Improving your running form doesn’t happen naturally. Running more doesn’t mean you’re running better. You have to take intentional action to improve your running form and boost your economy.
As children, running comes naturally to us. But that doesn’t mean the way we run is the most economic. It doesn’t mean our running form is optimizing the use of our body’s energy to get the most out of each stride. Does anyone have the perfect, proper running form?
No. But it doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits and that we shouldn’t practice improving our running form on a daily basis. Today, we’ll explore the benefits of proper running form and hear tips from our expert TRE coaches on maximizing your running form so you can run stronger, longer, and faster.
We all have a certain, particular running gait. There are people I’ve run with for a long time who I can call out before even seeing them by looking at their shadow or even hearing how their cadence as their feet hit the ground behind me. It’s what makes us unique–but improving our running form also makes each running a better runner and helps prevent injuries.
The top tips to improve your running form are:
Our YouTube channel is packed with videos to help you develop proper running form. Check out:
Coach Nate’s five-minute running form fix video that reveals two of the biggest challenges that runners of all levels face–hip drop and over-rotation. Discover specific tangible, ideas on how to draw awareness and make improvements on your workouts.
Building proper running technique without a coach or camera can seem impossible at first. But, it’s the best approach for runners of all levels to make steady improvements. In this video, Coach Nate shares a sensory-based approach to run technique using what you feel and what you hear to make critical adjustments and changes.
Normally, this type of exercise would be very difficult to do while listening to music or a podcast, but with the right headphones and bone conduction technology, you can actually do both.
Coach Holly is a running form pro. Learn how to improve your running form with a more efficient arm swing and increased core stability. Join her to have her take you through some simple drills to get you running faster and more powerfully than ever before!
Join Coach Nate and dive into the common misconceptions many runners have around running technique–and the mistakes they make when trying to change it, such focusing on our feet too much or changing things too fast and out of order. Learn three powerful running form drills you can start doing today that will set you up for long-term success and improvement.
We asked our team of coaches who’ve helped hundreds of runners to improve their running form for their best tips. Here’s what they said:
“My favorite tip for improving running form is doing form drills, then doing speed work. In my experience, doing the speed work forces my body to create the most efficient form. Start with short times: 6 x 3:00 minutes at tempo paces with three minutes of recovery, for example then eventually progress to longer times and overall duration, like 4 x 8:00 minutes at tempo pace with minutes of recovery.”
“Tip One: Make use of mental models. I sometimes have trouble landing under my center of gravity, so often imagine a chain around my waist that is pulling me forward, so that I am leaning more and leading more with my hips.
Tip Two: I also like to imagine running over water (landing lightly) and often will remove my headphones and listen to see if I can hear my footstrike too much. The lighter it feels, the better.”
“Tip One: Develop a ‘Presidential Posture.’ Standing straight and tall, make sure your shoulders are in front of your hips to influence natural momentum forward.
Tip Two: Improve your arm Carriage. You’re not a kangaroo! Focus on a tidy and supple arm carry, with the propulsion of your swing happening mostly behind your body.”
Tip Two: During races or hard runs, it’s easy to tense up and focus on just getting to your destination rather than what your form looks like. I have to constantly remind myself to shake out my arms and flex my fingers to loosen up. I also take in a deep breath all the way into my stomach and exhale while rolling my shoulders back to reset them and keep loose.”
If you want to improve your running form and become a stronger, faster runner–or you want to know more about our training programs, be sure to download our app for access to new workouts each week and tons of training videos and resources!