves a lot of sprinting and/or jumping. However, footstrike is just a very small part of running technique. All other things affecting your running economy beyond footstrike do not make you susceptible to injuries at all. These things you can also work on the middle of your marathon preparation. However, you should NOT change your footstrike in the immediate preparation of your season’s running highlight. Your footstrike has very little influence on your running economy. It “only” has huge influence on the load you put on your joints.

4.
“There is no such thing as an optimal running technique!”

As long as you are not born paralyzed, with brain damage or with major anatomical abnormalities, there is one perfect running technique. We are all born on the same planet in the same solar system with two legs, two ankle joints, two knee joints, two hip joints, etc. and our center of gravity is located in pretty much the same spot for everyone. Hence, the Laws of Physics have the same impact on all of us.

However, it is true that not everybody is able to execute a perfect running gait. Why? Not because we were all born different, but because many chose not to take active care of their orthopedic health:

they did not do the weight lifting and general strength training necessary to have the full-body stability to perform a perfect running gait also over longer distances
they did not do their stretching, yoga, massages, sauna, etc. and therefore lost a lot of the flexibility they had when they were young
they lost more and more of their mobility because of 1. and 2.

It is normally your own fault if you are unable to improve your running form, because the root causes are – besides being closed-minded – insufficient stability, insufficient flexibility, and insufficient mobility. All of this can be worked on even at an advanced age. It is time to change your training habits to reverse your anatomical insufficiencies! You can do something about ageing but you have to actively do your work. You are not a helpless victim of age. Humans love excuses. Sorry to be so harsh but reality is harsh more often than not. Humans normally need a good, painful kick in the ass before they manage to get out of their comfort zones and make positive changes to their lives. Few humans have the curiosity and perfectionism to search for their luck. We have a German saying “Der Mensch muss zu seinem Glück gezwungen werden!”: “Humans need to be forced to strive towards their personal luck!” Germans usually speak out the truth … 😉