THE COMMON LUNGE RUN TRAINING MYTH

There is a common theme involved with running skill.  The further away you load from the line of action the increase in joint torque is associated with it, which is associated with decelerating (force muscles) playing a bigger part of the support.

Running skill is all about lessoning the joint torques as the myofascial tissue has to deal with more force directed from the increasing ground reaction and momentum forces as the speed increases.

As a performance coach you can utilise skills in lessoning joint torques or increasing them depending on the outcome you want to train.  Body building techniques has utilised this concept to benefit the over loading of tissue to break it down to gain hypotrophy gains.  By increasing the joint torque, more stress can be achieved to get a specific desired effect.

There is a reason you don’t get a lot of body builders playing sport.  However you do see a lot of body building techniques smothering athletic form in today’s professional sportsmen and training routines advertised.

The common lunge is such an exercise that I believe is one exercise that kills movement skill, although it is a premier exercise selection for pretty much every sport out there.

The common lunge is associated with huge joint torques, hence why it such a good burning (hard) exercise.

The common lunge below fuels so many bad habits.  Just a few for example

1.Aggressive heel strike

2.General centre of mass way behind front foot

3.Back foot learning excessive push off

4.The hip is in excessive rotation for mimicking real life game events

5.Quad dominance

6.Achilles not utilised as it should be

7.Ankle range of motion under utilised by heel lift in motion control shoes

8.Time on ground has no real correlation with the majority of sports movement

The common lunge is really training massive breaking forces associated in deceleration.

Only would you want to lunge like this in very specific circumstances, the main one being

that you are being pushed to your boundary by a more skilled opponent.

Tennis players are a good example of this, however surely your whole game plan is to stay

away from this through bettering your skill in your own movement patterns to get to the ball

(or target) in better form to action better skill (shot).  By mastering this skill to never allow your

opponent to get you in that position in the first place would be far superior, actually it would

produce the worlds greatest players.  Or vice versa to beat you opponent that is exactly

where you want to put them, in a bad position.

For further and more in depth reading on how the hamstring is effected by constantly training
the lunge go to The Number One Role of the Hamstring

Our advice at the Barefoot Performance Academy is learn how to evolve your single leg strength by keeping the general centre of mass over the ball of foot. 

This entry level single leg squat sequence allows the back leg to drive backwards to provide support.  Progression would see the back knee drop to the ground directly next to the support foot. (The arms are driving in the frontal plane in one and transverse in the other which is a technique to put more load through the hip).

The important thing to take from these photos is where theemphasis of the body weight is in

the front (support) leg. 

About the author

Rollo Mahon has an academic background in Sports Therapy.  His academic journey has led him through various athlete performance accreditations where he has specialised in the science and biomechanics of barefoot running.  His search has been to find the solution to injury free biomechanics and therefore better performance which has been cemented by the science of barefoot running.

FOOTBALL RUNNING SKILL & INJURY

Jon is professional Referee in the 'La Liga' in spain.  His training regime to keep fit to be at the top of his game is very similar to a professional footballers training.  Seeing him train at the Battersea Park Running track I approach him to see if he would be interested in seeing if our techniques at the Barefoot Performance Academy would improve his running skill that would improve his performance being a refree on the pitch.

Jon's Running Assessment

There are noticeable differences from left to right foot strike which is causing an asymmetry through his kinetic chain.  Jon would be looked upon as a vey athletic and good runner at normal filming speed.  Only when you look at his running style in slow motion or frame by frame as above do you notice these little differences.

The left foot is striking on the forefoot first and the right, slightly as a heel strike.  This asymmetry is a coordination issue which can be associated with nerval symptoms.  However far easier than that is to look at the skill of running and where the person's general centre of mass (GCM) is positioned on the yeild phase (foot strike).  Jon has his GCM behind the striking foot and way behind the ball of foot (BOF) where good running form would first load as seen at the end of this session. (The yellow line represents gravity vector line through the centre of mass).  With the GCM behing the BOF excessive breaking forces will be experienced.

