Running comes naturally, right?
After all, you’ve been doing it since about a day after you learned to walk when you kept falling over forwards trying to get across to whichever one of your parents was kneeling in front of you and calling you over, just out of bloody reach.
If you didn’t have to think about running form then, you don’t have to think about it now, surely?
There are a few common mistakes many of us make, which lead to wasted energy, bad habits, and overall poor form, and addressing these can genuinely help you feel lighter, run faster and conserve energy at the same time.
There are however a few tweaks we can make to our running form that genuinely lead to more speed with less effort, and can make a huge difference to beginner runners.
Why is good running form important?
Good running form is important because it can help you run more efficiently, so you can run faster and longer without getting tired as quickly.
Good form also helps to reduce the impact on your joints, which through good running technique can help to prevent injuries such as shin splints, knee pain, and stress fractures.
Finally, good form can help you to maintain a consistent pace and avoid slowing down or getting tired toward the end of your run.
Some common mistakes beginner runners make related to poor form include tensed shoulders, clenched fists, leaning forward, slow cadence, heel striking, watching the feet, shallow breathing, and lack of cross-training.
Overstriding, or landing heel first with your foot well ahead of your body’s center of gravity, is another common injury-causing running form mistake.
When Should You Change Your Running Form?
Whether or not you should change your running form depends on your situation.
If you are injury-free, have been running for a few years, and are still seeing improvement in your training- and race speed, then there may be limited benefit to changing your running form, and so there is nothing at all wrong with carrying on the same way as you always have.
Even if you have had major injuries, it is important to rule out other causes such as muscle imbalance and over-training before pointing a finger at your running style or technique.
However, if you feel discomfort while running, or are struggling to consistently run faster, it may be worth assessing your running form and identifying any opportunities for improvement.
Proper Running Form Cues
Because running comes ‘naturally’, it can be hard to know how to improve running form without at least some external input.
If you feel like your running technique is a hot mess and you aren’t confident to add on a whole lot of mileage just yet, then signing up with a running coach is a viable option, even if just for a short period.
If you’re in the market for new running shoes, then another option for you to get qualified assistance with your running posture is to get a gait analysis at a running store. Not all running stores are created equal, however, so be sure to pick a specialist running store that has the right equipment to assess your running gait.
Takeaway
When running, it’s important to maintain good posture, engage your core, and gaze forward. Your eyes should be focused on the ground about 15 to 20 feet ahead of you.
Not only is this proper running form, but for many runners, it’s also a safer way to run because you can see what’s coming and avoid face planting.
What Does the Correct Running Form Entail?
It wouldn’t be accurate to say that there’s such a thing as the ‘correct’ running form.
If you’re looking for a great example of what every textbook tells you is a sub-optimal running technique, watch a couple of videos from Lionel Sanders’ Youtube channel.
There are two reasons to watch these videos – first, Lionel is hilarious, and shares a refreshingly blunt view of the life professional endurance athletes lead. Second, you’ll see that it’s quite possible to be a ridiculously fast runner while looking like you’ve been shot in the butt with a tranquilizer dart.
If you study elite runners, most of them share common traits: an upright running posture, body weight, and workload split evenly between legs, a relaxed upper body, and arms rotating smoothly.
We’ve broken this topic up into four main sections working our way from the top of the body to the feet.
Let’s start with good running posture.
Step 1: Run Tall
Running tall is one of the most important aspects of proper running form. It helps you maintain a strong and efficient stride, and it can also help prevent injuries.
Running tall, with a slight forward lean, helps to reduce stress on your joints and muscles, and it also makes it easier to breathe.
There are a few things you can do to practice running tall. First, stand up straight with your shoulders back and your head held high. Then, take a few steps forward, keeping your spine in alignment and your weight evenly distributed over your feet. As you run, focus on maintaining this posture.
Running tall takes practice, but it is worth it. By following these tips, you can improve your running form and reduce your risk of injuries.
- Gaze straight ahead about 15-20 feet (5-7 meters), with your chin tucked in very slightly
- Push your chest forward, as if you were leaning forwards from your ankles
- Keep your shoulders blades back and relaxed
- Allow your arms to rotate easily
- Keep your core engaged to avoid slouching forward
Step 2: Focus on your upper body
Working our way top to bottom, let’s run through what to look out for with your upper body as you run.
As you swing your arms back and forth, make sure they swing forward rather than side to side, and that your hands don’t cross the center line of your body. Crossing the center line leads to a lot of inefficient twisting and turning; it’s like your upper body is trying to turn a corner for the whole run, while your lower body tries to continue in a straight line.
Picture your arm swing as a critical tool to drive forward momentum, swinging your hands forward in front of your body rather than side to side.
Keep your shoulder blades back, relax your arms at around a 90° elbow bend, and with your hands level with your heart and held in a relaxed fist.
Step 3: Identify your foot strike
Your foot strike describes the way your foot lands while running and is an important element of running technique for distance runners to consider.
Knowing how you land gives you a head start in finding the proper running form for your biomechanics, and will help you prevent injury as you build up your training load.
There are three types of foot strike
Forefoot strike: a runner who lands on the front of the foot, and usually looks like they’re running on their toes. In extreme cases, a forefoot striker’s heel may not touch the ground at all.
