Running can do wonders for the body, but only if you maintain a proper running technique. Inadequate techniques require more hard work to carry out and can also cause chronic injuries to develop. So, make the most of your time spent exercising and learn to adopt an excellent running technique that will enable you to be the most fuel-efficient that you can.
Re-style Your Running Position: One of the first things to think about when coming up with your running technique is your style. A right running style is essential in becoming a fuel-efficient runner. You want to keep as streamlined as possible without any loose arms or legs flailing all over the place.
Your arms should be kept low while running with your hands crossing your legs at hip height. If you have your hands higher than your hips, you put yourself at risk of projecting yourself upward as opposed to forward. It would be best if you kept both your elbows and hands as parallel as possible, too, both moving together on a forward line.
If your elbows are moving outward too much, this will cause an unwanted rotational force of the upper body and is a massive waste of energy. Don’t tense up or shrug your shoulders either while running as again this is a significant unnecessary waste of energy.
It’s the same theory as that behind an engine – the quicker it runs, the more power creates. Now substitute the engine for leg turnover. To become an efficient runner, you need to be able to move your legs quickly. That may be a little difficult at first as the extra strain will have you breathing faster and harder than usual as you try to maintain a steady pace. However, the more you do it, the more your body will get used to it, and before long, you’ll find yourself being able to run for miles without getting anywhere near as tired and breathless as you did before.
Keep Facing Forward: Whatever movement you find yourself making, you want to ensure that you’re always moving forward. So, for that to happen,
Practice Makes Perfect: A great way to perfect your technique is through the use of a treadmill. If you can use a treadmill that sits in front of a mirror, then even better, because mirrors don’t lie. Running on a treadmill isn’t quite the same as running outside, and so for that reason, you should bring the treadmill up to 1 to 1.5% elevation to compensate. In doing this, you are ensuring that your hamstrings are working appropriately. Also, you are reducing the amount of pounding on the body. Workout sessions should be around 15-20 minutes, once a week, until you’ve adopted your technique, and it works for you outside.
Top Tips
Recovering from an Injury: Use crutches. Do not walk or stand on the injured foot for at least three days. After three days, start gradual weight-bearing. If the foot hurts, back off from bearing weight. For people with restricted mobility, there are chair exercises, so check out rebotec.com.au.
Style: When it comes to finding your style, ensure your head remains straight, you keep your shoulders relaxed, and your hands and elbows move in the same forward line.
Cadence: Make sure the speed of the treadmill remains pretty low (around 4-5 mph), run your usual rhythm, and calculate. Then, increase the rate of your leg turnover, ensuring the treadmill stays at a constant speed, with you running quicker. Then, recalculate your cadence. Remember how this cadence feels and then transfer that motion outdoors. The more comfortable it becomes, the more you should increase your speed.
Forward Displacement: When you are on the treadmill, take a look in the mirror at a point where you can see your shoulders or head quite closely. You want to make sure that, while running, your head and shoulders shouldn’t be moving up and down more than 1.5 inches or so. Do the same thing with your hips to make sure there’s not too much lateral displacement.
The breathing:
Do not underestimate your breathing technique while running. To improve the results, you need to use the correct method. Breathing consists of much more than inhaling and exhaling air. Oxygen reaches our muscles and is essential for proper functioning when we do any exercise.
Also, running is an aerobic activity, and we need air in large quantities. In this case, it is not more successful in breathing through the air or the nose, but it is deep, diaphragmatic breathing, and we feel comfortable. It depends on the time and effort of the race, but more air is inhaled through the mouth, and it is preferable at a rapid pace to breathe mainly through the mouth.
The posture:
A good posture starts at the head and ends at the feet. Things that matter are the look, the neck, the arms, hands, or the position of the hip, knees, ankles, and feet is essential. In addition to promoting our speed and endurance, you also protect the joints and muscles that way. Some tips to improve posture is to look straight ahead, keep the trunk upright. Alignment between the vadera-knee and the second toe for a parallel stride, keeping the shoulders relaxed and activating the abdomen-lumbar area to keep the spine stable.
The technique:
For a career technique to be correct, they enter into the above explained. There are different ways of running. That is improved by raising awareness of the importance it has in the race and working with exercises. For example, how to move the arms or the phase of the damping, impulse, and flight feet, avoiding falling with the heel in the first phase, and causing a loss of speed. We leave you several videos below of exercises to improve the technique.
The force:
Strength work, whether in the gym or not, helps us to strengthen everything we involve when running, which is the whole body, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Everything is essential and will reduce the possibility of injury.
Flexibility:
The greater the flexibility, the higher the amplitude is of your range of movements. In such a way, you will obtain a faster recovery, more extended tread, and improve the efficiency of your technique, besides avoiding injuries. Therefore, before starting to run, you have to perform active stretches since they involve several muscles at the same time, and you are preparing the body for exercise.
Also, it is essential not to forget those ‘little details’ that make a difference: footwear. Sometimes it goes unnoticed, but it is vital when it comes to running. Although the objective of improving the race is for a specific sport, it is essential to practice the technique.
That cannot be done otherwise but by running, working on how and in what way to run. Once we have acquired the technique, it is also essential to apply it on land (be it a dirt field, pavilion, asphalt, or artificial or natural grass) and with the usual footwear. But, to start practicing or improving the way of running, suitable footwear is preferable for it.