Jon's style of running has a vicious circle of knock on effects which is common to all runners like him.  By the leading leg reaching further out it has a counter balance effect with the trailing leg being left further behind from the gravity vector line.  In Jon's case this represents to biomechanical issues for the hamstring, excessive deceleration forces and then a holding game for the trailing leg which subjects the hamstring to over loading (greater stresses) and a wrong firing sequence (coordination skill).   This is unecessary and good running form smartens all this up.

By assessing athlete's with their barefoot running skill allows a certified barefoot running coach to fully understand biomechanical issues runners present when being filmed.  Barefoot allows the runner to understand how far he or she is from good running form.   Running is about mastering the barefoot running skill first (like any Keynan runner) before tuning performance through specialist distances, activities, terrain and shoe type to best fit the best potential an athlete can put themselves in for their given goals.

Also from a barefoot coach's knowledge the foot plays such a huge part in the communication process in movement skill that here at the BPA we can get more information to Jon's overall running skill.  (R. McNeil Alexander states 17% of shock is absorbed by the plantar arches of the foot)  The majority of feet have lost there mobility, stability and strength in the western world.  Then cover them up in a shock absorbing materials loosing the majority of all the foot senses cannot be a good thing. (D. Lieberman professor of evolutionary Biology, Harvard Universtiy http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2010a.pdf)

Running barefoot has allowed Jon to gain some better skill.  He is striking the ground closer to the gravity vector line (line of action).  However he still has an asymmetry and posture that represents his injury inducing running skill.

The previous picture shows where the foot is landing, however it is important to recognise where Jon is at full load (shock absorption) in the yield phase as above.  To move forwards the general centre of mass has to travel over the ball of foot before the unloading phase can happen.  The quicker you hit this point, the ball of foot, on the yield phase the less you are subjected to unnecessary excessive forces which cause injury.

The perception of a heel striker increase their step length when running faster.  Subconsciously the power needs to come from some where and by increasing the joint torque through the hips the body can produce more power but at a cost of being subjected to injury inducing mechanics.  Jon heel strikes on both feet more aggressively when running faster.   Because he is running faster he is now subjected to greater momentum forces, this increases the joint torques and because of the longer stride pattern the braking forces is increased to.  You can visually see this by the foot striking the ground further away from the line of action.

Physics would suggest you would be better off to minimise these forces by being more efficient with your lever arms, not increase them like above.

Running skill is the subconscious awareness of changing postures (shape) to deal with the changing forces experienced in motion.  This skill keeps the joint torques efficient for the forces experienced.  Injury comes when this skill is lost and you will see how Jon’s training programme affects his skill.

Movement assessment – The Squat

I asked Jon to do a squat, back squat and front squat.  This is the range of motion he showed me.  For an athlete this is not a good sign.  Mobility and stability come in the same package.  If the mobility is poor then you can quite quickly see that stability is an issue too.  As a norm if you have lost the skill of the barefoot deep squat then dysfunction will start to creep in. (Metro article -  The Barefoot Deep Squat maintains healthy hip joints)

Then I asked Jon to do a barefoot deep squat, giving him only a cue for the bar to travel vertical to the floor through the whole motion.  Now the squat is looking better in balance and stronger through good posture.  However you can see his heels have left the ground allowing him ROM (better posture) up the chain.  Where in the previous squats he was limited by his ankle range.  Ankles are one of his major limiting factors.  Which also tells us again that he is not utilising the lower limb to its full potential.

I asked Jon to show me one of his top conditioning exercises.  Jon is incredibly athletic and strong, there is no denying that and by keeping up this type of training, the common lunge which emphasises heel striking as you quite clearly see from above, will keep him conditioned.  However it is at a real cost to movement skill and doesn’t quite eliminate common injury.  We have written more about this training lunge myth in The Common Lunge running training myth

Through improving his Barefoot Deep Squat (a movement skill milestone) which looks at changing posture by increasing good mobility, stability and strenght through all proper joint ranges.  Then it is possible to then coach coordination through three simple coaching cues Posture, Rhythm and Relaxation to gain the necessary foundation skill to good running form.  By using a host of different cueing techniques and drills we are able to tap into the movement skill our bodies best adapt to.   Jon was able to improve his asymmetry and running skill in an hour and half.

