- 05 Ago 2011, 11:07
#1248
(pages 219-222)
Chapter 34
RUNNING BAREFOOT
While the evolution of the modern running shoe may be a wonderful thing (and they're certainly a vast improvement over the thin-soled track spikes some of us wore in the 60s and 70s) they may also ring with them some problems. Read the ads and you'll see hype touting things like comfort, stability and – inevitably – heel cushioning. They all sound like pretty wonderful attributes until you recognize that they may add up to nothing more than artificial means to disguise the effects of poor technique.
Even worse, in the case of the build-up heels, they may actually promote poor technique. By now, you should recognize that proper running technique involves landing on the forefoot, not on the heel. Truth is, landing on the heel should hurt, because that's not the way humans were designed to run. But put a big, fat cushion on the back end of a running shoe and not only will your heels not hurt when you run, it will be hard not to land there, because there's so much mass in the way.
Take off your shoes (Fig. 34.1) though, and you'll quickly realize that landing on your heels is just not a very smart way for swiftly moving humans to transport themselves across significant distances. Take even a short run and you'll quickly move toward the Pose Method, taking shorter strides and landing on the forefoot.
Interestingly, if you study the running form of the fantastically successful African runners who have dominated the world distance scene for much of the past four decades and you'll see solid Pose-style running form. This running was not intuitive, nor was it the result of good coaching. In most cases, it resulted from the childhood efforts of a continent of runners who had no shoes. Barefoot running showed them the way to proper technique.
Like most Western world citizens who have literally worn shoes since birth, you're probably a serious tenderfoot, so you're not likely to go out and run a marathon sans shoes, as did Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila in winning the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome. However, there are plenty of benefits to be gained by starting out gingerly with some barefoot exercises (1).
On the Physical side, barefoot running will help develop local strength around the ankles and feet. Stability shouldn't come from the artificial means of a wide-platform shoe, but from strong muscles, joints and connective tissue. Developing this strength, instead of buying it, will greatly reduce your chances of being sidelined by Achilles tendonitis, plantar fascitis or other common runners' injuries.
It stands to reason that the proper alignment of the entire body flows from proper foot placement during the landing phase of the stride. Land with the foot too far in front of the body, off-center, or on the heel, and your whole body will be out of alignment. Barefoot running, which pretty much forces you to land on your barefoot, goes a long way toward setting up proper alignment from the feet all the way to the crown of your head.
Now things are starting to come together. You're landing on your forefoot, your body is in perfect alignment and you're building strength and stability in and around your feet. What comes next? Why muscular elasticity and reduced time spent on support, of course. When you're running barefoot, you don't even have to conjure up an image of running on hot coals to make sure you pick up your feet as quickly as they touch the ground. You'll tap the ground with a quick, light touch and pick your foot right back up again. In short, run barefoot and you'll run using the Pose Method in no time.
As with all other special strength and conditioning exercises for the Pose Method, you'll want to start your Pose Method running in small doses. In fact, you may even want to start off with some barefoot walking, just to build up a little layer of callous on the bottoms of your feet.
The best places to start barefoot running are either on sand or a good composition running track. In either case there's relatively little chance of something sharp and nasty doing serious damage to your tender feet and you can get excellent feedback that tells you where your foot is landing. Sand will be more effective in building strength, while the track will help you be more precise.
Start out with repeats of as little as 25 yards as you seek to find proper form, then graduate to slightly longer distances once you're comfortable running barefoot. Remember that your main objectives in this exercise are to develop strength and control, not endurance, so don't worry if a barefoot session doesn't tally the kind of mileage that looks good in your training log. In fact, at the beginning you can do your barefoot drills on a "rest" day.
Down the road – way down the road – you may want to consider trail running barefoot. It sounds daunting, but the well-conditioned foot is perfectly capable of cruising along a good trail for mile after mile, perfectly in tune with nature. In fact, the co-author of this book once completed the final 10K of a 15K running leg in a triathlon barefoot... in Georgia... on asphalt... in the blazing heat of summer. The only injuries suffered were the blisters that caused the shoes to be discarded in the first place.
(pages 284-285)
3) Barefoot Running on grass (Fig. 38.24)
Despite the fact that you could run on asphalt, just like Abebe Bikila, it's not necessary. However, taking a few short trots on soft grass can be really helpful in building the sensory experience of what it feels like to land on your forefoot as opposed to landing on your heel. For this exercise, you can do anything from 30-meter trot to across a well-maintained lawn to running 18 holes on a lush golf course (after hours, of course).
As you make the transition from heel striking to properly landing on the forefoot, you may experience a temporary period of soreness in the calves. This is not unusual and should not be a cause of concern. This will last for a couple of weeks as your body adjusts to the dynamics of its new running stride, then disappear forever.
As one runner who learned to run from my previously produced Pose Method of Running video tape said, "after I started to run in the Pose Method, I got temporary soreness in my calf muscles, but the knee and lower back pain are gone... I am going to completely change my running technique to the Pose Method."
4) Barefoot Running on Soft Sand (Fig. 38.35)
The first cousin of running on grass, sand running has a couple of benefits. First, it's a low tech, but highly effective way to analyze, your running technique. Run 50 meters or so, then backtrack and look at your stride pattern in the sand. If you're still landing on your heels, it will be immediately obvious. Secondly, the longer you stay on "support", the deeper you sink into the sand. If you run with a light touch and land on your forefoot, you'll skip right over the sand. However, if you land on your heels, you'll become mired in the sand and find that it becomes quite a struggle to make any forward progress.
