How to Run Faster: Use Your Arms

Whether you want to run your first half marathon or your fastest 10k race, your arms can help. Incorrect arm mechanics could be costing you time, energy or even lower back pain. 

Many runners are unknowingly slowing themselves down by keeping their hands too close to their chest, failing to swing from the shoulder and allowing their hands to come across the chest.

While these three habits may conserve energy in the arms and shoulders they ultimately cost us energy from our legs.

Co-ordinating Arm and Leg Drive

We swing our arms in time with our legs when we walk down the street. Our left elbow swings forward as our left knee comes back. On the other side our right knee moves forward as our right elbow swings back. Try to disrupt this rhythm and you'll soon realise how natural it is to us.

Try it Yourself

Walk with your right elbow swinging forward at the same time as your right knee and repeat on the other side for 20m.

Try the same with a jog and you'll get the same result. Your body just doesn't want it to happen.

Arm Drive in Sprinting

Our use of this natural rhythm is very different when sprinting as we are actively using our arms to make our legs move faster and through a longer stride. Watch the arm drive of any sprinter and you'll soon realise that  that they seem to be putting as much, if not more effort into the driving their arms compared to the driving of their legs.

This is because although the legs are what propel us forward they rely on the arms to create an opposing force with which to propel off. Each time we drive an elbow down, on its way back, there is a downward force created which allows the foot to gain more traction and propulsion.

The faster the elbow is pulled back the stronger the knee can drive through in recovery for the next step. The higher the hands come the higher the knees can lift and the more time we spend gliding through the air.

Arm Drive for Distance Runners

All of this is very important for sprinters but not so useful for amateur long distance runners who will be doing well to have any energy left for a sprint finish. None the less, many people do not use their arms at all and therefore mess up the natural rhythm of their running.

Some allow their chest to turn left and right which is their bodies way of trying to balance what the legs are doing.

If you try to run with your arms by your side or pinned to your chest the you'll feel your chest trying to turn.

Correct Elbow Position for Distance Running

Watching the arms of any decent runner on TV, you'll notice that the elbow stays at an angle of around 90 degrees. Very few amateur runners hold this elbow position and in failing to do so lose efficiency.

Holding 90 degrees throughout the entire arm swing optimises the forces our arms can elicit on our legs regardless of whether we are sprinting, walking fast or running long distance.

Try it Yourself

Stand tall and, with straight arms, swing them at around the rate you'd expect your legs to move in your chosen running race. It's tough right? There's no way you'll be able to achieve an arm drive fast enough with this elbow position.

Now try swinging your arms with your hands tight to your chest. It will feel super easy and is actually quite a popular position for many amateur distance runners because it feels like they're saving energy. The problem is that they're not using their arms to counter the movement of the legs so end up rotating the chest instead.

Turning the chest while you run is going to use far more energy than swinging your arms and can also lead to back pain as your torso is constantly bracing itself for each step in a rotated position.

Correct Forearm Alignment for Distance Running

Your forearms should always aim parallel to one another in order to support the same alignment in your legs. If your hands are swinging in front of your belly button then they're going to create rotational forces through your torso which effect your legs. 

Keep the hands in the same line as your shoulders and you'll feel more balanced when you run. Holding this alignment will feel like you've got your hands outside the width of your elbows, not a glamorous look, if you're actually doing it but the sensation will go away as the muscles regain their natural, stronger, position. 

Making the Changes to your Running Technique

Keeping the elbows at 90 degrees is often the hardest to change as far as habits go. If you can actually manage to keep the elbows in the correct position, expect to have some sore biceps one day after or even during the first run.

If you can learn to keep the elbows at 90 then learning to swing your elbows forward and back, instead of across your chest should come a little easier. If there's any muscle soreness it'll be in the back of your shoulder where your muscle have to work to prevent your hands coming across your body.

So, which of these changes could you utilise to help you run faster?