The second last two photos show, less rotation in the upper body, loads on BOF quicker, therefore trailing leg is not left behind (frame width is shorter), better posture, less forward head lean.  In all it just looks better balanced, stronger,  and with more skill.

Jon now has a new goal in his training and that is to improve his coordination, to increase his running skill by awakening his nervous system through concious drills he was shown so to rid himself of his asymmetry.  He will gain valueable strength with mobility and stability through improving the BDS.  By applying this into his training routine he will improve his overall movement skill, which will make him stronger, faster and more agile in the process as he also gets a better sense of movement which will correlate straight to his profession.

Better vision, more stamina, travel faster around the pitch whilst the body knows it is working within its efficient biomechanics.  Having these skills under you not only increase your skill on the day in the activity but allows your body to recover faster.

Although Jon is a referee, recovery is everything in today’s professional sporting circuit.  To keep at the top of his game as with any us by doing training that simulates good form saves you valuable time whilst at the same time increases you skill and all the motor abilities associated with your game.  Win, win really and I am shocked still today that this is not practiced.  To find out in more depth why his hamstring was becoming more dominant in its secondary role and prone to injury read The Number One Role of the Hamstring

Immediately after this session Jon notice a huge improvement in his hamstring which never reappeared through his training regime whilst he was hear in England.  Now he has a marker to the quality of his workouts.  If his hamstring injury reappears he can be sure to check his form.

About the author

Rollo Mahon has an academic background in Sports Therapy.  His academic journey has led him through various athlete performance accreditations where he has specialised in the science and biomechanics of barefoot running.  His search has been to find the solution to injury free biomechanics and therefore better performance which has been cemented by the science of barefoot running.

THE NUMBER ONE ROLE OF THE HAMSTRING

The skill of movement determines the way we interact with the environment we are in contact with.  Here at the Barefoot Performance Academy we say ‘“To walk well you have to know how to run well.  To sprint well you have to know how to run well.  To run well you have to know how to move and jump well.”

With good form running our architectural design (the way our bodies have evolved) allows us to utilise what can only be described as a masterpiece of design.   It is running skill that develops our organism to excel at all other movements. (The study of children’s movement development explains this). This movement development is no coincidence. We were born to run.  Without this skill we wouldn’t have survived as a species.

This posting is to delve a little into functional anatomy and the biomechanics that influence the role of the hamstrings.

In our industry we are divided upon running technique and I hope this posting will shed some light on what good running form truly is and why it is a skill that needs to be coached well in.  I have studied barefoot science, which desired foot strike is on the ball of foot (BOF).   It must be said that you can heel strike when barefoot running to.   I must also add that we are not born with shoes on our feet, this suggests to me that our body’s true alignment is design around barefoot.

So to describe a small part of the good form running action, to explain the major role of the hamstring we will start at the foot strike in the running phase, otherwise known as the support or yield phase. 

As the BOF touches the ground and upon loading with full body weight (BW) with the general centre of mass (GCM) directly above the BOF, the heel travels towards the ground providing two major roles.

Firstly the start of the triphasic nature (stretch/shortening cycle) of the achilles and calf structure and secondly it provides the space, a gapping effect, for the lower limb (Fibula/Tibia bones) to travel forwards via the ankle joint which travels over the sub talar joint to create ankle dorsi flexion.  It is only when ankle dorsi flexion is created that the magic of the calf muscles can be utilised to full potential.

A functional foot produces potential energy through the arch of the foot being compressed and stretching the plantar fascia.  At the same time through ankle dorsi flexion the foot is dynamically stabilized by the Posterior Tibialis (PT) and helps produce foot rigidity due to the positioning of its attachments, creating a propulsive lever to assist the plantar fascia to utilise its plyometric spring from the foots fixed position on the ground (as beautifully described in 3dhumanmotion’s blog). 

An ankle and foot with mobility issues won’t achieve full dorsi flexion as described above.  A great test for full range ankle dorsi flexion is the barefoot deep squat (heels are unweighted but just touching the ground throughout the whole movement sequence whilst keeping good posture). 

