Natural Running

Over the last couple of years I (Wayne Roberts) have changed my running style to a more Pose Method of Running style. I had some measure of success in terms of not geting injured. But because I am learning by reading, visiting the Posetech forums and studying the video it has been a bit difficult. Anytime I see something that shed great light on the subject and make it clearer for me to see the fullness of the potential of pose method of running technique I am very pleased. So I couldn’t really wait to share this with the rest of running community who are trying to understand running. Especially those of you who are hurting from injury or find that your speed isn’t improving in sync to the effort and time you are putting into running. Without any further ado… check out this post I found on the net.

Congratulations on finding this information that I believe will contribute towards your functional fitness and save you money!

Many people run on their heels with their leg extended in front of them at the point of impact. This is effectively breaking their momentum and working against gravity, injuring their body with every step and using more internal energy than necessary.

I created this video to help illustrate the natural method of running that has been scientifically proven as THE way to run and is often referred to as the Pose method as researched by Dr. Nicolas Romanov (http://www.posetech.com ). It’s a method proven to reduce knee impact by 50%, used by Olympic National teams (including UK, USA and Russia) and endorsed by natural fitness experts such as Wild Fitness (http://www.wildfitness.com ). Leverage gravity to propel your body forward faster and more efficiently over any distance from 100m sprints to marathons!

So why does everyone not know about this? Consider the sponsorship of running magazines, i.e. shoe manufacturers that rely on selling shoes based on heel cushioning. Running is a key element to how we as humans have evolved - WE DID NOT EVOLVE BY LANDING ON OUR HEELS! There is no benefit to lacing up the latest in technologically cushioned shoes. For a short while you’ll feel better because you are cushioning the impact more but your feet will not be functioning correctly - your body will soon tell you that you’re running wrong.
It’s a bio-mechanical fact that not using your feet properly will inevitably lead to an injury. Your body will also require much longer recovery times between runs.

From a kinesiology perspective running correctly stimulates bone regeneration, improving bone density and quality. Particularly important for post-menopausal women to help prevent and treat osteoporosis.

By understanding a little more about how the muscles in our feet link up through our legs to stablise our whole body you will improve posture, reduce injuries, and become more functionally fit in a way that transfers to any sport from Snowboarding to Golf.

To run is to control your posture dynamically. To do this in the most efficient/functional way possible I recommend combining the POSE method of running together with the ‘SPRINT’ model of Vibram FiveFingers (a stepping stone towards barefooting). I have tried and tested over the last two years ALL Vibram FiveFingers models including the Flow and KSO. In my opinion the ‘Classic’ model digs into your Achilles tendon too much for running.

**** £5 discount code ‘akram552′ may be used during the payment procedure at http://www.fivefingers.co.uk/ (official UK fivefingers distributor) - I’m happy to help answer questions related to five fingers, contact details below ****

TIME Magazine named Vibram FiveFingers one of the Best Inventions of 2007 http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/ for more info.

I’d love to think that together we could reduce injuries and help people have more fun running. Please help spread this message by sharing with friends/family, rating it on you tube and adding a comment. As we head into an economic recession we can help our society by looking after ourselves in a way that will avoid injuries in youth and old age thereby taking a strain off our national health system and in turn reducing the amount of tax each of us needs to pay.

Footage is of Japhet Kipkorir who won the annual KraftProvet race a few weeks ago in my wife’s beautiful hometown, Trollhattan, in Sweden. He’s 10km into the race at this point, still retaining near perfect ‘pose’. If you look carefully you’ll see that he’s landing on the ball of his feet directly under himself keeping his knees bent at all times and using a consistent pose.

I’m training to become a professional running coach. I’ll be offering free running essment and coaching at the Bestival music festival (http://www.bestival.net ) in September 2008. I’ll provide free video feedback to help you better understand your individual challenges to achieving correct technique. Please contact me in advance to arrange an appointment. adapted from Natural Running