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?