POSE Drills

This is just a taste of what you learn to do differently using the POSE Method.  As I watch, now, I wonder - how do we learn so many movements that are detractors for efficient running?  My four year old does none of these things.
http://library.crossfit.com/free/video/CFJ_MacKenzie_PoseRunningDrills_SD.mov

You can find other versions (not just .mov) here:  CrossFit.com 6 Feb 2014

Intro to POSE running by Coach Valerie Hunt - YouTube

Definitely a good intro to the POSE method, so have a look to keep learning and mastering the basics.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?sns=em&v=ofRi1neNSMg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DofRi1neNSMg%26sns%3Dem

Running Transition Program

Interesting program which has been built by Dr. Romanov and family - I look forward to seeing how it helps runners to move better!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MpFHDBTiM&feature=youtu.be

Video Intro - What Makes Skilled Running?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hMMCK4fHXo

Less waste, better running.  First rule to avoid waste in running - use the least force necessary to oppose gravity.  This will allow gravity to accelerate your mass forward with the least effort from you.

The best runners don't have their feet on the ground long because they expend the most force in the least time (relative to the speed they need to run).

In other words, as they fall forward, their feet strike the ground under the general center of mass, and immediately pull back towards the runner's hip.  The more force the runner can generate in the least time, the greater the degree of lean (GCM ahead of point of ground contact) a runner can sustain.

Watch a great runner.  Do their feet contact the ground way in front of their body or right under their body?  Is their torso relatively vertical or bent at the waist?  Do they keep a high tempo or a low tempo?   Do their knees reach full extension behind them or do they pull the foot quickly, before the leg is fully extended?  Each of these is an element of:
-Minimal time in ground contact (expend high force against the ground quickly, then pull foot to hip)
-Working with gravity (feet are not in contact with the ground way ahead or behind body)

Dr. Romanov says he's teaching "perception."  First a student who wants to run with skill must learn a new concept of what running is.  Most of us think of running as propelling ourselves forward, but we are mostly using our support leg to repel us from the earth (so that we can keep falling forward instead of falling down!).  Running is the act of falling forward while changing the supporting leg.

Once a student begins to understand the concept, they will still struggle to run with skill, just as a nascent juggler can understand what the hands should do without being able to do it.

This is where drills come in to play.  Drills allow a student to practice better movement patterns with reduced kinematic load, so that they can be applied while running.

For most of us, POSE won't transform us into Carl Lewis, we will still have many of the same neurological limits that we were born with.  The point of POSE for most of us is to enjoy running more, to run with less pain, and to run with better movement that will not beat us up more than necessary for the job at hand.   For me, this has been like magic for my injured left knee!

Beautiful Running!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJcdxSPFWpE

Beautiful running technique on display!  Foot lands under the hip, foot pulls to the hip with minimal time on the ground, whole foot/ball of foot makes first contact with the ground (foot not dorsiflexed or landing in front of the runner), tempo is relatively high.

It is lovely to watch!

POSEing

In my recent adventures with the POSE method of running, I have enjoyed the following techniques quite a lot.

First, I ran the 30/30/30 run; 30 seconds on pace, 30 seconds walking/resting, for 30 minutes.  Running the 30s on the metronome pace was much better than trying to run to a metronome non-stop, and was almost enjoyable.  It is also very informative to running in the POSE.  The metronome pace varied from 90-96, with the goal of pulling one foot from the ground with each beep (IOW, either left or right, thus the pace was 180/min to 192/min).  I was surprised by the difference in my perception of 180 foot falls per minute and the timed measure of 180 foot falls per minute.

The next training session was a 6k using a metronome for 30s, then my own pace for 30s, then walking for 30s, using 91 beats/second on the metronome.  In this session, I had the BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) that it was easiest to "find" the metronome pace when running in place. After hitting that pace, I could easily hold it as I let my hips come forward to run.  I found myself running at high speeds almost effortlessly using this technique - the high speeds were anaerobic and not sustainable, but sustainable wasn't a requirement.  Running that fast and that effortlessly for 30s was good fun.

As I went through this cycle, I found I could feel with good precision when I was running over my center of gravity, which is to say, I was in the best position for running well.