Still traveling in dorsi flexion the achilles is being stretched through its Plyometric action, as is the whole calf structure whilst the tibia travels fwd over the foot.  Deceleration primarily comes from the soleus, decelerating tibial forward motion and ankle dorsi flexion due to its attachment below the knee. This creates knee extension as the femur, the hip and the rest of the body now travels faster over the decelerating lower limb.  (GFR is primarily being dealt with by the Plyometric actions of the quads and hip structure to hold posture true to the vibrations being experienced). The gastroc still lengthens due to its attachment above the knee to utilise its full Plyometric potential and the timing with the hamstring pull.

The wonder of the calf, what I call ultimate strength, deals with ground force reaction (GFR) by starting the Plyometric action on the yield phase (foot strike), whilst allowing acceleration through dorsi flexion (this is helped via momentum forces as the hip and the rest of the body travels fwd which then explains why the skill of running is so important with the positioning and pivoting point of the GCM that works with the architectural design of humans), then decelerates to allow more stretch through knee extension to explode from the rigid foot it created to lever from.  Wow! 

Knee extension cues the hamstrings into their roles through lengthening them due to their attachments below the knee, which have been relatively silent by getting a free ride due to role of the calves, quads and hips to this point in the yield phase, and most of all unbroken momentum.  In a ‘nano’ second a Plyometric stretch is applied through knee extension to action the pull to get the foot off the ground.  The skill of running pivots on this one action.  Without it, timings are out and compensations appear.  How to change it is helped by a number of other pivotal actions, such as cadence, muscle/tendon tone, ankle dorsi flexion and the big bang hip extension.

Now I must explain that the hamstring in bad form running, which is GCM landing behind the foot as in heel striking, the hip joint will rapidly anteriorly rotate to compensate for the braking force experienced in this type of running. This activates the hamstring from the hip joint utilizing the bend pattern and changes the role of hamstring to a force muscle not a velocity one as it has to deal with breaking (decelaration) forces.  It then doesn’t allow true hip extension (looks can be deceiving).  The decelerating hamstring is marred with the push off and all its injury associations.

By the GCM landing behind the foot changes the biomechanics.  The forces in this example in heel striking, when running, are experienced over a longer period of time and with different joint torques due the change in postural shape.  This imposes greater joint torques at various joints, which unevenly spreads the load through our kinetic chain.   This explains how injury is a cost effect of bad running form.

Back to good form and you just look in awe of the design of the sequencing of our lever system to action the Plyometric stretch in the hamstrings.  But on the other hand how easy this lever system can be overridden by weaker lever systems to compensate when alignment is out.   

The pull up of the foot is so important because without this timing optimal balance will be lost in the air and joint torques will be effected as the body shape and muscle sequencing changes therefore disrupting the next foot contact to fall prey to bad form.  Then the snowball effect rolls on accelerating fatigue and all its associated problems.  This explains the VO2 max gains made in a session through the POSE method filmed by the BBC.

The whole body is a tuning fork to the forces we utilise to move us through space.  The elastic energy storage system we utilise, I believe is better described as a floatation system not a spring or propulsion system.  The elastic qualities and the stiffening and dampening qualities of muscles provide the right action to glide us across our environment for running; the actioning of the hamstrings has enabled the perfect timing for the weight shift.  (This said, it is the understanding of gravitational torque we need to learn to master the skill of movement.) 

I hope now ankle dorsi flexion and knee extension has painted a unique picture and explains the architectural design of why the hamstring and gastroc intertwine one another and why they are biaxial muscles.

Good form running can map out the archetypal design of muscles, their fibre lengths and angles.  This at my practice has delivered me a clear understanding of common injuries.  However this science only works if good form is present.  Facts can be built up on decelerating hamstrings, as I have explained in the action due to breaking forces.  It is still called running and I believe has caused confusion in our industry.

Is heel striking all bad?  Well for some the desired action is appropriate in running and specific sports demand it when being over reached.  But if your kinetic chain is always set up to fire in the heel striking sequence then you are limiting the skill of your body and therefore your skill as an athlete.  Not to mention increasing your injury rate.  (80% of runners get injured on a yearly bases – ACSM 2005)

I was asked, for a training strategy, if hopping was close to the biomechanics of running.  Well it really depends if the hop is being performed with good running form in mind.  Good form is based on Posture and rhythm.

