FOUR POINTS TO RUNNING SKILL

Through our experience, studies and research we know to walk well, you have to be able to run well.  To sprint well, you have to be able to run well.  To run well, you have to know how to move and jump well.

Running is the heart of a very being.  Run with little skill and you stress your system, don’t run at all and you lose some unique human qualities then run with good form and see how it transforms many parts of your life.

So what is running skill made up of : -

1. Movement Skill

It is something we instinctually learn as children and start to lose important skills the older we get if we do not keep on practicing them.  Understanding biomechanics is key to regaining our natural gift.  Biomechanics explains the force that the body experiences through gravity and ground reaction over time. It looks at optimum posture and allows you to understand how best to achieve your goals.

2. The Skill of Running

The skill of running is a belief system that your body is just an instrument to transport your weight in space.  Over millions of years, your body has evolved to be a complex three-dimensional elastic, sensory, lever system to transfer gravity and Ground Reaction Forces (GRF) into movement through space.  To maintain and improve your running, it takes constant tuning of the proprioceptive system and neural drive.

3. Proprioception and Neural Drive

Proprioception is the body’s sense of its own position, balance and movement.  Strength primarily comes from the appropriate muscles powerfully contracted by effective nervous stimulation; otherwise known as your neural drive.  Both these are the most vital systems to keep the body in balance and motion.  It is this skill that we have to keep in tune for injury-free good form running/movement and is the winning ticket to optimise performance.

4. Strength

The outcome of developing your proprioception and neuromuscular actions is strength and coordination.  From this, comes skill in movement. When you run, you are dealing with twice your own body weight.  The faster you go, the greater the force.    Newton’s second law of motion; F=ma. Learn how primal movements keep your body in check and give you a base in strength.