I've trained with the metronome before but never found it to be so instructive.  The interval training was enjoyable and set the stage for more learning.  Being able to run with no knee pain is near to miraculous.

A Model For Running

"This brings up another point. If you were to do a set of twenty jumping squats or a set of twenty jump rope jumps, which would be a more efficient movement for getting your feet off the ground?
Obviously, the jump rope hops require less muscle activation, less energy, and less effort. In part, this reflects the difference between muscle contraction (jumping squats) and muscle elasticity (jumping rope). That makes the difference between finishing a marathon ineffectively and finishing a marathon effectively."
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-journal/CFJ64-Dec07-da6celic.pdf

"We like to think of running-or other movement-happening in three separate phases: the pose, the fall, and the pull. The pose is the point at which your foot passes under your center of mass and you make the shape of the number 4 with your legs and look great (photo 2). The fall happens when you let go, use gravity to your advantage, and just fall. You can see the slight forward lean in both pictures. The pull, where the supporting foot is pulled, instead of pushed, from the ground and movement continues."

I attended the author's seminar last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed both Brian and staff.  The seminar was well organized, focused on the important points, and extremely helpful to me as a coach and as an athlete.  

How To Run

"How do elite athletes run? If you were stripped of your shoes and asked to run barefoot on the road, would you run the same way as you did with shoes? Why not? Because unless you already run Pose-style, or like Haile Gebrselassie or Michael Johnson, you probably run with your foot landing in a manner that quite destructively sends shock waves up your legs into the ankle, knee, and hip joints. In most cases, your foot will land in front of you (photo 1). Think about this for a second. If a car were traveling down the street would you stick something in front of it to speed it up? When an object is in motion, if something lands in front of its center of mass, it will either slow down or stop quite harshly.

"The human foot is designed with enough padding on the ball of the foot for the Tarahumara Indians, certain indigenous peoples of Africa, and our ancestors to get around without Nike Shox. It is not designed for the heel to strike the ground first and to roll through to the toes. Take off your shoes and jump up and down barefoot on your heels. Do it! I dare you! Wait, no don't, you didn't sign a waiver! What you should do instead is to jump from and land on the balls of your feet as if you are jump roping. Then give it a whirl with those heels, or even from "mid-foot.""

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-journal/CFJ64-Dec07-da6celic.pdf

I get to attend this author's seminar this weekend, and I'm looking forward to the learning.

When I'm teaching POSE running, I often recall the line from a Jimmy Buffet song:
"It was so simple, like the Jitterbug, that it plumb evaded me."

But with persistence and the desire to run with skill, one can find better movement and more pleasure in running. Hopefully this weekend will help me as a runner and in my ability to coach individuals and groups in this sublime skill.

I ran six miles a few days back, something I've done only four times since 2001.  It was not a PR but it also wasn't a bout with misery.  As I was on the return leg, I had some knee discomfort.  As I played around with my positioning, I found a way of "leaning" with the hips that made the knee pain disappear.  I realized that skilled running would be like any high level skill - there's always room for improvement, and if you are not working on the skill with some discipline, you are probably getting worse.

POSE Method

From the CF Journal:  http://journal.crossfit.com/2012/09/romanovshortlesson-p1.tpl

This is a great example of how much change a good coach can give to a good student in a short time.  While it's not easy to follow Dr. Romanov's ideas or accent without understanding ahead of time where he's going, you can easily see how much less effort his student is using to run after the lesson.

All the big points are there - maintain a vertical posture in order to waste the least effort resisting gravity; do not place the feet in front of the GCM, rather, let them place themselves under the GCM to avoid having the feet act as a brake; do not push off the rear foot, rather pull it from the ground as soon as it touches.  Let gravity do the work, so that all you have to do is use just enough strength to sustain your position in the fall.  Most of us use more strength than we need to, and the most pleasure in running comes from using the least necessary effort.

POSE: It's All There

Between the video above, and this article, you could gain all the knowledge needed to understand and practice the POSE Method of running.  But to actually improve your running, you will have to use drills, get feedback (camera or coach), and steady practice over time.  Why?  You have likely spent thousands of moments developing the running patterns you have, and these are all unconscious patterns.  Changing those is effortful.

