Hi! I have been hearing a lot of different regarding this subject, and was wondering if there really is something that is “right”.
My sports teacher is of the old school, he was told to heel strike, and has been doing so since forever, he says there is less chance of injury. He says the only ones who should be running on their toes are sprinters, and that no one who runs a marathon would be able to keep up on their forefoot, and if they cold, they would have big chances of getting injurys. But if I remember correctly, Julie Dibens is running on her toes, and Craig Alexander is using Newton shoes, so I would assume he does that too.
I have been looking around, and it seems that heel strikers are not using the gravity in their favour, and are actually braking a little each step.
I have been heel striking myself, I have gotten injurys myself, and the last one due to overpronation because of not having the right shoes which made my achilles and some other parts of my foot hurt. Now I have been thinking about switching over to mid/forefoot running, but is it easier to get injurys this way? I mean I would assume my achilles is very exposed.
Is my teacher completely wrong here or? Would like some opinions
All of them heel strike but what most good runners do is land on their foot when it is nearly right under their body instead of way out in front, and some do that to some degree too.
Some people call the former mid foot striking but IMO it’s still heel striking and it’s what I strive to do.
Look at the writings of Lieberman and Dichary. What’s more important than what part of your foot that makes first contact with the ground is WHERE that contact is relative to your center of gravity. And the whole “running on your toes” thing is a cop-out from people who don’t have (or want to use) the brain power to actually understand it. Yes, only sprinters “run on their toes”, but the running gait, even if first contact is made at the forefoot, is NOT maintained there. The lower leg needs to stay relaxed to allow the foot to make full contact after initial contact.
So I would assume how I run barefoot is how my “natural” running is, right? Do you think a pair of Newton shoes would help me with running naturally? I mean other shoes are built up in the heel to make you land on it if I understand it correctly, so heel striking is not necesarrely how my “natural” running is?
most good runners do is land on their foot when it is nearly right under their body instead of way out in front
I hear this a lot but would like to comment and ask a question. The question is this: How does one move forward during locomotion?
The comment (and the answer to the question) is that moving forward requires that you put down in front of you center of mass. If you put your foot down directly under your center of mass you will hop in place and make no forward progress.
There is an implied aspect to the comment above which is that putting your foot out front requires horizontal forces which are bad. I would comment that those horizontal forces are unavoidable.
Cheers,
Jim
They weren’t built up to “make” you land there, but that tends to be the end result.
What will help you run naturally is to concentrate on not overstriding, possibly upping your cadence (this alone goes a long way), and keeping your lower legs relaxed. I’ve found low-drop shoes to help, more just getting the shoe out of the way. My current shoe rotation is (1) Altra Instinct (zero drop, nice wide forefoot), (2) Skechers GORun (4mm drop, and will feel goofy when you first try them on, but that feeling goes away once you start running in them), and (3) Merrell Trail Glove (zero drop).
I can’t really recommend any particular shoe, but will say that low-drop shoes may help. There are now SO many to choose from. Brook PureProject line; Inov-8; Saucony Kinvara, Peregrine, and several others; Altra Instinct; Merrell Road Glove, Bare Access (both zero drop) and Mix Master (4mm drop); New Balance Minimus… The list goes on. But it does come down to what fits your foot best.
And another caution – if you’re used to running in 10mm drop shoes now, transition into these shoes SLOWLY. In fact, think of the amount of time you’ll need to make the transition, and then double it. And do LOTS of calf massaging and stretching.
I started running in FiveFingers because of knee problems. I’ve run 2 marathons in them. Just build your distance up very slowly. Its basically starting running from square 1 if you go with that method.
I hear this a lot but would like to comment and ask a question. The question is this: How does one move forward during locomotion?
The comment (and the answer to the question) is that moving forward requires that you put down in front of you center of mass. If you put your foot down directly under your center of mass you will hop in place and make no forward progress.
There is an implied aspect to the comment above which is that putting your foot out front requires horizontal forces which are bad. I would comment that those horizontal forces are unavoidable.
Cheers,
Jim
most good runners do is land on their foot when it is nearly right under their body instead of way out in front
I hear this a lot but would like to comment and ask a question. The question is this: How does one move forward during locomotion? The comment (and the answer to the question) is that moving forward requires that you put down in front of you center of mass. If you put your foot down directly under your center of mass you will hop in place and make no forward progress. There is an implied aspect to the comment above which is that putting your foot out front requires horizontal forces which are bad. I would comment that those horizontal forces are unavoidable.
Cheers,
Jim
To have your foot landing in front of your center of gravity is completely inhibitive of forward motion. For reasonably level surfaces, the foot should land beneath the center of gravity, starting with contact by the heel, followed by a rapid transition through the midfoot, and eventually the toe-off.
To have your foot landing in front of your center of gravity is completely inhibitive of forward motion. For reasonably level surfaces, the foot should land beneath the center of gravity, starting with contact by the heel, followed by a rapid transition through the midfoot, and eventually the toe-off.
“If you put your foot down directly under your center of mass you will hop in place and make no forward progress.”
I think I disagree: If you look at some of the videos on youtube featuring Usain Bolt, you will see that it is possible to move forward dispite the fact that you are landing under your center of gravity.
The forward motion seems to be generated in the push off fase, not in the touchdown.
To have your foot landing in front of your center of gravity is completely inhibitive of forward motion. For reasonably level surfaces, the foot should land beneath the center of gravity, starting with contact by the heel, followed by a rapid transition through the midfoot, and eventually the toe-off.
So you want the foot to land beneath the center of gravity with the heel contacting first? This sounds very painful.
To have your foot landing in front of your center of gravity is completely inhibitive of forward motion. For reasonably level surfaces, the foot should land beneath the center of gravity, starting with contact by the heel, followed by a rapid transition through the midfoot, and eventually the toe-off.
Only if you want to hop in place.
Cheers,
Jim
I can only assume that you were born without hip joints. My sincere apologies.
To have your foot landing in front of your center of gravity is completely inhibitive of forward motion. For reasonably level surfaces, the foot should land beneath the center of gravity, starting with contact by the heel, followed by a rapid transition through the midfoot, and eventually the toe-off.
So you want the foot to land beneath the center of gravity with the heel contacting first? This sounds very painful.
for the foot to land underneath the center of gravity, his face would have to be very close to the ground.
