How to Run with PERFECT FORM | Coach Explains

If you're a runner, there's a good chance your running form is costing you speed and

maybe even setting you up for an injury without you realizing it. I'm Ben, head coach at Runna,

and this is Michelle. And right now, she's running with awful running form. And in the

next few minutes, I'm going to give you everything you need to know from head to toe [music] to avoid

a few simple common running form mistakes so that we can go from this to this in just a few

minutes. so that you can become a more efficient and healthier [music] runner. Let's get into it.

First up, we're going to talk about our body position and our contact with the floor. But

starting off with our body position, there's two extremes we can think about. First of all would be

what you would imagine someone to look like when they're tired at the end of their run and their

form is collapsing or what someone who has a seated desk position [music] goes and takes into

their running. And that is with their bum sitting back and their body falling forwards. And if we're

in this position and we lean forwards, we'll fall into our heel. Okay? [music] And that's not what

we want when it comes to our running. Instead, we want to think about standing up [music] nice

and tall, driving the hips forwards, puffing the chest out, and looking ahead. And then if we just

take one step from here and fall, we'll land onto the front of our shoe. And we want to just simply

take our running into a fall that is one step into the next, falling forwards into that front foot.

And it's something that you can emulate at home by just taking off your shoes in your kitchen.

Go and take off your shoes, [music] stand up tall, and just fall forwards with the

hips. And you should feel almost like the skin or the grip on the sole of your shoe

kind of rubbing on that front part of the foot. Then we want to think about how we actually

contact the floor itself. So to do this, Michelle, I need you [music] to take off your shoes.

Yeah. Can you take your shoes? Okay. Pass me those shoes. Thank you. Right. Okay. So,

what we're going to do is you're going to just jog on the spot. So, start jogging on the spot.

Okay? And what you'll find is if someone runs on the spot, they can't run with bad form.

Okay? You run on the spot, you're landing on the balls of your foot. And as you see,

our heels [music] are just ever so slightly off the floor. And we're spending most of our force

going through kind of the knuckle of the foot. And then, fundamentally, running is no different to

this on the spot, but we just bring that forward hip lean into it, and we start moving forwards.

And the more we drive our hips forwards, the faster we start to run. And as a result, our heel

comes up behind us more. We're driving those hips. And that's that's all there is to it. Simple.

So, next we're going to think about our cadence. So, how do we actually improve our cadence? Well,

the best thing to do is to use a metronome. So you can go on YouTube [music] and you can go

and search for an 180 step per minute cadence or most smart watches allow you to set it up to beep

on the cadence that you want. But fundamentally we probably don't want to jump from where you

are today [music] let's say a 165 through to 180. It's going to be a big jump. So instead

maybe go to 170. Get used to running there and keep working towards that golden number

over time. And then the final thing to think about is as we fatigue with our running,

naturally our form gets weaker [music] over time, you're much more likely to kind of

compromise that body position and [music] that cadence as you fatigue later into a run.

So my top tip here will be to think about your arms. You can't run with your arms

and your legs out of sync. Trust me, it's impossible. So if your legs are slowing down,

just drive the arms. Really think about the arms and your legs. They're not gonna get left behind.

We're here on the treadmill and we've got Michelle with some crap upper body form. So, we're going

to think about the three key things you need to think about to nail your upper body. So, first up,

we want to think about the elbows. Michelle is running with a long arm here. We want to look to

get 90° bend in the elbows and then with all the movement coming from the shoulder, not the elbow.

We're keeping that nice and fixed and it's also relaxed. We're not shrugging the shoulders to the

ears, shoulders away from the ears. And let that rock come in at the elbow. And we want to think

about driving the elbow back to create the power and then a natural rock swing coming forwards

in the way that Michelle's going. Now, tip number two, we want to think about the center line of the

body, imagining a zipper of your coat. We don't want the arms to cross that line like they are at

the moment. And instead, they want to come close, come in towards the middle of the body and never

cross that line. All the while thinking about the relaxed shoulders, elbows driving back, 90° at the

elbow. And then the final thing is thinking about efficiency and core stability. We want to switch

on our stomach muscles, pulling the belly button towards the spine. So, we've got some engagement

there, but it's not rock solid as if you're trying to tense your six-pack by the pool. Turning it on,

and that's going to help Michelle to keep her head still, so it's not swaying from side to side.

And we couple all of that together, and we've got pretty perfect upper body position. [music]

So, we're back on the track and we're going to talk about what happens with our running form

as we start to [music] run a bit faster. And in practice, not very much. We're going to

bring everything that we've already talked about together, our upper body, our contact with the

floor, our body position, and our cadence. And ultimately, just think about generating a little

bit more power. So, as we run a bit faster, we're pulling the heels up behind us, working our glutes

and our hamstrings a little more, and driving our elbow back to create a little more power

from the upper body. And then nothing's changing in our cadence, in our contact, as we keep getting

faster and faster and faster until I can't keep up anymore. And as [music] you can see,

whether Michelle is out on her leisurely stroll or running at supersonic speed like you just saw,

the principles of our running form don't change, just the power generation that does.

So hopefully you found all these tips helpful. But the last thing to think about is that if we go and

make a change to our running form, it's going to change the way our different muscles, ligaments,

tendons, etc. are going to be working and that's going to create new load which fundamentally will

increase your risk of injury. So if you're going to make some [music] changes to your running form,

make sure you do so gradually. And also think about the rest of the load across your training.

So it' be a massive mistake to go and watch this video and then go and make these changes

in the peak week of your marathon. So maybe the right thing for you to do is to save this

video and pick it up in a month or so's time. And then the final thing is to think about

when to start to implement these changes. And I would suggest start off within your easy runs.

And it will all maybe feel a little bit unnatural at first and then gradually build up within those

easy runs. [music] Take it into the long runs and then ultimately it will feel natural within

those fastest speedy [music] sessions too. Good luck. It goes without saying that there isn't one

singular perfect running form. We're all different shapes and sizes with different amounts of muscle

mass, [music] weight, previous sport, strength, and running experience, and everything that we're

sharing in this video are general tips [music] and tricks to help you improve your running form.

However, it's worth noting at the very highest levels of professional sport,

there is a meaningful variety in running form, and it's very much more of an art than a science.

And there you have it. That's everything you need to know to run the perfect running form,

no matter [music] the speed that you're running. And if you enjoyed the tips we've shared today,

then please like and subscribe to Runna TV for more tips just [music] like this.

And if you want to try the Runna app for free, use the code link below for two weeks for free.

And otherwise, I'm Ben. Thank you so much for watching. See you next time.