The elements to look for in the video are:

-soft knees (never a strait leg)

-body vertical

-falling forward by letting the hips move ahead of the balance point on the foot

-run by pulling the foot to the hip

-think only of the foot on the ground, let the body (unconscious motor patterns) place the other foot on the ground

As I've gained skill, I can feel when the stride is right; it feels like I'm rolling along.  It feels very good!

"Chi" Walking?

Got a phone call from a friend last week asking me about minimalist running. This is what she said: 

“I want to run. I feel great when I run. But every time I try to start back up with running, after a few weeks, my calves are killing me. I take a break that ends up lasting a month or longer, then I try again with the same results. What am I doing wrong?”

The RX: ditch the crappy shoes.  Then walk.  How should you walk?

So when I decided to transition to a barefoot/minimalist lifestyle, I knew I had to take it slow… very slow. I spent the first six weeks just learning how to walk. What I’m showing you below is the program I followed.

Since my foot was in direct contact with the pavement, when I walked with a poor gait pattern, I felt it immediately at my foot. This allowed me to make immediate adjustments in my gait so that I walked without pain. Once you place a cushion beneath your foot, you are disconnected from this very important line of communication with your body.  It allows you to continue to walk with dysfunction instead of feeling pain immediately at your foot.  The pain allows you to make immediate adjustments. No immediate pain, no immediate adjustments.  Rather, you feel that pain weeks, months or even years later in your knee, hip, back, shoulder or neck.  By this point you are completely disconnected from the original source of the problem.  As you learn to walk again remember, every step is an opportunity to make immediate adjustments in your gait.  

The author continues with a lot of advice, which will likely work for many folks.

I like his description of walking:

▪                A quiet foot fall. Your foot should touch the ground like a feather. No slapping.

▪                Slight forward body lean.

▪                Your forefoot or mid foot should strike the ground first, heel comes down after that. Do make sure your heel touches the ground, otherwise your calves will get very angry at you.

▪                Short stride with your feet landing directly beneath your hips, not in front of your body.

▪                Comfortable arm swing with shoulders relaxed downward. Don’t hold your arms or shoulders rigid. Your right arm should move in tandem with your left leg and vice versa.

▪                Follow the corrective exercises in the following articles to develop mobility and stability of the feet, hips and shoulders.

http://tao-fit.com/barefoot-minimalist-walking-running


I know there are folks who would like to make the transition to pain free walking, and perhaps then running - if you try this approach, let me know how it works!

The Physics of Running

This is a detailed column, describing how to think about how gravity powers running.  As Dr. Romanov points out, running is falling.  If that's a puzzle you've been trying to solve, and if you are thinking in terms of streams/waterfalls, and sailboats, you're on the right track.
http://echifitness.com/blog/2012/05/10/the-physics-of-chirunning-lean-analysis/

As written, this methodology has a lot of crossover with the POSE Method - which makes sense.  The human body is made to run in a world of gravity, many have been able to see this obvious thing over the years.

Running Shoes? Nevermind

Next time you think about getting a new running shoe, have a read of the following.  Even the Runner's Worlds of the world are finally admitting - there's no reason to believe it's better to run in a running shoe.

In character, this post is to running magazines what this post - Limits of the JAMA "Metabolic Advantage" Study  - was to "weight loss science."

http://www.chrismcdougall.com/blog/2012/06/runners-world-remember-those-shoes-we-told-you-to-buy-never-mind/

I would love to hear one day that Chris found Dr. Romanov and teamed up with him to help make people aware that there's a technique to running, bare foot or otherwise, that can help folks run with less pain, more pleasure, more speed, less injury.

Why You Love To Run; It's Humanity's Best Thing

I find this sort of analysis fascinating:

But how did we get this way? After all, our brainy, tool-using ancestors could have just sneaked up on prey animals and brought them down with a spear or arrow. Why did evolution shape us as great distance runners?

