I’m gonna start uploading more videos of professional runners, like Suguru Oskaku,
a 2:05 marathoner, forefoot running in action to give you a more realistic, clear-eyed view
of the kind of appropriate forefoot running mechanical sequences that hit on all cylinders,
that all adds up to a glide-like stride with a bigger boost in forward momentum that sustains
well; a stride that’s not forceful or heavy-hitting with the ground, that’s not mechanically
labour-intensive and flat in terms of spring-responsiveness.
I think Suguru Oskaku’s forefoot running form has pretty good fundamentals to take
notes from to help us learn how to better coordinate our forefoot running mechanics
to make it feel more complete.
Watching and learning how the pro-runners use their feet, use their knees, use their
overall leg swing mechanics, seeing how the gears work, is a really good entry point for
providing real checks and balances to help advance your forefoot running mechanics and
to help you undo mechanical habits that keep feeding injuries and strained running economy.
So let’s look at the positive qualities of Suguru Oskaku’s forefoot running form.
First and foremost, there are a few mechanical actions that may stand out the most to you
about his forefoot running form.
Firstly, he’s landing a light bit higher up on his forefoot.
Secondly, his heel barely touches the ground and lastly, his back-kick is really high.
I want to underscore that these 3 mechanical attributes are consistent with the mechanical
changes that are prompted when you run really fast, at blazing paces, vs when you jog at
a much slower pace.
He’s really motoring, and I highly doubt that what we’re seeing is his marathon goal
race pace.
Obviously he’s doing speedwork, which naturally sets in a motion the leg swing and forefoot
strike mechanics that you’re seeing here: high back-kick, landing higher up on the balls
of the foot, heel coming down, but not fully down to the ground.
In contrast, as you can see here, when he runs much slower, or jogging, his back-kick
is much lower, he’s landing a little lower on his forefoot and his heel drops down more
closely to the ground.
That’s because, to reiterate, back-kick height and sometimes forefoot strike angle,
that is landing higher vs lower on the forefoot, are generally, functions of running speed.
So, just be aware that when you’re jogging, don’t force an ultra high-back, dont land
super high up on your toes because its not mechanically and economically practical, there’s
no need for it, unless you’re doing forefoot running form drills of some sort, but when
you run closer to your top-end speed, almost all out, these are generally the mechanical
outputs that are expected, that naturally get executed, not all 3, because it’s perfect
fine to let your heel drop fully down to the ground and even land lower on your forefoot
when you run fast, but definitely back-kick height is something we constantly see that
gets increased as running speed increases.
So I just wanted to place special emphasis on how your leg swing and forefoot strike
mechanics generally may change with running speed.
Generally speaking, when it comes to running in a safer, potentially more economical position,
much of the attention so far has been on the forefoot strike, but it’s important that
we also emphasize other mechanical elements, such as the knee-joint mechanics and how the
knee plays its part in driving a forefoot strike that’s well-placed more safely, more
productively with the ground.
I fundamentally believe that how you use your knee (bending it vs straightening it out)
when your forefoot strikes the ground during running has a big influence on guiding the
position of your forefoot strike, and that’s really one aspect that doesn’t get enough
attention.
Bending your knee when your forefoot strikes the ground really guides the direction of
your forefoot strike to land closer to your body; slightly bending your knee-joint, like
Oskaku demonstrates here, upon and at touchdown actually helps suck in the landing foot to
land closer to your torso, which in the context of running, is where your center mass is,
and the net effect of engaging your knee-joint in this way, that is keeping both knees softly
bent, especially at touchdown, acts as an excellent and reliable lever that perfectly
prevents overstriding as well as the knee-crushing and shin-crushing collision forces tied to
over-striding.
So, slightly bending the knee-joint upon and at touchdown, has a natural corrective effect
on over-striding that phases out some of the impact force variables linked to some bone
injuries.
I think it’s also important to stress that the best available evidence on runner's knee
prevention is that the knees seem to be the biggest vulnerability when running with a
knee-joint that completely unbends at touchdown.
In contrast, those who run with both knees slightly bent, especially at touchdown, are
just more likely to have better outcomes in preventing runner's knee because slightly
bending both knees adds more flexion to the knee joint which seems to work best at easing
mechanical burdens and strain on the knee.
You’ll also get a higher return on spring-energy, which may work to the benefit of improving
running economy such that when the knee is slightly bent at touchdown, more elastic strain
energy may get loaded into the arch of the foot and the Achilles tendon; there may be
more optimal elastic energy usage in the lower leg which helps the foot pop-off the ground
with less muscular effort; you can really turn the lower leg into an elastic power structure
that gives you a richer reward economically, just by slightly bending the knee at touchdown.
This is how bending the knee at touchdown can be an effective partner in stabilizing
a close-to-the body forefoot strike and in the enhancement of a more consistent forefoot
strike that’s more spring loaded and elicits a faster pop-off response of the foot and
most importantly, by all estimates has a measurable positive influence on reducing impact.
So, these the are just some of the mechanically functional imperatives that you can execute
to help you become more skilled at forefoot running, to help you use your forefoot strike
and leg swing mechanics as efficiently as possible, to help best organize your forefoot
running mechanics in way that has greater economic value and helps you secure a forefoot
strike that’s positioned with accuracy and low impact loads and that’s really the takeaway
from this this video.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this video and if you did, feel free to hit the thumbs up button
as well as the subscribe button to get more informed on the health and performance benefits
of forefoot running and barefoot running.
Thanks so much for listen and watching.
Have fun out there on the roads and trails.
Bye for now!