Posterior Views of My Running Form in Vibram SeeYa LS, Merrell Flux Glove, Altra Instinct 1.5, and Saucony Ride 5

After posting videos of my running form in several shoes on Thursday, I was curious to see what things looked like in a few other options, particularly some zero drop shoes and a shoe with a higher drop. Yesterday I took my camera out to the street in front of my house and shot posterior-view […]

Critique Me!: Posterior Views of My Form When Running Barefoot, in Newton Distance Racers, and in the Skechers GoRun

I spent some time this afternoon with a group of my research students who are designing a senior project that they’ll hopefully conduct on running form. The goal for today was to familiarize them with the cameras that I have, and get some video from different angles so they have an idea of what they […]

Underfoot Pressure Tracings of Forefoot, Midfoot, and Heel Strikes in Barefoot Runners: We All Supinate!

There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding how the foot initially contacts the ground during running. For example, some people like to refer to themselves as “supinators,” as if it’s a diagnosis of something unique and bad. Some think that a midfoot landing involves the entire bottom of the foot contacting the ground […]

Running Form in My Son at 18 and 30 Months of Age

In a comment to a post I wrote earlier today someone suggested that I should take a video of my son running every six months to track how his form changes over time. This is a great idea, and my kids are used to being guinea pigs for me, so I thought I’d start by […]

Panasonic FZ200 Video – 2 year-old Child Running in Slow Motion at 120fps

Yesterday I was playing around with a new camera (Panasonic FZ200) that I recently purchased for gait filming that will shoot 120 frames per second in 720p high definition (a first in a sub-$1,000.00 consumer grade camera as I’m aware; it also shoots 240fps in VGA which is solid). So far I’m really impressed with […]

Study: Impact Loading Rate in Running Reduced by Adopting a Midfoot Strike

A new study was just published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology that showed that adopting a midfoot strike is an effective way to reduce the impact loading rate during running. The study was conducted by a group from France and Canada (including my friend Blaise Dubois) and is titled “Impact reduction during running: […]

5 Running Form DOs and DON’Ts from Dr. Daniel Lieberman

Came across a tweet this morning from my buddy Tuck of the Yelling Stop blog. His link was to a nice video from Dr. Daniel Lieberman discussing 5 DOs and DON’Ts of running form. I agree with almost all of them, particularly points 1 and 5. As far as footstrike goes, I tend to view […]

Slow Motion Videos of Runners at the 2012 US Olympic Trials: 1500 and 5000 Meter Women’s and Men’s Races

Below are an excellent series of videos shot with a high-speed video camera by PT Jeff Moreno from Precision Physical Therapy and Fitness in Santa Cruz, CA. While you watch the videos, which Jeff originally posted on his clinic’s blog, keep an eye on the landing position of the foot relative to the knee at […]

Minimalist Running Evolves Toward the Mainstream: Great Post by Brian Martin

My friend Brian Martin at Running Technique Tips just wrote an excellent post on some work that he recently did at a conference for running retailers in Melbourne, Australia. Brian and I tend to think very similarly about the roles of footwear and running technique in keeping runners healthy. In his post he provides some […]

Images of Galen Rupp’s Foot Strike at the 2012 US Olympic Trials

Below are a few more great image compilations produced by biomechanist Iain Hunter of Brigham Young University. The first shows Galen Rupp’s foot strike from the front during his victory in the finals of the US Olympic Trials 5k race. It’s incredible to look at the range of supination to pronation (in the colloquial usage […]

Foot strike Patterns of Men and Women at the US Olympic 10K Trials

A few days ago Steve Magness, assistant coach at the Nike Oregon Project, directed me to a couple of images that BYU biomechanist Iain Hunter had put together showing foot strikes of Men and Women at the US Olympic 10K trials. In case you have not seen them yet, I thought I’d share them here […]

Foot Strike and Injury Risk in Runners: My Article in Lower Extremity Review

A few months ago I received an email from the editor of Lower Extremity Review asking if I’d be willing to write an article on the topic of foot strike in running. Given that the publication’s target audience consists of medical practitioners who regularly treat lower extremity injuries, I was a bit hesitant at first […]

Now That’s What I Call a Heel Strike!

The photo speaks for itself :)

How Leg Muscle Activity Changes as Running Step Rate is Increased

There has been a great deal of discussion and debate over the past few years about how various aspects of running form can potentially contribute to increased injury risk in runners. One aspect of form that is often singled out as a major no-no is overstriding. That is, runners should not lengthen their stride by […]

Facts on Foot Strike Excerpt from Tread Lightly is Live on the Running Times Website

A few weeks ago I announced that an excerpt from my book, Tread Lightly, appears in the June issue of Running Times Magazine. The article, titled Facts on Foot Strike, was just release live on the Running Times website (with free access) – you can read it by clicking this link. The article looks at […]