The answer, argue Lieberman and Bramble, is that snares, nets, and really effective projectile weapons, such as the bow and arrow, were probably invented by Homo sapiens—modern humans. There's no evidence that early Stone Age hunters had weapons much better than sharp sticks. Such armaments would have required them to kill prey animals at close quarters, where they would have been at high risk of getting fatally gored, bitten, or kicked. Thus, they probably obtained meat mainly via "persistence hunting"—chasing an antelope, for instance, until it was nearly keeling over with heat exhaustion—and scavenging. The latter was very much a running game: When distant, circling vultures tipped them off about a lion kill, they had to get there before hyenas, which strip everything edible from carcasses. And they typically could only outrace hyenas in the hot sun. As a result, they carved out a new carnivore niche: the hot-day meat chaser.

Intriguingly, existing hunter-gatherers still sometimes resort to persistence hunting in hot weather. That's because the nutritional payoffs can greatly exceed the energy costs of running down meat for us fleet-footed types. In fact, our ancestors' meat-rich diets probably contributed to the evolution of modern human traits, such as small guts, small teeth, and big brains.

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/06/long_distance_running_and_evolution_why_humans_can_outrun_horses_but_can_t_jump_higher_than_cats_.html?tid=sm_tw_button_chunky

The other thing humans do well is locate something by sound - only owls can do this better than humans. Bats and dolphins use sonar, not quite the same as just hearing and finding.

At any rate, my fellow hot day meat chasers, if you love to take off and run, now you know why - it's why you are here.

Squat Don't Stretch

Pose Method (@posemethod) 5/30/12 10:11 AM If you feel the need to stretch before a run - let's do a set of squats. It'll 'stretch' the body at all the right places and angles.

I agree 100%!  "Stretching" is dead, mobilizing joints through their normal range of motion is smart.  Squats do that, and warm the muscles and get the heart rate started on its way up - the smart athlete's warmup all the way around.

What Is Seen

I was shopping for shoes yesterday and saw this photo, and instantly could see this runner is a picture perfect example of poor running mechanics.  Before I delve into that, it reminded me of the classic scene from Kung Fu (the TV show) in which the blind, old Master Po asks a young Quai Chang if he can hear or see the grasshopper at his feet.  Quai Chang had not, and asks "How do you hear so much?"  To which Master Po replies, "Why is it that you do not?"  

It is a profound question to consider.  Why don't we realize what we are seeing and hearing?  How can we learn to see and hear that which passes our perception?

But aside from my own enjoyment of that show, I have learned that I could "see" someone running and now know what it was.  What is running?  Or, as Hannibal Lecter said to Clarice (Silence of the Lambs), "What is the thing in itself?"  

Running is falling.  We think of it, and therefore see it, as propelling ourselves forward using the muscles of the legs.  We don't notice, because it is ubiquitous to our experience of life, how powerfully gravity affects us (until we "fall down", but then we think of that as a different thing that running).  

The "runner" above is working much, much harder than needed.  First, the foot should only be extended forward if the runner desires to stop or turn.  Otherwise, placing the foot on the ground in front of the runner's center of gravity MUST work as a brake.  Folks in the running world argue about heel striking v. mid-foot running - the point is moot.  If you let the foot fall to the ground underneath you as you pull the other foot off the ground toward you, you will land on the mid-foot.  It's actually quite hard to heel strike if you are not in the habit of placing the foot too far to the front.  

Second, the runner is letting his back leg get way, way behind him - probably out of a sense of "pushing himself forward" with the rearmost leg.  It is very easy to feel how much harder it is to fall forward with a leg extended behind - just try falling with both feet underneath you, and then try again with the leg behind. The difference is significant.  Even with just these two basic technique errors, it's not hard to see how folks hurt themselves so much when running.  Then, if you watch such a runner in slow motion, you see how, in order to run this way, they have to drive themselves way off the ground and therefore come crashing back down with every foot fall - it hurts to look at ... once you can see it.

I don't know if ridiculous, human designed shoes led to poor running, or if living in chairs/cars and without strength in our hamstrings/backs made us too weak to run as we were built to.  However, shoes like these make it much harder to run well. 

I used to gobble up all the shoe marketing stuff about how this or that shoe would help one to run with more speed and less pain - turns out, it was nothing but marketing.  The study that would prove this shoe design or that one would improve running and/or reduce injury has never been done.  When the Army tested shoes, they found no benefit to running with any running shoe tested.  