Posture and rhythm change to the constant variation of the forces we experience at any given point.  This is where the muscles become the brain for the tendons.

What is obvious to see is in our gear changes in motion.  We see dramatic changes in our shape and this is subconsciously driven depending on the forces we are experiencing.  Gears allow more efficient joint torques to channel the load through our kinetic chain, like gears in a car or on a bike.  For instance, a horse has four gear changes in motion we humans have three.  Walking, running and sprinting present very different biomechanics (postures and rhythms) and should be coached like wise.

The beauty about motion is we all have the hardware and software to experience fun, injury free running; we are born with it.  If you lost what you had as a child, all you have to learn is how to turn it back on with the skill of running.

References:

R. Lieber – Skeletal Muscle Structure, Function, and Plasticity

Dr Romanov – POSE Method of running

Vivobarefoot Coaching Programme

About the author

Rollo Mahon has an academic background in Sports Therapy.  His academic journey has led him through various athlete performance accreditations where he has specialised in the science and biomechanics of barefoot running.  His search has been to find the solution to injury free biomechanics and therefore better performance, which has been cemented by the science of barefoot running.

HAMSTRING TRAINING MYTHS FOR RUNNERS

Every muscle, tendon and ligament in your body plays an important part in how your body functions and moves.  The hamstring however, in my experience, is the most misunderstood muscle in the whole body. 

To me it determines the very skill in how anyone moves.  A dysfunctional hamstring will put the whole body out of balance.  It will be inviting injury, not only upon itself (like experienced in so many football players) but is setting up other potential common injury areas to falter to.

The hamstring is made up of powerful muscles and tendons, which make up a major muscle group that influence the function of the pelvis and more importantly the body’s movement pattern.  Your hamstring is your work horse in movement.  It also has a very close relationship with the adductors, another group of muscles and tendons that have significant control over the stabilisation of the pelvis amongst other roles.

Is it the hamstrings fault? No of course not.  They are dealing with the movement pattern that is presented to them, like every other muscle, tendon and ligament in your body.  Everything is trying to do the very best for you. This is why movement skill, like running technique is the hierarchy to any training schedule.

Our body’s have a true alignment.  We call it posture.  This posture constantly changes to create the most efficient posture (shape) to deal with the motion, the space and environment we travel upon.  It is our bones and joints that allow a lever system to be applied to be able to utilise gravity, ground reaction forces that produces momentum.  Our mass determines the coordination, reaction, force and velocity with which our muscles, tendons and ligaments need to work at to keep us in the most efficient balanced position to control our movement.  When we talk about biomechanics this is what we are constantly assessing for any given movement/activity.

The video I posted ‘Hamstring training myths for running’ was to give you a visualisation on two different movements that the hamstring has to deal with. One is used as common strengthening exercise used in performance training which is utilising the bend pattern.  The other a running heel to hip pull exercise which utilises correct running biomechanics.

With in a minute of running with good cadence you pull one foot from the ground 90 – 105 times depending on your speed.  I don’t think I use the bend pattern up to 90 times in one day of my daily life.  Maybe if I am gardening or cleaning the house I use it but no way near to the extent of the running cadence.  In all my activities it is hard to grasp where I do utilise this bend pattern, may be in gymnastics a little.

My point is the body was designed to perform being up right not bent at the hips.  Evolution shows us the body was designed around running and therefore the hamstring’s most vital role is the force and velocity needed to deal with the pull of the heel to hip action and momentum forces.

In my experience by learning how the hamstring truly functions, how it creates balance to all movement and how to train to strengthen it properly; is the key to all common injuries and the skill of movement.

(ITB Syndrome, Lower back pain, Knee pain, Achilles tendinosis, plantar fasciitis)

With this early learning of how to utilise the hamstring; movement and running efficiency increase, hamstring injuries are a thing of the past, which starts the healing process of the rest of the body and performance will sore.

This is why I say ‘To walk well you have to know how to run well.  To sprint well you have to know how to run well.  To run well you have to know how to move and jump well.”

Follow us for more articles like how for the triathlete everything pivots on the development of the hamstring.

