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In order to understand how we run. It is always better to have a
model or an example of how...
How good runners really run, just like we do this in golf, and we do this in other
sports as we have the ability to model ourselves
on other individuals. And so what I'm going to do now is, I'm going to talk a little bit
more
about
how the running motion actually works.
And the best way to start that of
is with the mathematical equation of how running is.
Running is basically
your stride length
the amount of distance that you cover with one step and your stride rate
which is the...
number of steps that you take in a minute. And this is normally measured as
a stride cycle from left foot to left foot, but a lot of times we also just
talk about
just how many steps we take with our left foot in a minute, or our right foot in
a minute.
And so...
What that brings to our training when we start understanding, it's not only
about the speed that we covering and what our central physiological
systems are doing, but it's also very very much about
if we are training we have to take cognizance when we fractionalize
training we have to take cognizance of the stride rate that we have
and the stride length that we have. Let's say for example we gonna run a 10
kilometer
Alright? And we're gonna do 400 meter repeats to run that 10
kilometer
it's no good taking super long powerful slow strides
in that 10 x 400 meter workout
and then trying to take that to the road and running a 10 kilometer on the road
where we're going to be taking
a lot less
uh... a lot more steps with a lot shorter stride length, cause then there's no
neuromuscular carryover.
So that's a very very important thing for us to look at.
Let's have a look at some key perspectives that we need to have as
background to understand how the running motion works.
And so the first thing that we look at
is our Kinetic Chain. And the Kinetic Chain is the contralateral way in which
we run, alright? In other words
the right shoulder works together
with the uh... left hip
the right elbow works together with the left knee
and the right wrist works together with the
left ankle. And those work in unison. When I coach the Olympic champion in
1996 in the olympic games in Atlanta,
he used to have a funny little rotation with his forearm
but if you look further down the chain his left foot over pronated and that
was echoed by the movement of his wrist. So that's that's a real key component to
look at when you're looking at your own mechanics, is to make sure that that
Kinetic Chain is operating intact.
The next thing that we'll look at is um...
that people tend to view running
as linear
Alright? As a straight line movement. But even if you look at me from the
front here, if I move my arms forward in this position, my right arm forward
my left arm back
you'll notice that my shoulder is narrow.
So it's very important that you view your own running
in three dimensions.
That it's not just what's going on left and right and what's going on forward and
back, but all of the angles through that. We call that multiplanar movement
and running is a very multi planar movement.
So when you look at your footprints, they don't echo the width of your feet that
is equal to the width of your hips when you start running. So that's an important
concept.
The next thing to look at is is uh... a concept called the... the... the...
differentiation between sports that are Ipsilateral and sports that
are Contralateral.
Now, Ipsilateral Sports indicate that the
one side of the body moves at the same time. For example when you're swimming
when you put your hand in the water
this shoulder would move forward
this hip would drop down you would rotate in the water, and join your entire right
side would move at the same time.
As opposed to running or throwing a... motions its a Contralateral movement
as we spoke about this Kinetic Chain working contralaterally.
When you run, you run contralaterally. In other words
talk the body, so that the arm goes forward and goes straight back, but the
way to achieve that
is through
a rotational movement. Alright? So that's... that's a
very very important thing
to view.
And when we analyze our own running
we very often
look at a single movement. But, you know? that uh... uh... running
movement is a Cyclic Movement, in other words it's a Rotational Movement
around axis.
Alright? And that's how we produce
linear motion. So if you put a... a strobe light or something on your ankle or on your
knee or on your hip you'd notice that it will be moving forward in
circular um... in Cyclic Motion. So that... that's very important.
A key factor in running efficiency
is a concept called Dynamic Balance.
And Dynamic Balance
statically is actually being imbalance. We want to create a situation
where we have an upright body and we trying to turn that body into a wheel.
I often tell runners
that when you run downhill and you want to use gravity and free speed to get
you down that hill
you're basically a box and the more you can shave off the corners of that box,
the more likely you will be able to
have less resistance as you roll. And so how I explained Dynamic Balance is to
have people stand in the position where they are upright and they're not bending at the
waist and they're not bending at the chest. Alright? If I drop the plumb line from my shoulders
that would hang the hit of my hips, and if I drop the plumb line from my hips that
hang the hit of my
of my toes or just in the middle of my feet.
Alright? But what they are doing, is they are leaning slightly forward, and that's all that
is holding me up and stopping me from falling forward
is the pressure that my calf muscles are putting through my ankles pushing my feet
to the ground, alright?
And as soon as I let go, I create forward momentum. So that's a very very
important concept and it gets highly impacted by fatigue.
So the more tired we become,
the more upright we are, the more we wanna keep ourselves imbalance and safe
and the harder we actually have to work to overcome inertia.
What's very important when we're talking about Dynamic Balance
is the fact that when we are out of balance when we are running, it causes
our legs to react to our postural position of... our out of balance
position.
And, it then becomes a different movement pattern, in other words our legs come
out in front of us to stop us from falling and to protect us and to keep
us safe.
And when you elicit that kind of reaction it's a much much more
efficient much more primal much more useful way to approach the run. So just creating that
slight imbalance is the very key concept.