Have you tried implementing of them yet? How's it going?

Changing your technique can be frustrating as it will actually make you more tired in the short term but will uncap your potential in the long run.

As part of the Cheltenham Running Club, we offer one to one and small group running technique workshops to not only provide the changes but also the feedback and fine tuning to help make the new habits stick.

If you're not able to come to Cheltenham then we may be able to provide coaching through video analysis and a Customised Running Technique Programme.

How to Run Faster: Run Tall

If you'd like to run faster then this is one of the easiest ways to do it.

Teach your body to run tall and you'll also:

• Increase your stride length
• Improve your lung function
• Share the load of impact throughout the muscles in your legs
• Decrease the likelihood of experiencing lower and middle back pain
• Become a more stable runner
• Find it easier to accelerate when required

Sounds good right?

Anyone can bring about these improvements but they do require us to form some new habits.

How to Run Taller

There are 3 cues to focus on when learning to run tall:

1. Head High, Watch the Horizon

The easiest way to think about running tall is to imagine a piece of string is attached to the top of your head. It's right in the centre and is pulling the top of your head straight up, so that your head sits directly over the base of your neck and your chin is about a fist from the top of your chest when the thumb is pointing down.

This position will keep your neck in a neutral position and prevent your head poking forward as will often happen when we get tired.

If you imagine the string running all the way down through your spine to your pelvis then it will also naturally lift your chest.

2. Chest up

By lifting your chest you'll open up the space with which your lungs have to inhale each breath. The more air you can naturally inhale per breath the more oxygen your muscles will get and the better they'll be able to hope with the demands of your faster running.

If you're not used to this cue then you'll likely get tired in the muscles which run up the middle back, directly between the shoulder blades. The more you can practice this during, before and after your runs the sooner it'll become habit and strengthen these muscles.

Keeping your chest up will also help to create more support in your core by pulling the skin of your tummy closer to your spine. Creating support in your core helps you run faster by stabilising your hips.

3. Belly Button to Spine

Pulling your belly button in towards your spine improves the stability of your hips. Having stable hips prevents the right hip from dropping each time the left foot lands and vice versa. If your hips are collapsing every step you take then you're unable to apply as much pressure to the ground and therefor run as fast or efficiently as when your hips are well supported.

Another way stable hips help you go faster is with pulling the recovery leg through to take the next step. If the hips are stable then the knee can come through straighter and faster.

You can test this out by first standing on one foot and with a relaxed tummy, lift the knee up as fast as you can. Rate how powerful it felt on a scale of 1-10. Take note of any crunching or head movements your body performed in order to get the knee up quick.

Next stand on the other foot and with belly button pulled to spine repeat the lift. It should feel much more stable when rated on a scale of 1-10.

Implementing the Changes to your Running Technique

There are a wide range of exercises you could do to strengthen the various muscles required to Run Tall but none of them will create a lasting result unless you turn the cues into ingrained habits.

Walking, standing and sitting tall will all strengthen your tendency to Run Tall and in doing so make you a stronger, fitter and more efficient runner.

Have you tried bringing these technical cues into your running?

How'd it go?

Introducing Garmin Connect

Garmin Connect allows us to communicate training routes so you know what to expect before each outdoor workout.

Click on the picture to view the web page in your browser

The aim of this type of post is to empower you with the ability to run the sessions without us, should you be unable to attend an Outdoor Workout.

This is the sort of map you'll see in emails and blog posts to help you know where we're going.

If you have yet to join the running club then there's no better time than now. 

Visit www.stsfitness.com/running-club to join now.

Why Running Hurts and What You Can Do About it

Pain is a harsh reality for many of us who choose to run as a means of getting fit.

Sore knees, ankles, shins or hips lead us to believe that we're simply not built to run.

This is a real shame because the majority of these pains can be completely eliminated with some targeted injury prevention work.