Reference:
Chapter 34
RUNNING BAREFOOT
While the evolution of the modern running shoe may be a wonderful thing (and they're certainly a vast improvement over the thin-soled track spikes some of us wore in the 60s and 70s) they may also ring with them some problems. Read the ads and you'll see hype touting things like comfort, stability and – inevitably – heel cushioning. They all sound like pretty wonderful attributes until you recognize that they may add up to nothing more than artificial means to disguise the effects of poor technique.
Even worse, in the case of the build-up heels, they may actually promote poor technique. By now, you should recognize that proper running technique involves landing on the forefoot, not on the heel. Truth is, landing on the heel should hurt, because that's not the way humans were designed to run. But put a big, fat cushion on the back end of a running shoe and not only will your heels not hurt when you run, it will be hard not to land there, because there's so much mass in the way.
Take off your shoes (Fig. 34.1) though, and you'll quickly realize that landing on your heels is just not a very smart way for swiftly moving humans to transport themselves across significant distances. Take even a short run and you'll quickly move toward the Pose Method, taking shorter strides and landing on the forefoot.
Interestingly, if you study the running form of the fantastically successful African runners who have dominated the world distance scene for much of the past four decades and you'll see solid Pose-style running form. This running was not intuitive, nor was it the result of good coaching. In most cases, it resulted from the childhood efforts of a continent of runners who had no shoes. Barefoot running showed them the way to proper technique.
Like most Western world citizens who have literally worn shoes since birth, you're probably a serious tenderfoot, so you're not likely to go out and run a marathon sans shoes, as did Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila in winning the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome. However, there are plenty of benefits to be gained by starting out gingerly with some barefoot exercises (1).
On the Physical side, barefoot running will help develop local strength around the ankles and feet. Stability shouldn't come from the artificial means of a wide-platform shoe, but from strong muscles, joints and connective tissue. Developing this strength, instead of buying it, will greatly reduce your chances of being sidelined by Achilles tendonitis, plantar fascitis or other common runners' injuries.
It stands to reason that the proper alignment of the entire body flows from proper foot placement during the landing phase of the stride. Land with the foot too far in front of the body, off-center, or on the heel, and your whole body will be out of alignment. Barefoot running, which pretty much forces you to land on your barefoot, goes a long way toward setting up proper alignment from the feet all the way to the crown of your head.
Now things are starting to come together. You're landing on your forefoot, your body is in perfect alignment and you're building strength and stability in and around your feet. What comes next? Why muscular elasticity and reduced time spent on support, of course. When you're running barefoot, you don't even have to conjure up an image of running on hot coals to make sure you pick up your feet as quickly as they touch the ground. You'll tap the ground with a quick, light touch and pick your foot right back up again. In short, run barefoot and you'll run using the Pose Method in no time.
As with all other special strength and conditioning exercises for the Pose Method, you'll want to start your Pose Method running in small doses. In fact, you may even want to start off with some barefoot walking, just to build up a little layer of callous on the bottoms of your feet.
The best places to start barefoot running are either on sand or a good composition running track. In either case there's relatively little chance of something sharp and nasty doing serious damage to your tender feet and you can get excellent feedback that tells you where your foot is landing. Sand will be more effective in building strength, while the track will help you be more precise.
Start out with repeats of as little as 25 yards as you seek to find proper form, then graduate to slightly longer distances once you're comfortable running barefoot. Remember that your main objectives in this exercise are to develop strength and control, not endurance, so don't worry if a barefoot session doesn't tally the kind of mileage that looks good in your training log. In fact, at the beginning you can do your barefoot drills on a "rest" day.
Down the road – way down the road – you may want to consider trail running barefoot. It sounds daunting, but the well-conditioned foot is perfectly capable of cruising along a good trail for mile after mile, perfectly in tune with nature. In fact, the co-author of this book once completed the final 10K of a 15K running leg in a triathlon barefoot... in Georgia... on asphalt... in the blazing heat of summer. The only injuries suffered were the blisters that caused the shoes to be discarded in the first place.
- Robbins, S.E. and Hanna, A.M., 1987, Running-related injury prevention through barefoot adaptations. Med. and Science in Sports and Exercise, 19:148-156.
(pages 284-285)
3) Barefoot Running on grass (Fig. 38.24)
Despite the fact that you could run on asphalt, just like Abebe Bikila, it's not necessary. However, taking a few short trots on soft grass can be really helpful in building the sensory experience of what it feels like to land on your forefoot as opposed to landing on your heel. For this exercise, you can do anything from 30-meter trot to across a well-maintained lawn to running 18 holes on a lush golf course (after hours, of course).
As you make the transition from heel striking to properly landing on the forefoot, you may experience a temporary period of soreness in the calves. This is not unusual and should not be a cause of concern. This will last for a couple of weeks as your body adjusts to the dynamics of its new running stride, then disappear forever.
As one runner who learned to run from my previously produced Pose Method of Running video tape said, "after I started to run in the Pose Method, I got temporary soreness in my calf muscles, but the knee and lower back pain are gone... I am going to completely change my running technique to the Pose Method."
4) Barefoot Running on Soft Sand (Fig. 38.35)
The first cousin of running on grass, sand running has a couple of benefits. First, it's a low tech, but highly effective way to analyze, your running technique. Run 50 meters or so, then backtrack and look at your stride pattern in the sand. If you're still landing on your heels, it will be immediately obvious. Secondly, the longer you stay on "support", the deeper you sink into the sand. If you run with a light touch and land on your forefoot, you'll skip right over the sand. However, if you land on your heels, you'll become mired in the sand and find that it becomes quite a struggle to make any forward progress.
Reference:
- Romanov N. Dr. Nicholas Romanov's Pose Method of Running. PoseTech, Coral Gables, FL, USA. 2002
Última edición por Zephyr el 05 Ago 2011, 11:56, editado 3 veces en total.