Running Form: How Do We Describe the Ideal Movement Flow?

Here is a word that I would like you to consider; flow!

In previous articles we explored what effortless, well aligned posture might feel like and we introduced the idea of the learning cycle as applied to running form. The learning cycle involves the idea of a growing knowledge of good alignment in running combined with efficient movement where no extra effort is expended. These first two steps lead to more awareness, particularly awareness of how we are doing what we are doing, in other words the details. Awareness continually provides us with more information which in turn leads us back into the cycle of learning. 

Some have simply described running as standing tall and falling forward, letting gravity do the work. This is a wonderful idea and it may help a lot of people let go of effort, helping them to realize what an effortless activity it can be. It is, however, an incomplete description of the running motion. And what about standing tall?  What does posture have to do with running since we aren’t standing still? It is important to be able to apply the idea of posture to action, since our posture is continually being altered as we move through the phases of running.

Let’s consider the idea of walking upright, which is unique to man. When we look at the unique stance and walking motion that humans have we should consider not a static position called posture, but the general vertical axis of the human body. Mankind has the ability to turn around this vertical axis very quickly. The ape has a forward flexed posture and cannot turn near as efficiently as a man. 

1. Try bending forward and dragging your knuckles on the ground. 
2.  Turn quickly to face 180 degrees to the rear.  
3. Now stand up, taking full advantage of your central vertical axis and see how quickly you can turn 180 degrees. 
4. Now stand and place one foot a good distance in front of the other. Can you tell that your foot was not the only thing to move?  Your knee, hip, pelvis and back also moved to allow a large forward step by one leg. 
5. Now try standing with all your weight on one leg, let's say the right leg. The other leg is still on the ground but is used only for balance. 
6. Now with all the weight on your right leg, turn your torso to the left but keep your head and eyes looking straight forward. Make sure there is no tension in the head and neck as you do this. Can you feel that there is a spiraling action taking place in your body, and you are getting taller? Your weight is arranged over the standing leg.

 Your knee on the right side straightens your ribs twist a bit to the left and you get taller. You engage every part of yourself in sequence, from to standing foot, to the knee, to the power center of the hip and the glutes, the low, mid, and upper back. It is a spiral, flowing through the core. And yet it is so smooth and so fluid, that it is really all one movement. 

Your knee on the right side straightens your ribs twist a bit to the left and you get taller. You engage every part of yourself in sequence, from to standing foot, to the knee, to the power center of the hip and the glutes, the low, mid, and upper back. It is a spiral, flowing through the core. And yet it is so smooth and so fluid, that it is really all one movement.

Your knee on the right side straightens your ribs twist a bit to the left and you get taller. You engage every part of yourself in sequence, from to standing foot, to the knee, to the power center of the hip and the glutes, the low, mid, and upper back. It is a spiral, flowing through the core. And yet it is so smooth and so fluid, that it is really all one movement.

Efficient movement flows like a wave through the body. We don't run with the feet, the legs, or any other part alone, but as a system, as a whole person.

When our running is effortful, or injurious it is usually because of a breakdown somewhere in this flow. If our awareness of the overall flow of our running is increasing, we are on the right track.

Here is a definition of flow: flow (fl) v. flowed, flow·ing, flows. v.intr. 1. a. To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity, as in the manner characteristic of a fluid.

So, running is a matter of coordination throughout the entire person. It is a sensing of how we are made and how we can move straight forward down a track or trail. What is not obvious at first is how much skill is involved in running. All of our bones must be arranged in precise fashion so as to transmit our ground forces well through the skeleton.

Watch David Rushida’s 2012 world record and gold medal performance in the Olympic 800 meter finals. See what great coordination he had between the upper and lower body, the unbroken continuity of movement. This is a quality that rewards runners at every level whether complete novice or world champion. Perfection is difficult or impossible but improvement is available to all. The specifics of what flow means are worth years of experimentation. But the concept of flow is one of the foundations of your running success. Take this word with you today and enjoy building on this foundation.

Scott Forrester is a Student Awareness Through Movement Instructor and a Physical Therapist Assistant and ACE Certified Personal Trainer at Mountain Valley Therapy in La Grande, OR.  Please leave questions or comments here at the blog or contact him at transcendentrunningease@gmail.com

Awareness in Transcendent Running

What is Transcendent Running and why do we talk about awareness?  What is awareness anyway, and how can it improve my running? Awareness is simply being cognizant of something. But wait, that is just using a synonym to define something. We might say that awareness is our ability to observe ourselves, to become an observer, a gatherer of information. Is awareness a general quality that we develop or is it used to develop specific skills in the Transcendent Running program?