Almost any niggle which gets progressively worse when we run is simply a result of certain muscles becoming stronger and shorter. When muscles shorten to a certain length they either pull bones out of their natural position or cause inflammation at the site where muscle attaches to bone, via ligaments.

Sore Knees while Running

One of the most common niggling pains people associate with running is a soreness which develops around the kneecap.

This pain is usually as a result of the front and outer thigh muscles pulling the kneecap out of the position it is most comfortable in when running.

Every time our foot lands the thigh catches our entire body weight which can result in a reasonable amount of muscle damage after enough foot steps. This then leads to the muscle repairing in a slightly shorter position unless we do something to bring the muscle back to its normal length.

Knots of repaired muscle tissue form in the muscle which effectively prevent it from releasing back to its healthy length.

Massage for Runners

Massage is an effective way of getting rid of the knots. If you've ever had a sports massage you'll have noticed that the therapist will gravitate towards the knots and apply pressure to effectively smooth them out.

Professional Massage can be an expensive way to get rid of knots and although its more effective, self massage can do the job too. Foam rollers allow us to roll tight muscles over them, achieving a blunter version of a massage therapist's hands. Rolling and holding pressure on the most sensitive knots is a great thing to do just before stretching the tight muscle.

Unfortunately, sports massage and rolling hurt when muscles are tight so it helps if you can learn how to adjust pressure on the muscle to make it bearable. Some will say the more pain the better the outcome but we tend to keep away from pain we cannot control so it's best you learn how to control the pressure if you want to make the most of this effect injury prevention strategy.

As a general guide: if massaging a muscle hurts like hell then it's probably one of the muscles causing the joint or bone pain you're experiencing after or during your runs.

Stretching for Running Flexibility

Most of us do some form of warm up or warm down stretching for the thighs but few spend the time required to bring about lasting changes in the length of the muscle. Flexibility stretching requires a minimum of 60 seconds per muscle to bring about lasting improvements but even doing this each run is unlikely to be enough if we're running regularly.

There are a lot of other activities which shorten the thigh muscles. Just sitting at a desk or standing up for extended periods of time can encourage the muscles to shrink to better accommodate that position. Strength exercises such as the squat, lunge, leg press and any jumping exercises lead to strengthening and shortening of the thigh muscles. Ditto, rowing and cycling, skipping and every push off from the wall when we swim.

The reason running tends to remind us about the sore knees more than these other activities is the impact but if the muscles were not so inflexible then they may not hurt at all.

It's easy to visualise the pain from running coming as two bones are squashed together by the weight of the body as it lands from each step but this is rarely the cause of knee pain unless there has been significant wear of cartilage or an accident where cartilage or other joint padding has been damaged. 

Other Injury Prevention Strategies

Strength and stability training can also improve the muscle's ability to cushion landing forces but unless the muscles are free and flexible they can still cause pain.

Another sure cause of running injuries is simply going too fast and or too far. If we haven't run 5k in the last two months then running 10k with any amount of speed is going put a lot of stress on the muscles, ligaments and bones of our legs.

We all love the feeling of running fast enough to get our lungs working but in order to make this happen we have to run reasonably fast for our current running ability. Our legs need to do some short and slow runs to build up some durability before they can handle regular high intensity runs.

Run at a pace which you can maintain a comfortable conversation at when getting back into running. Your legs will start to feel heavy and that's a good sign that they've had enough for that particular run. With any luck you'll have a small amount of muscle soreness which you can stretch out over a couple of days, then get back out for another run.

This is far more effective than obliterating your legs by running too fast, not stretching or massaging then doing the same thing, only faster a week later when your legs have finally recovered from the previous workout.

Summary

If you avoid running for fear it'll aggravate a niggling joint then don't give up hope. Start rolling and stretching your calfs, front and outer thigh to address pains in the shins, knees or achilles tendon. Progressively rebuild your running distances at conservative speeds and you'll find that the pains have simply stopped.

