Month: April 2021

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How Important Is Rotational & Forward Movement When Running?

(Hint: it’s very important!) Let’s dive deeper into rotational and forward movement while running! This is our last section in our running form series. If you want to catch up on the other 4 key elements to improving your running form, be sure to check out our other blogs from the series here!

What is Rotational and Forward Movement?

First off, what the heck is rotational movement and what does it have to do with your running form? Rotational movement refers to your arm swing in your run. Runners can develop a tendency to swing their arms with rotational movement. Improving your rotational movement will reduce fatigue in your arms and shoulders! Something as small as changing the way you use your arms to run, can benefit you in the long run!

Runner on top of mountain, jumping off green bench.

How To Improve Your Rotational And Forward Movement

Arm swing is an easy area to improve on for most new runners. Proper arm swing will keep you running efficiently and will reduce fatigue in your arms and shoulders. Consistency is key, making sure you do it every time is how you break those bad habits. Your arms should be between your waist and chest with elbows bent at roughly a 90-degree angle. It’s important to stay loose and try to keep arm movement minimal. If you do this correctly, you can even slightly propel yourself using your arms. It’s also important that you don’t go overboard with an exaggerated swing, that will only hurt your running form in the long run.

Try to use forward movement as much as possible. Don’t let your arms swing across your body or side to side. One trick is to pull your elbows in toward your sides. Arm swing should generate from the shoulder forward and backward. Try to eliminate any up and down movement in the shoulder. This is key to keeping your upper body loose and avoiding tension.

Path outside, two runners to the left and two bikers to the right. Sun is shining through the trees.

Overview

Overall, your rotational and forward movement can effect your run in positive and negative ways. I should note that not all rotational movement is counterproductive to propelling yourself forward. There are some advanced techniques such as counter-rotation of the spine and engaging the hips to produce power. However, I find such techniques a bit out of scope for entry-level running.

If you found this blog interesting, be sure to check out the rest of the series on our website!

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Running Form: The Importance of Cadence and Stride

Cadence + stride length = speed, point blank. If you increase one or the other, you’ll increase your speed. Let’s take a deeper dive into both and how they are both very beneficial to your running form!

What is Cadence?

Cadence is simply your number of steps per minute. It is the first building block for speed! On average, runners are in the 150-170 range, but an ideal range is closer to 180. You can find yours with most smart watches or just by counting the number of steps you take in one minute.

Increasing your cadence has several benefits. It will pull your foot strike back and reduce braking inefficiency. It can reduce impact on your joints. And once you’re used to a higher cadence, it can lessen the perceived effort and make running more comfortable.

Male runner, running outside in all black near a large piece of wood.

When trying to increase cadence, do so in gradual steps! Changing your cadence suddenly, could put you at a higher risk for injuries. You can find music at your target cadence by searching for playlists at a certain BPM. These are available on almost all streaming platforms.

If you’re interested in finding out your cadence check out this smart watch that will calculate it for you!

What is Stride?

Stride length is the second building block of speed. It is measured as the distance between successive ground contacts of the same foot. For example, start with feet together at Point A. Step forward with your right foot, then take another step with your left, then another with your right. Where your right foot just landed is Point B. Measure between A and B to find your stride length.

When increasing stride length, try to propel farther forward instead of just reaching out farther with each step. If you move your foot strike too far out, you can add unnecessary impact and braking force. Think of it like pulling your heel up into your glute and driving forward with your whole body.

Injury Prevention

Increasing cadence can help with injury prevention! In a recent study, published in Current Sports Medicine Reports, the science behind a runner’s step rate were analyzed. They found that slight increases in cadence led to a decrease in loading on the knee, ground reaction force, and other detrimental effects. This helped them come to the conclusion that it might help prevent some of the most common running injuries.

Increasing Speed

Increasing stride comes from strength and power. To develop a safe increase to stride length, try incorporating hill workouts into your training plan. To keep your cadence up in an optimal range while increasing stride length you need to focus on propelling yourself further forward not just stepping further out. The goal should be to keep ground contact from creeping forward in front of you. Hill workouts are a great way to increase power and it will translate into a more powerful stride and ultimately faster speeds.

Woman running running up a sand dune with her dog.

If you want to learn more about your running form check out our previous blog here! We talk about the 5 important aspects you can improve to improve your running form. Next week we will be taking a dive into rotational movement so be on the look out for that!