The answer to both questions is yes. Awareness is a general quality that we can develop. Learning to observe ourselves is a skill that could be used to further our aims or find improvement in any area of life that is important to us. A favorite quote is "if you know what you are doing, you can do what you want” (M. Feldenkrais).   How do we know the details of what we are doing besides observing them? In other words paying attention to what we need to know, relying on the greatest computer and the greatest feedback system in the world, the mind/body brain. So we are aware of what we are doing and that is self awareness.

We also have another link in the learning cycle, the environment. What we know, think, and sense are all linked to it. That means many things.  One of them is that our relationship to gravity is a great teacher. We learn all movement in the field of gravity.

 

Transcendent Running can take you on an exploration of the value of generalizing the process of awareness, so that your explorations can include all areas of training, and form. Transcendent Running guides you through the process of expanding your running awareness and increasing concrete skills. It will introduce you to and guide you through lessons that will be based on the Transcendent Running learning cycle which looks like this.


Lessons will be helpful in improving breathing, posture/acture, pelvic rotation and coordination of the running movement through the spine and good alignment and transmission of forces from ground upwards through the whole kinetic chain of motion.

Form vs. Technique, Technique vs. Learning Part Two

The word form refers to either an ideal form or the actual current shape of our running movements, what it actually looks like right now. The word form could also refer to a current state that is malleable, and growing.
  

 As Americans we are accustomed to a "quick fix" mentality, fast food, quick answers, and high productivity. Unfortunately this attitude has been applied even more to running than to sports activities and functions that are considered “skilled."  Actually the best runners are masters of human movement. We settle for a quick fix of running form tips. We may pick up a DVD or a book that teaches a certain technique. All these things are wonderful tools and will advance us to a certain degree. But who would think that you could ever become a concert pianist, a Michael Jordan, a Mo Farrah, a Peyton Manning with a quick checklist, book, or DVD. Could you imagine a runner at any level continuing to improve with only foundational instruction?
   

We could define skill as improvement or mastery of an activity. Why are so many runners in any given year injured?  Why do so many fail to achieve their potential in other ways? I believe the answer is a lack of personal skill. The kinesthetic sense, the ability to sense what we are doing, is the key to the learning process. Unlocking the ability of the human nervous system to learn is what brings us father along the path of skill development.

If you have read a lot of articles or books on running form or technique, you realize that not everyone agrees on what is the "right" way to run. Let’s look at something that most everyone agrees on, the ability to run with a long uncompressed spine. Some call this "running tall." Some refer to this as our posture.  But what does right posture feel like for us individually?

    Please take off your shoes and stand for a few moments. Notice how your standing is and what the general feeling of your weight is on your feet. Take your time! Now lie on your back on the floor. Notice your contact with the floor. Pretend you are lying in sand. Which parts of you would press more deeply into the sand? Also notice which parts of you do not make contact, but are held up from the floor or are not quite touching. Compare your right and left sides and notice any differences in their contact with the surface you are lying on. Notice anything you can without changing anything. Just notice. Is one leg turned out more? What are the curves behind your low back and your neck like? How is your head lying? Are your shoulders making a different shape or pattern of contact in your imaginary sand? 

     Now bend your knees and have the soles of your feet flat on the floor. Can you shift the weight of your pelvis a little towards the top of the pelvis? Can you feel the curve in your low back changing and flattening as you do this? Keep doing the movement until it becomes clear and easy. Pause for a few moments. Then begin to shift the weight of your pelvis toward your tailbone. What is happening to the shape of your low back now as you do this movement? Pause and begin to do a small smooth movement of shifting the weight of your pelvis toward your tailbone and then all the way back to the top of the pelvis. Rest fully on your back for a full minute or two with your legs straight.

Now bend your knees again and begin to shift the weight of your pelvis a little bit to the left toward the left hip and then back to center. Pause.  Please don't forget to pause for at least 15-30 seconds. These pauses and rests are for the brain to process sensory information and are necessary for a deeper experience of change. Now shift the weight of your pelvis a little to the right towards the right hip and back to center. Pause. Now shift the weight of your pelvis from the left hip to the right hip, back a forth a number of times. Put your legs down and rest.