This article has provided some ideas for how you can stop running from causing you pain but figuring out exactly what your personal causes of pain are is obviously not possible without assessing your situation.

If you'd like help rehabilitating an injury contact your local physiotherapist. If you'd like help with your running fitness and injury prevention then contact the STS Fitness Running Club.

The STS Running Club provides speeds for every member to run at, which are based on the individual's time trial result. This means each run is paced correctly for the current condition, taking into account any events which need to be peaked for.

There is a free membership and paid memberships starting from just £20/month for those who want programmes and one to one coaching.

All Programmes are online and videos are provided for injury prevention exercises via the online Fitness Application GymCalc.

Why You Should be Running this New Year

With so many options for getting fit these days, more people are turning to lower impact forms of exercises instead of running.

This article explains why running is so good for helping you lose weight and improve fitness.

It also explains why those moving to non impact exercises should think again.

Running Increases your Metabolic Rate

Most of us think of running as a form of cardiovascular exercise which lets us burn calories quickly while we run. This helps us burn fat by taking energy we've eaten and using it to fuel our muscles the same way it does when we cycle, swim and walk.

All cardiovascular exercises increase our metabolism while we do them but few have the after burn effect which running and strength training causes. This after burn effect is the prolonged increase in metabolism required to repair micro tears in the muscles.

Running can cause more muscle soreness than cycling, swimming, rowing, the cross trainer, stepper, elliptical machines because none of these exercises have a significant lowering or impact phase of the movement.

The lowering or, in running's case, landing phase requires our muscles to catch our body weight to prevent it collapsing in a heap. When our muscles catch our body weight or lower something like a barbell there is more muscle damage caused and this is what leads to the repair and increases in the after burn effect. 

This makes running a fantastic exercise for burning fat because the calories are not only burned while running but also while recovering from a run.

Worried about this very impact leading to injury?

Subscribe to this blog to find out how to avoid common running injuries associated with impact.

Running Saves You Time on Fitness

Focusing your precious training time on an activity you can do without having to drive to another location is great for busy people.  Minimal preparation makes running the most time efficient form of cardiovascular exercise you can do. 

If you've got a gym membership then running is even possible when the weather is miserable. While any cardio machine can become monotonous in the gym, running is the easiest to take outdoors and allows us plenty of options for mixing things up. 

You can do laps of the block, hill repeats, fast and slow intervals or take your workout to the bush or countryside if it's close enough. All of these options allow you to get a quality workout in minimal time. Invite a friend to join you for additional competition or support.

Practically every other form of cardio exercise you can do in the gym either requires you to be at the gym or another location such as the pool. Cycling does allow us to start our workout from the front door but requires much more time to get ready.

Running is Relatively Inexpensive

Running is far less expensive than most sports for a number of reasons:

• no equipment purchase or maintenance required
• no entry fee for training venues
• relatively low entry fees for events
• less travel expenses for trainings
• no uniforms or venue hire

A good pair of running shoes will cost you around £100 every 8-14 months if you use them regularly but this is no more than what you'll pay for a decent pair of footwear for any other sport.

There are also a number of reasons people choose not to run. Many are due to the impact and associated injuries but many of these niggles are simply due to:

• over training through running too fast or too far
• lack of strength and stability in the muscles which prevent the injuries
• excessive tension in the muscles which cushion the impact of landing
• poor running mechanics or footwear

The good news is that all of these obstacles can be overcome the same way any athlete recovers from a niggling sports injury. Practically any injury which comes on slowly as a result of exercise can be completely fixed with the correct mix of strength, flexibility and massage therapy.

If you'd like to get back into running but suffer from an ongoing niggle or old sports injury then maybe it's time to visit your physio or tell us about it to discuss the best steps you can take next.

Visit www.stsfitness.com/running-club and register your interest if you'd like to discuss how you're going to get back into running.

Our Running Club is available locally in Gloucestershire and online through the fitness application GymCalc