The Truth about Running Form

I should start out by stating that there is no one best running form. Runners come in many  different shapes, sizes, proportions, and with different past sport and injury history. Just like on  training plan won’t work for all runners, one form doesn’t work for all runners. It’s all about  maximizing the efficiency of how your specific body moves. 

That said, there are still many reasons why you should focus some dedicated time to improving  your form. More efficient form can help you prevent injuries, perform better at races, look better  in race photos, and run at the same pace with less energy usage! 

Before we get to the specifics, it’s important to know that the best running form comes down  to four things:  

1. Preventing Injury  

I’d much rather have a runner with slight form issues who is relatively injury free and  training consistently rather than a runner with “perfect” form who gets hurt all the time  without consistent training.  

2. Improving Efficiency & Economy 

All races that last longer than 2 minutes (looking at the average 800m runner and  longer) rely mostly on the aerobic energy system, the one that uses a lot of oxygen to  power. The more economical and efficient your stride and form is, the less oxygen and/ or energy you need to maintain the same easy running pace. 

3. Enhancing Top Speed  

A lot of the current focus on running form focuses solely on biomechanics. However, as  someone who studied biomechanics beginning in undergrad, biomechanics are third on  the list. Yes, good biomechanics are important, but if you’re constantly injured from  forcing “perfect form” or are so inefficient that you fatigue out early, your flawless  mechanics won’t matter much! 

4. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  

My general philosophy is that if you’re injury free, don’t do a complete overhaul of your  form. Just clean up your form a bit using the tips below. Focus on one thing at a time  for a week or two until it feels more natural and smoother before adding more form  tweaks.  

Ok! Let’s get to it!  

Posture  

Remember when your mom used to nag you to stand up straight? Well, if I’m helping  you with form, you’d hear me follow her up with “run tall”—the same idea. Running tall  helps you get an upright, non-slouching posture, which is best for good running  mechanics and giving your muscle optimal leverage.  

Keep your shoulder blades pulled down, holding a little tension at the base of your  shoulder blade instead of letting your shoulders shrug and rise towards your ears. Your  arms bent 45-85° at the elbow and hands relaxed like you’re holding a potato chip you  don’t want to crush. Allow your arms to swing freely, but don’t let them cross midline.  This helps avoid too much rotation, more openness in the chest, better breathing, and  more balance.  

Lean forward from the ankle. You may have heard “run from your hips!” before and been  unsure how to really do this. Imagine a rod running through your body from your ankle 

joint to your head, you can’t bend a rod, so instead lean forward from the ankles about  10-15°. 

Foot Strike  

There’s a lot of discussion on where to land on your foot. Forefoot. Mid foot. Rear foot.  Heel striking versus fore foot striking. In my view, it matters less whether you land  toward the front or back of your foot as long as it not widely exaggerated either way.  What matters most is that your feet land under your body or centre of mass, not in  front, and you keep a high stride rate.  

Over-striding, or landing with your foot too far forward ahead of your hips or torso is the  main issue to avoid. This can lead to you “chasing your pelvis”, an exaggerated  anterior pelvic tilt, pulling ourselves forward with our hip flexors and making the low  back angry. The key is to focus on landing with your foot under your body, so you can  propel yourself forward, not reaching out with your leg. Good landing mechanics look  like a quarter single-leg squat into a single leg Romanian deadlift (SLRDL), driving  forward through our gluts and hamstrings instead of just slouching and pulling  ourselves forward with our hip flexors.  

To cure over-striding, I have my runners work on hill blasts; 20-45 second sprints up a  hill. Running perpendicular to the hill and letting your arms swing like you’re a little kid  chasing your friends again. Use this to unlock the feeling of running with your glutes  then try to replicate it on all your runs, be patient with yourself. Work on this once per  week until it feels more smooth and natural. 

Pelvis Position  

Your legs propel you, but your core and pelvis enable the stability and foundation for  them to push off of. Work on finding a neutral pelvic position, engaging your lower  abdominals with a 30% dynamic bracing strategy, and propelling yourself forward with  your glutes. 

My runners work on this in the gym and in their rehab plans using the cross crawl core  work in dead bug and bird dog which work the same functional chains we use while  walking and running after teaching them neutral pelvis and breathing and bracing  foundational techniques. Then we progress on these foundations to challenge the  system with bands and weights, then to standing split stance squats and single leg  hinging with weight to build strength and incorporate these movement foundations into  their running form. 

When the entire body participates, you’re using gravity to your advantage through the forward  ankle lean. Remember, running is controlled falling. Your glutes and hamstrings are your gas,  your quads and hip flexors are your breaks. If you’re a runner struggling with bettering your  form, feel like your quads and calves and hip flexors fatigue a before anything else, constantly  have rotating injuries, or need help implementing these tips, you know where to find us!

Authored by Dr. Nicolette Napier