Post by Andy on Apr 22, 2008 13:53:39 GMT
For a period of time I have been advising people, children and adults to run on the forefoot (middle foot or balls of feet). I have been trying to enforce this more lately with the CrossFit classes so I thought I would explain why.
There are 2 ways to look at this.
Firstly, CrossFit is about functional training, doing movements that we carry out on a daily basis and being as functional as we can in terms of exercise but also nutrition and daily life, enabling us to be ready for any scenario whenever it should arise. If we were to take this to the extreme we could say that we shouldn't be running with shoes at all and should instead run barefoot. Back whenever, we never had shoes and the hunter gatherers would run barefoot for however long it took. Try running barefoot and landing heel first. I would give you about half a mile tops before extreme pain set in and you had problems with your knee joint, possibly hip and definately some achilles tendon pain. Shoes have enabled us to run and plant our foot, heel first. Not only does this move away from an ideal running form but it also acts as a breaking system everytime your foot hits the ground. This in itself can cause joint problems due to impact force.
Secondly, to get the most amount of speed and power we want our feet to be in contact with the floor for as little time as possible. Our feet should graze across the surface just enough to allow us to propel forward with gravity. Everytime our heel hits the ground first we are breaking that movement and inturn slowing ourselves down with each step. Heel to toe means more time on the surface. This breaking system then means greater force put on the lower limbs meaning they have to work harder to propel us forward for the next phase of the movement. The quadriceps will have to work harder to extend the knee where what we are looking for is shared workload for the entire thigh area including the glutes (buttocks). We should be pulling our foot up with our hamstrings.
Also, on landing our feet should be directly under our hips, pelvis should stay straight with a slight lean forward from the upper body - not the pelvis.
For sport especially keeping on our forefoot is essential to most. The term flat footed springs to mind. If you are on the balls of your feet your are much more likely to be able to change direction better. Football, rugby, tennis, most active sport require quick change of direction. A good foot plant is paramount to get the best from the athlete.
Arm Movement
I have been shouting at the guys recently about using their arms when they run to propel them forward at the point of any turn in the opposite direction. I am emphasising this more so for when we start to fatigue. The legs start to build up lactic acid and we then need to share the workload. Try running on the spot, normal pace. Then tell yourself to run faster on the spot - your arms will be the area of the body which moves quickest. So, to run faster we need to move our arms quicker!
We will work on this more over the coming weeks but try for yourself whenever you are out exercising.
There are 2 ways to look at this.
Firstly, CrossFit is about functional training, doing movements that we carry out on a daily basis and being as functional as we can in terms of exercise but also nutrition and daily life, enabling us to be ready for any scenario whenever it should arise. If we were to take this to the extreme we could say that we shouldn't be running with shoes at all and should instead run barefoot. Back whenever, we never had shoes and the hunter gatherers would run barefoot for however long it took. Try running barefoot and landing heel first. I would give you about half a mile tops before extreme pain set in and you had problems with your knee joint, possibly hip and definately some achilles tendon pain. Shoes have enabled us to run and plant our foot, heel first. Not only does this move away from an ideal running form but it also acts as a breaking system everytime your foot hits the ground. This in itself can cause joint problems due to impact force.
Secondly, to get the most amount of speed and power we want our feet to be in contact with the floor for as little time as possible. Our feet should graze across the surface just enough to allow us to propel forward with gravity. Everytime our heel hits the ground first we are breaking that movement and inturn slowing ourselves down with each step. Heel to toe means more time on the surface. This breaking system then means greater force put on the lower limbs meaning they have to work harder to propel us forward for the next phase of the movement. The quadriceps will have to work harder to extend the knee where what we are looking for is shared workload for the entire thigh area including the glutes (buttocks). We should be pulling our foot up with our hamstrings.
Also, on landing our feet should be directly under our hips, pelvis should stay straight with a slight lean forward from the upper body - not the pelvis.
For sport especially keeping on our forefoot is essential to most. The term flat footed springs to mind. If you are on the balls of your feet your are much more likely to be able to change direction better. Football, rugby, tennis, most active sport require quick change of direction. A good foot plant is paramount to get the best from the athlete.
Arm Movement
I have been shouting at the guys recently about using their arms when they run to propel them forward at the point of any turn in the opposite direction. I am emphasising this more so for when we start to fatigue. The legs start to build up lactic acid and we then need to share the workload. Try running on the spot, normal pace. Then tell yourself to run faster on the spot - your arms will be the area of the body which moves quickest. So, to run faster we need to move our arms quicker!
We will work on this more over the coming weeks but try for yourself whenever you are out exercising.