Midfoot strike: a runner who lands with a relatively flat foot, usually landing on the outside edge of the shoe and then flattening out as their full weight loads onto the foot.
Heel strike: the heel lands first, followed by the midsole and toes. The foot rolls from heel to toe with each step.
The pros and cons of each foot strike are as follows:
Forefoot strike
Pros: reduces the impact on the knees and hips, increases the use of the calf muscles, and reduces the risk of injury to the Achilles tendon, calf, ankle, and foot.
Cons: requires more energy, can cause calf injury or discomfort, and may increase the risk of stress fractures of the metatarsal bones in the middle of your foot.
Midfoot strike
Pros: Reduces the impact on the knees and hips, with the associated reduction in injury risk. Landing on the midfoot is generally considered to be more energy efficient than heel striking.
Cons: Not a lot!
Heel strike
Pros: the most common foot strike for runners, stretches and strengthens the calf muscles and ankles, and is less energy-intensive than a forefoot strike.
Cons: transfers each impact from the foot directly into the knee and hip, which can increase the risk of injury on these joints. Less energy-efficient than a midfoot or forefoot strike.
Forefoot strikers are fairly rare as far as running techniques go, and if you’re already landing on your midfoot, you’re halfway to being an efficient runner.
Heel striking is both how most runners land as well as one of the key elements to tweak as you look to move to a more correct form, so let’s spend a bit of time exploring why it’s not ideal and how to fix it.
Heel Strike: Get Off the Brakes
Heel striking is commonly associated with overstriding – when you hit the ground out in front of your body.
The are many reasons to avoid overstriding, but the main one is that you are literally hitting the brakes every time your foot hits the ground in this position. As your front leg extends too far forward, your foot creates a breaking force that you have to then overcome to continue moving forward.
A heel striker will therefore lose power and forward momentum with each stride and has to engage more power from the main muscle groups in their legs to maintain speed. It’s a highly inefficient way to run.
Overstriding can also contribute to several injuries due to the repeated impact forces running through your body, including stubborn issues such as plantar fasciitis and shin splints.
The good news is that moving your foot strike more towards the mid-foot is relatively easy to work towards, as the main requirement is an adjustment in stride length.
The mental image you’re looking for is to have your feet hitting the ground directly under your body with each foot strike, and then pushing back as you roll onto your forefoot. Instead of lengthening your stride by stretching your feet out in front of you, land under your body and flick your feet up towards your butt.
The simplest way to practice this is to run right at the front of a treadmill, where you’ll have to adjust your stride to stay on the moving belt and not kick the cover at the front. Do this to get a feel for the biomechanics, and then try to replicate this feeling on the road.
See more about training effectively on a treadmill here.
One of the best ways to address heel strikes is to increase your cadence, which is great news as an increased cadence drives a whole range of other benefits for your running form, speed, and most importantly, efficiency.
Step 4: Increase running cadence
Running cadence refers to the number of strides you take per minute.
Most commonly, every foot strike counts (rather than a ‘cycle’ of right and then left leg counting as a single unit).
If you have a running watch or smartwatch, it very likely measures your cadence already, but if not, you can calculate it by counting how many strides you take over 30 seconds and doubling it.
Typically, a cadence of 180 is seen as ideal for faster runs, with 165 or higher suitable for slow runs. 180 can be difficult to attain, but is worth keeping as an aspirational goal for most of us.
Runners focus on cadence because it is a big driver of efficiency and injury prevention.
The longer your foot is on the ground, the less momentum you have. This means you need to expend more energy to get moving again, and also that much of that energy will be utilized to get your body up and off the ground again rather than forward.
By increasing your cadence and avoiding a longer stride, your landing will naturally change so your feet are always just under your center of gravity.
Here are some simple drills to help increase your cadence
- Butt Kick Drill: Butt kicks help to improve cadence and improve quadriceps and hip flexor flexibility. To do this drill, run in place while kicking your heels up to your glutes.
- Fast Feet: Fast feet aims to help with the feeling of low ground contact times. To do this drill, run in place as fast as you can while keeping your feet low on the ground.
Drills to help with Improving Your Running Form
So far we’ve focused on principles such as stride length and upright posture, which can be incorporated into your daily runs to reinforce the proper form.
Core strength exercises also play a role (as always!), and they’re simple enough to do without a personal trainer on the payroll.
Hip/Glute Bridges
Lie on your back with the feet flat on the floor and the knees hip-width apart. Lift your hips off the ground and squeeze your glutes, before lowering back down and repeating.
Side Plank
Begin by lying on your side, with your elbow positioned directly under your shoulder. Lift your hips off the ground and hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
Dead Bug
Lie on your back with your arms extended towards the ceiling and your legs bent at a 90-degree angle. Slowly lower your right arm and left leg towards the ground, keeping your lower back pressed into the floor. Return to the starting position and repeat with your left arm and right leg.
Improve your running form and run pain-free
Concentrating on the key elements of running form listed here should make a huge difference in running efficiency and injury prevention.
If you focus on anything, focus on bringing up your cadence, as it’s difficult to increase cadence without the associated changes in running technique such as running tall and landing on the midfoot.
The great news is that you should see increases in speed immediately in your training, and there’s no better confidence boost ahead of race day than running faster and easier in your training.