Obviously, technique cannot make an unathletic person faster than an athletic person.  Indeed, the fastest runners in the world run with fair mechanics, they either never lost the ability or learned it instinctively through "body intelligence."  The folks that benefit most from working on their technique are those who used to run pain free, but no longer can.  Or, it's folks who never did any running.  Or it's those who lost some kinesthetic precision following a major accident/surgery.  I am one of the later.

After a 16 hour seminar with POSE Method founder Dr. Nicholas Romanov, and six months of drills and short training sessions, I am running with pleasure again.  I ran a short run the other day 3 minutes faster than my time from December.  I expect to repeat my "after age 30 PR" in the 5k soon.  I enjoyed running quite a lot, ever since I turned 16 or so.  I ran, mostly pretty slowly, in many states, many nations, and both hemispheres.  Finally, I have the answer to what I always wondered when I ran - "am I doing this right?" 

The answer is the same as with any high level skill based activity - "no".   That's OK.  "Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today."
(Minor edits April 14, 2012, 2200)

POSE Certified

Passed my POSE Method running certification test today, first try, and learned even more in the process - which to my way of thinking means the test was a "good test."  

Next goal - try to add photos and video to the blog which will help folks start to learn better running technique.

Faster by Technique

Running speeds improved in the 1950s with the introduction of interval training, a method that interspersed periods of high-intensity work with periods of rest.
It took a leap forward when races began being held on synthetic tracks and runners began wearing track-spiked shoes. World-class results for five-kilometre runs improved by 30 seconds virtually overnight. Sprinters could improve race times by ~0.2 seconds on a 100-metre dash. These were huge gains in a sport where performance is measured in the hundredths of a second.


Recent advances suggest support time - the amount of time each foot spends on the ground - is the key driver of speed. Shorter support time means faster running.
http://greatfutures.thestar.ca/posts/article/212

The interesting thing to me is that speed - like any athletic endeavor - can be taught as a skill and improved like any skill.  I don't think technique will transform my slowish self into the Barry Sanders, but it will allow me to express the athletic potential I have.  Perhaps more important, by relearning an innate skill, one that has degraded by mis-perception of running and the inevitable muscle imbalances of the modern life (lived in chairs), I'm running with the least pain I've experienced in years.  And because I've learned the skill and have a framework from which to judge degradations in technique, I can avoid another technique downturn like the one I experienced post-ACL surgery.  Lastly, I can give the same gift to others.

Article in the CrossFit Journal

The CrossFit Journal published an article I wrote about the POSE Method of running; take a look!

http://library.crossfit.com/premium/pdf/CFJ_Pose_Eich_Dec2011.pdf?e=1323920154&h=b36268c298098c83ef019f3faa84f33f

Romanov On Running

the key to overcoming your limitations isknowledge. Knowledge of your circumstances gives you thewisdom to successfully integrate your running into your familyand home life. Knowledge of proper running gear, hydration andrest permits you to run in any conditions. Knowledge of your neighborhood and your hometown allows you to nd suitabletraining routes.Most importantly, knowing

how 

to run gives you the possibility torun freely. When you know your body and you know how to run,you will have no fear of overtraining, no fear of injuries. You can betruly free to run long distances, to run hard intervals. You can befree to run faster than you ever have before.To reach your peak performance, you must have the psy

...the key to overcoming your limitations is knowledge. Knowledge of your circumstances gives you the wisdom to successfully integrate your running into your family and home life. Knowledge of proper running gear, hydration and rest permits you to run in any conditions. Knowledge of your neighborhood and your hometown allows you to find suitable training routes.

Most importantly, knowing how to run gives you the possibility to run freely. When you know your body and you know how to run, you will have no fear of overtraining, no fear of injuries.  You can be truly free to run long distances, to run hard intervals. You can be free to run faster than you ever have before.  Belief in your technique then gives you the confidence to move past your limitations and explore your true potential.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/74807672/-Freedom-To-Run-Your-Best


There's no question in my mind, a weekend training with Dr. Romanov resulted in running "enlightenment."  If you like to run, or if you would like to like to run, you have to re-learn how to run with gravity, vice running against gravity.  Dr. R can show you how.  


Bottom line - it feels delightful to run this way!