[Music]
DR.
LIEBERMAN: I think there's a number of key elements to good running form.
The first is not to overstride.
Overstriding is when you stick your leg out in front of you and you land with your foot
in front of your knee and really way in front of your hip.
A lot of people think they're running hard when they do that.
You know why?
Because they are running hard.
Because when you stick your leg out in front of you, you actually decelerate in the time
it takes the center of mass of your body to get over your foot, you're actually losing
energy.
The other thing that happens when you overstride is that you stick foot out in front of you
and make your leg stiffer.
And you have what's called an impact peak and you have this shock wave that ripples
up your body.
But when you land without an overstride you don't have that jolt of force and you're much
less likely to get injured.
It's just a better way to run.
Another key element to running is to land with a pretty flat foot.
I think that most good runners tend to land on the ball of their foot.
It just happens naturally.
If you don't stick your leg out in front of you, you will not land hard on your heel.
You'll land on the ball of your fit or your mid foot stride, but it's a gentle landing.
Don't lean.
A lot of runners lean forward at the hips.
That's another total evil.
Be vertical from the hips up.
If you can hear your feet, if your feet are landing really hard.
If you're thumping as we call it in our lab, it's a sign that you're running poorly.
The thump is the sound of the collision of your body hitting the ground.
Running should be light and gentle and collision free so if you're making a lot of noise, you're
running poorly.
And then finally, the most important thing if you're learning to run properly and you
haven't been doing this for a long time, listen to pain.
Don't overdo it.
Transition really slowly and gradually.
Your body is not designed for this explicitly.
If you transition into learning how to run properly too fast, you are guaranteed to injure
yourself.
You have to adapt your body.
Everybody can learn to run this way, or most people can learn to run this way, but you
can't do it overnight.
[Beeping] [Music]