Bend your legs again and begin to do circles around the four points of pressure you have already explored, low back, tailbone, right and left hip. Do the circles many times. Each time you do the circles, make them lighter, smaller, smoother, rounder. Take your time. Take several minutes to explore these pelvic circles. Again moving slowly and taking your time is important, how much you notice depends on taking your time.  See if you can have smooth coordinated, easy uninterrupted flow around each circle.

Rest for at least a full minute or more on your back and notice the contact you have with the surface you are lying on now. Do you notice perhaps, that you are lying flatter in places that were more held up from the floor? Do you notice any other changes? You can also experiment with making circles in the opposite direction, or feeling the different coordination it takes to make circles with one leg crossed over the other.

Roll to one side and come slowly up to sitting and then standing. Notice what might be different in your standing now. How has your whole organization been affected? Where is your horizon now?  At what level are your eyes looking out? What other differences do you feel? Stay within your experience and take a walk around the room. How is your sense of connection to the earth? Does your posture and stance feel easier in some way? You may wish to take a short walk or a short easy run.  Just to notice what that is like now. Enjoy!

This lesson was not about "fixing" your posture and so it was not a "technique."  But it may have been the first time that you took the time to be more aware of how you stand, what could change, what could be improved. If so it is a glimpse of what could be the start of a deeper process. The learning process may have a beginning but it never ends. Awareness can continue to develop.

Obtaining the Benefits: Improving your running form: Technique vs. Form; Form vs. Awareness

In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about improving running form. In the past it was believed, and sometimes still is, that a person has a way that they run as an individual and the way a person runs cannot be changed.  It seems to me that this is tantamount to saying that humans, possessing the most complex nervous system on the planet, cannot learn anything new.

So, what is running form anyway? According to the dictionary it is; the shape, outward appearance, or mode in which a thing acts or exists. (freedicitonary.com)    Running form is thought of in the ideal. It could then be thought of as “good form”.   Often a person will ask, “Do I have good running form?” There is no doubt that there is benefit in this. It is good to have a model to study or aspire to. But if our form were always ideal we would not have to discuss it any further. 

So, what is our individual running form anyway?  It is the actual shape of our actions. If we were to take a video of our running and play it back, what we would see is our actual running form at the time the video was taken. We would see our actual shape, form and actions in real time. 

Humans are characterized by their peculiar upright stance.  Unique among all animals they stand, walk and run from an erect posture.  Humans, therefore, must run on two feet, with a high center of gravity.  To move forward they must shift their weight from one foot to another.  In order to run efficiently or faster one must find the optimal mix of cadence and stride length.  Also proper use ratio of larger to smaller muscles groups must be realized. Wasted energy must be minimized. We could go on, but it quickly becomes evident that certain biological constraints in bipeds necessitate certain commonly applicable principles. With so many things needing to take place in the efficient walking or running gait, certainly we must be able to use our ability to learn to improve at least some of them. 

Enter technique.  Technique is a systematic procedure by which a complex task is accomplished. (freedictionary.com)  There are a number of popular systems and techniques that are purported to teach us better running form. Some of them can really be quite helpful.  Having realized that it is possible to learn and to improve our movement patterns, and having now obtained a useful systematic technique, we may begin to develop greater skill, and enjoy the benefits.  Remember how when you were young you used to ride in the family car while mom or dad drove everyone around to do the days errands.  Then you got older and eventually you were old enough to take a driver’s ed course at school Finally you got a license of your own.  Now you could drive yourself where you wanted to go. You had arrived. But it took time to develop a higher level of skill, and more time to learn how to navigate on your own and to finally pay for your own car necessitating you to get your own job, and more and more responsibility for yourself. The process actually never stops. 

Actually a technique only takes you to the first doorway once you realize that progress is possible. So from the external form we progress to a technique and finally to our own expression. The final step in developing our potential as runners is awareness.  What is awareness? Again we turn to the dictionary for ideas.  Aware implies knowledge gained through one’s own perceptions, or by means of information. The information comes from our environment, both internal and external with all that implies. So now we have transcended outward form and even systematic techniques to the place where real learning can take place. It is the place where we have learned to benefit from our very own perceptions. Our form may change from day to day. It is really not a static thing. With awareness we become cognizant of our own now. We know our limitations. We begin to know what we really want and how to get it. We press on toward our own personal potential. It is really awareness that awards us with the benefits of being faster, going longer, or staying injury free.