Don't shorten your stride!
- Thread starter Barefoot Gentile
- Start date
In order to accelerate, I use what I like to call, the "humping" position. Basically I push only my hips/pelvic area forward.
Doesn't that arch your back? I tuck my pelvis, try to keep my trunk musculature engaged. I could never get a good sense of lean, but after working on other aspects of form found that I had developed some lean without noticing.
I think I'm reinforcing two recurring themes here: don't worry too much about lean and it will happen and there are as many versions of form as there are bodies to have it.
I had a couple sessions of Alexander technique a few years back and loved the emphasis on the use of gravity as an aid in comfortable easy movement.
I think I'm reinforcing two recurring themes here: don't worry too much about lean and it will happen and there are as many versions of form as there are bodies to have it.
I had a couple sessions of Alexander technique a few years back and loved the emphasis on the use of gravity as an aid in comfortable easy movement.
All this talk of swelling and humping and pelvic thrusts . . .
Mr. B&A has run a sub-four-minute mile, so obviously he knows a lot about running, much more than I ever will. No doubt about that.
Anyway, I looked through a few more things, including the Science of Running link I posted on page nine of this thread, and I see that both Ken and B&A tend to post comments to any criticism of Pose running, so there's really no need to rehearse this longstanding debate here--you're all doing just fine without me--except to register my recreational runner / lay physicist's endorsement of the critiques, for reasons stated above. The real test of course would be when gravity, working through Pose runners, begins to win some races! Here's Usain Bolt NOT leaning, after the initial period of acceleration:
As I like to say, follow the pros!
Same with HIIT. You will never find a pro athlete doing high intensity workouts every day, so why would someone seeking general fitness do them more than a coupla times a week?
Same with functional fitness. When pro athletes stop doing weights and start training exclusively with slosh tubes and bear crawls, I'll start doing that too (Not that I'm dismissing functional fitness out of hand--I have begun to incorporate some of these kinds of exercises into my routine, and I know some NFLers do too, at least in the off-season).
When given a choice between a guru's technique and a pro's technique, choose the pro! When given the choice between a scientist's explanation and a trainer's explanation, choose the scientist's!
I like the new avatar, but you might want to have a look at the pdf link in this article:
http://www.alexandertechnique-running.com/?page_id=361
The notion of 'core' or 'core muscles' is another novelty that may have no basis in fact.
Barelee,
Bolt as described by Pose method is in fact thru a lean at every step of the race. The lean angle is measured from the ball of the foot at mid-stance/pose stance until the point of release of posture/mid-stance. The angle from the initial vertical line until the release of gcm/body weight is the lean angle. I took an picture of bolt to give more detail of what that looks like. Will post asap.
Bolt as described by Pose method is in fact thru a lean at every step of the race. The lean angle is measured from the ball of the foot at mid-stance/pose stance until the point of release of posture/mid-stance. The angle from the initial vertical line until the release of gcm/body weight is the lean angle. I took an picture of bolt to give more detail of what that looks like. Will post asap.
OK, in the meantime here's some slo-mo:
(will probably be gone for rest of day . . .)
My photo is of in slo-mo
unfortunately something is wrong with my drop box folder Nd i can't get the pic uploaded :-(
Is it reasonable to use a sprinter as the best example of an efficient medium/long distance runner?
Great question! I'm thinking not. What I see in the vid is constant acceleration, no cruise.
Is it fair to say that each stride during running is an acceleration deceleration cycle?
Presumably, if there is a lean involved, it would show up more in a sprinter than in a long-distance runner, if I understand the Pose argument correctly (falling = propulsion).
In the 100, one accelerates until about 40-50 yards, then cruises until the finish line, then decelerates. During acceleration, one leans forward. During deceleration, one leans backwards. During cruising, there is no lean to speak of; body mass is applied downward to increase torque on the piston (hips and upper thigh). Magness explains this all quite well I think.
Barelee,
This might work: https://picasaweb.google.com/m/view...bum/115862104055005327934/5744654983141593233
This might work: https://picasaweb.google.com/m/view...bum/115862104055005327934/5744654983141593233
Lawrence Smith
Barefooters
That Usain Bolt does not exihibit forward lean in the posted video does not mean that he might not be better served with forward lean -- Glen Gould hunched horribly when he played, and he got good results, at least until the excess effort required to play with poor posture limited his ability to play at all in his later years.
In my opinion, Carl Lewis is a better model for running form:
I also don't believe there is any change in gait when moving from slow running to sprinting. The amplitude of movement of the legs, arms and spinal musculature increases, obviously, but humans, unlike horses, do not have gait changes in moving from slow to fast running. We simply extend more powerfully, and thus more completely. Strides are a great way of learning to get up to sprint speed without tightening up, as most people do when they try to increase speed.
www.alexandertechnique-running.com
In my opinion, Carl Lewis is a better model for running form:
I also don't believe there is any change in gait when moving from slow running to sprinting. The amplitude of movement of the legs, arms and spinal musculature increases, obviously, but humans, unlike horses, do not have gait changes in moving from slow to fast running. We simply extend more powerfully, and thus more completely. Strides are a great way of learning to get up to sprint speed without tightening up, as most people do when they try to increase speed.
www.alexandertechnique-running.com
