What would you say if I told you that there's a running technique trick
that would almost instantly reduce inefficiencies in your run form,
reduce the likelihood of injury, and improve your speed?
You might say that you've done the ABC
running drills, or that you believe runners should find
their own best technique by simply running more.
Or maybe for the dedicated motivators out there who regularly watch our videos,
you might say that you've already done our Beginner Learn to Run Technique program.
But what I'm going to tell you about today isn't a drill and it's not a new
biomechanical run stride you need to learn.
It's a simple thing that anyone can do, regardless of running ability or current
running form, to help you enjoy running a heck of a lot more.
My name is Taren,
and when real people want to accomplish something amazing in an endurance race
challenge that they want to take on, they use motive training plans.
Let's do it.
When it comes to running technique, it's long been debated whether it's better
to land on the front of your foot, the forefoot, the middle of your foot,
the midfoot, or the back of your foot, the heel.
We now know that no one method stands out is clearly better, and rather,
people need to land wherever they feel comfortable landing.
But what we definitely know is that it's
not good to land out in front of your center of gravity.
This study recorded people overstriding where they would land out front of their
body, and it was clear that it put on the brakes, slowing down the runners,
and it led to a higher likelihood of stress fractures.
On this channel, we've done many videos
where we've shown the Learn to land under your body sequence of drills.
Just by jumping up and down in a spot,
then transitioning to butt kicks, then leaning forward from the ankles,
you'll naturally be landing under your body and not out in front.
In fact, we encourage new runners to repeat these drills every few minutes
when they're out on runs to reinforce the feeling.
The problem is that it's hard to do
for very long and even harder to do later into a run when you get tired.
Some people have also been running
for a really long time, so they're wired into their old ways
of doing things, and changing their muscle patterns is really difficult.
One of the main reasons this is so difficult is because of the difference
between internal or task focuses versus external or outcome focuses.
An internal focus would be like focusing
on bending your elbow, extending it, and then lining up a hammer with a nail
when you're pounding that nail into a board, no one would do that.
They'd use an external or outcome focus, like just worrying about hitting the nail.
This study here actually discusses internal versus external focuses,
and it confirms what we know that for simple tasks like running
an outcome focus is far better than a process or internal focus.
Using the learn to Land under your body drills are great for feeling where you
need to land, but it's a bit of an internal focus
because it's directed on performing a specific biomechanical motion.
Once you can feel where the right place to land is and you've done a number
of runs feeling that spot, it's important to also have an outcome
focused cue that will naturally result in good run form.
Even when you're tired or you want to break out of your old bad habits,
that's where the Heel Peak technique comes into play.
Instead of focusing on where you want your
foot to land, or where it to lean forward from, or how to swing your arms,
or how to stand tall, the Heel Peak technique takes care of all
these things with one simple outcome focus.
When we go back to that study where they videotape runners,
we see a very slight difference in the side view of the runners who leaned
forward a little more and landed under their body a little bit better.
Their heels looked up towards the sky just a tiny bit more.
When we see runners who slouch,
plod or land out in front of their body and put the brakes on,
we see that the bottom of their shoes tends to stay very low to the ground.
Of course, there are exceptions,
and this is a very small thing, but I've found that if we just simply
think a little bit about showing our heels to the sky with the kick in behind us
with every running stride, it causes a huge number of benefits.
We run taller, straighter, we lean from the ankles,
we land underneath our body a little bit better, our arms work a little bit better
to create momentum, our cadence picks up and we start to look more like runners.
The great thing about this Heel Peak
running technique is that it's an outcome focus.
It's not a task focus where we're trying
to fight against our body's natural range of motion.
So regardless of your running ability or
your previous background in running, it works while running when fatigue,
it works when you're just learning how to run.
It works during a fast run,
it works during a slow run, it works during a trail run,
it works during a road run, it works in all different instances.
So for you to give this a try on your next run, all you need to do is with every
single running stride, just focus a little bit on showing your heel up to the sky.
Forget about what you're doing with your arms or where you're landing,
or standing up tall and leaning forward like a building is falling away from you.
By just focusing on showing your heels up
to the sky with every single run stride and feeling that small little sensation,
you'll almost instantly start to notice all of these different factors fall
into place very quickly and they'll sort of take care of themselves.
You'll instantly have better running form
and you won't have to focus on so many things.
So give this a try on your next run
and come back and comment on this video and let us know how it goes.
I think you'll find right away that running will become much more enjoyable.
You'll be able to go faster at the same
effort, or the same effort will feel a little bit easier.
Come back, comment on this video and tell us how it went.
If you're an age group endurance athlete,
subscribe for more training tips using the motive method that's designed
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personally amazing despite the that real life throws in our way.
And if you want to dive into running
with heart rate, click the video on the screen to see our
complete guide to getting started with low heart rate running.
We feel it is the key to running well, but it's one of the hardest things to do
properly, so we made a video to help you out later.
Motivators.