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 time
- With almost silent landing on support
- With landing on a forefoot for most of elite runners
- With landing close to the vertical line going through
the GCM
- With small vertical oscillation of the body
- With small upper body movement
- With slight forward lean or erect trunk position
- Without any vigorous arms or legs movement
- With a quiet and focused face
Well, it is quite familiar for everybody who went through
even a short time of training and racing in running. Yes,
all characteristics are well known, but nevertheless inaccessible
for most recreational and age group runners. A common opinion
is: “there they are, and here we are”, separating
“them” and “us” as something completely
different.
To accept this approach and consider a good running form
as predetermined and belonging just to elites doesn’t
appeal to me. A good running form, in my opinion, is the result
of learning the skill, but not something inherited from your
birth. I can accept the view that some people have more in
their genes to learn quicker and better, but everybody could
and should learn “a good running form”. Obviously,
from what we described above, it’s very difficult even
to grasp the idea of it, to tell nothing of being able to
learn it.
A descriptive approach usually lacks systematic explanation
and doesn’t give any real knowledge why it happens in
this or that way and in any other. So what kind of running,
does a good running form represent? Yes, we got the idea in
general, about a smooth, effortless, light, etc., movement
of the runner, but this is what we see, not what we understand
and can actually reproduce.
The form reflects our relations with our environment, where
gravity is the main component, which basically determines
everything we visually perceive. So, what we describe as a
smooth, light and effortless running just reflects how in
sync we work with gravity. Certainly there are specific ways
to do so and we have to learn and teach them no matter if
we belong to the elite field or not. The Pose Method is designed
to make it possible for runners of all levels and all specialties,
from short to long distances, from amateurs to elite.
Dr.Romanov
Pose
running website
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