About the author

Rollo Mahon has an academic background in Sports Therapy.  His academic journey has led him through various athlete performance accreditations where he has specialised in the science and biomechanics of barefoot running.  His search has been to find the solution to injury free biomechanics and therefore better performance which has been cemented by the science of barefoot running.

CALF STRAIN

Calf strain certainly is a big problem amongst runners of all abilities.  Now more than ever with people transitioning to a forefoot strike with the lure of barefoot running.  The fashion at the moment!

In almost every case the common denominator to strains is the amount of time spent on the ground through the support phase in running.  For the heel striker the predominant problem will be lose in vertical height due to deceleration forces experienced on foot strike (otherwise known as the braking force).  The body will have to gain height somewhere in the gait cycle, which is gained by an excessive push off. 

For the newbie barefoot runner or fore foot striker the problem worsens.  The calf has to be used firstly to absorb the braking forces previously absorbed by the heel and its associated chain of events with the heel strike running form (which is not the same in good form running).  This heel strike form is hard to shake unless coached well which means that the calf will still have to excessively push off to gain more vertical height.  It is a wonder why the calves don’t explode.  Well what actually happens is near to this.  Most people transitioning from heel to forefoot strike will be walking around in pain for about 4 to 5 days after their first run.  This is a strain.

How to rehab a calf strain can be achieved through simply changing your movement pattern.  First we have to find out what kind of strain we are dealing with.  There are three types Strain; micro tears, partial tear and complete rupture.  A 4-5 day experience of delayed on set of muscle soreness (DOMS) is excessive micro tears.

Inflammation always has to be dealt with first by applying the strategy of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation).

In this video Kris was dealing with piercing pain in his heel.  Not quite a calf strain however this was his weakest link to a movement pattern that the majority of calf strains will be experiencing.   Not only is the calf having to excessively push off the back foot to gain vertical height as discussed above but also the calf is under great strain counter balancing the forward head posture.

The calf is meant to be free of stress so to be relaxed before the loading phase upon foot strike.  But when the calf is dealing with stability issues like forward head posture and commonly excessive pronation due to too much time spent on the ground, the calf is over activated which leads to strains.

Runners with good posture and rhythm come heel strike or forefoot strike tend to run injury free.

Kris was still slightly inflamed around the ankle (the injury was 6 months old) but by using ice buckets, elevation and my rehab techniques we were able, in the session, to de-flame the area and with the new movement pattern this in itself lessoned the aggravation.  Kris still wouldn’t be out of the woods until he completed a 6-week adaptation program, which he did himself to make the new movement pattern stick.  But he did walk out of the clinic painless and with new understanding in how to heal himself.

The foundation to this adaptation program is learning about the key holders to movement in your body.  These are the feet, the ankles, the hips and the thoracic spine.  Once these are functioning well, mobile and stable through full range of motion, then movement skill can be developed.

This moves me on to one of the fitness industries major calf strains rehab exercises; The Calf Raise.  I call this exercise looking over the garden fence.  Yes if you want to be good at looking over garden fences this is the exercise for you and will alleviate, temporarily the runner with bad form who pushes off the back foot.  

Running utilises a triphasic muscle reaction so your exercises should look, feel and sound like them to.  This is why I call my exercise the CALF RAISE REBOUND.  The only calf raise done is the first to get you up in the air  and off your heels.  The rest is letting go to gravity, rebounding at the bottom to spring back up to the start position.

This is the coordination your calf is looking for in good form running.  It is the elastic response it is looking for and therefore it is the type of strength the calf has been designed to adapt to in running.  Try it!  The calf will love you for it.

Please respect that the foot and ankle (for this exercise) have to be in good functional order before you start putting Plyometric load through it.  This said I prescribe this exercise in the first session with rehab patients once they have learnt my mobilisation program.

Read more about good form running techniques such as where true balance is gained from; Hamstring training myths.

About the author

Rollo Mahon has an academic background in Sports Therapy.  His academic journey has led him through various athlete performance accreditations where he has specialised in the science and biomechanics of barefoot running.  His search has been to find the solution to injury free biomechanics and therefore better performance, which has been cemented by the science of barefoot running.