If the running form tips in this article help one person improve their running form, then job done. I’ll lay out the most common form and posture mistakes that runners make. I will focus only on the fundamentals and provide simple ways to improve.
What it won’t do is go into every detail, because for that I have created a course that includes video tutorials and guides to every facet of improving running form, so if you are looking for something that covers everything, press here to check out the comprehensive guide on how to improve your running form. For everyone else that wants the quick fixes for the technique issues that I see most often with Runningversity students, read on.
For runners that need to improve their running form, here are the two most critical running form issues that need to be sorted.
- Waiting for gravity to get the feet back down to the ground. Fix: “Whip” leg down (with Glutes and Hamstring)
- Shuffling feet close to the ground. Fix: Normally fixed by doing the whip
Stay with me while I explain how to implement these two fixes without needing to know about the muscles involved!
What is Whip for Runners and how do you do it?
Runners that shuffle normally wait for the feet to land back down with gravity, so the feet end up landing too far out in front, often spotted via a low “Cadence” (number of steps per minute). This slows them down and isn’t great for the knees. To solve this, we need to focus on our ability to “Whip” the whole leg back down more quickly.
In the Run Like a Pro course, I go into a lot of detail on how to get this exactly right, using Glute and Hamstring engagement, but for this article, let’s keep it simple: Say “DOWN DOWN DOWN” whilst trying to fire the leg down to the ground quickly (actually done by firing the glutes to pull the thigh backwards earlier and powerfully). Try not to run any faster along the path while you speed up your legs though! Stay nice and slow while your legs piston down quickly.
If you find this hard while running at your normal easy pace, try it on the spot first. How fast can you run on the spot?
Shuffling feet
The most observed running form spot is not getting feet high enough off the floor. The feet are kicked through, floating along a few centimetres above the ground. To solve this, we need to focus on what happens behind us.
If you are firing the glutes early and powerfully, as per the advice above, the thigh (with calf and foot attached) will move down and back much more quickly, so the leg will trail behind us a bit further, storing elastic energy in the hips. As soon as the toe stops pressing on the floor, the leg will ping forwards again on its own. The foot will swing up higher on its own.
If you don’t know if you are getting it right, here’s the easy way to be sure! Find some grass that’s 5-10 centimetres long, or some fallen leaves on a path. When you run on this terrain, do you hear your feet kicking through the grass with a swoosh (or kicking the leaves along)? If so, fire the legs down to the ground earlier and faster until the only noise you hear is your feet coming out of the grass and being placed back in (or the feet crunching into the leaves).
This is one of the running form tips that will improve running form for a vast amount of runners who have built up bad habits probably since they started running.
Making changes to your running gradually
If you are a beginner runner, you can probably make the changes above without issues.
If you have been running for a while using poor running form, changes to improve your running form need to be made gradually. This is to allow the muscles time to adapt to you the new motions and range of movement. Try just a couple of minutes each run to start with, before going back to the previous style. Increase the time using improved running form gradually each week as you get used to it.
The detailed course to improve your running form
If you’d prefer to see videos and listen to someone demonstrating how to improve all aspects of your running form, take a look at our course on improving running form, improving running posture and improving running technique.
