Introduction
I’m so glad you found this article! You have taken the time to research how to run properly and that says a lot about you as a person and athlete! I want to honor that by giving you the best information possible. I have been a running coach for over 30 years. I’m a master’s degreed sports performance specialist and a level 2 coach with USA track and field. I have coached over a thousand runners and to date have coached 20 state champions. Along the way, I have learned a ton and it would break my heart to let it all go to waste when I’m gone, so I’m passing my knowledge on to help as many runners and coaches as I can.
Why It’s important to Learn How to Run Properly
When I watch a race, I always look at the runners form. What I have learned is that most times, the runners at the front of the pack have the best running form and as you continue to watch the runners go by, their form gets worse and worse. Why? Because running technique is all about energy conservation and mobility. Good runners have learned to move their bodies in ways that are more efficient. Lesser runners waste energy with every step. These steps add up over the course of the race. Runners who don’t know how to run properly run out of gas sooner than those with good running technique. This is as true in the 100 meter dash as it is in the marathon.
Good Running Technique Helps You Run Faster
Not only does proper running form conserve energy, it also allows you to turn your legs over quicker and easier. This is very important in times that you are trying to accelerate off the starting line or racing to the finish line as fast as possible. The ability to make your legs turn over faster is mostly controlled by the positon of your pelvis and how you move your legs. I will explain both of these concepts below. In case you missed it, I also have an article called How to Run Faster.
Sprinting Technique vs Distance Running Technique
It’s important to note that running technique is different for sprinters and distance runners. For the sake of keeping this article from becoming a book, I’m going to focus this article on distance running. If you’re sprinter, check out Technique for Sprinting.
How to Run Properly
Alignment
Your head, spine and pelvis should all be aligned. Our bodies are not actually straight lines, but your head should not protrude forward or tilt in any direction. Your spine should be upright and tall rather than arched back or curved forward and your pelvis should be rotated backward (no booty sticking out). Anything different than this will lead to a reduction is strength and power. I teach my runners to run as tall as possible and try to scrape the tops of their heads against the sky.
Pelvis and Proper Running Form
It’s very common for people to allow their pelvis to tilt forward when they run (booty sticking out). This is a problem because this position doesn’t allow the femur (upper leg) to lift easily. I used to have the hardest time teaching this concept to my athletes until I learned this analogy: Imagine that your pelvis is a bowl that is filled with water and you cannot let the water spill out. If you allow your bowl to tilt forward (that’s what happens when you let your booty stick out), the water will spill out of the front. Tilt the bowl back and tighten the muscles that lock that in place as you run.
No Movement in Your Torso
Another big difference between top runners and everyone else is the amount of movement taking place in their torsos, shoulders and hips. Lesser runners have a lot of movement going on; shoulders twisting, torso moving around like it’s made of rubber, etc. Good runners are rigid and move very little except for their arms and legs. This requires a good deal of strength. That is why I recommend every runner to be involved in a strength program. You check out my free strength program for runners program.
Arm Swing
Your arms should swing back and forth from the shoulders rather than moving across your body. As the arms move forward, there will naturally be a little movement towards the center line of your body, but your hands should never cross the center line. The emphasis of the arms while running should be on the back swing and not on the forward swing. This is because the back swing serves as a counter balance to the forward motion of your legs. How high your arms swing is relative to how fast you are running. If we measure the swing by the position of the runners hands, a distance runners hands should swing from approximately the middle of their bellies on the way forward and just past their hips on the back swing. As they move faster, the front swing might force their hands as high as their chest.
Balance
Good runners strike the ground with balance. What I mean is that they strike the ground with a bent knee just in front of their center of mass rather than out in front with a straighter leg. Striking the ground in front of your center of mass leads to a breaking motion with that lead leg. Then you have to overcome that brake and reaccelerate a little with each step, wasting a lot of energy. If you strike the ground more underneath you, there is no braking action to overcome and you simply continue forward with your momentum.
Fall Forward
When running properly and with good balance, all you have to do to move forward is to simply fall forward a few inches and let gravity do the work. This is demonstrated well in my previous article How to Run. There is no need to lift your leg and swing it forward. That technique leads spending unnecessary energy and striking in front of your center of mass. If you fall forward from your toes (not your waist) gravity will pull you forward and all you have to do is lift your heels off the ground as you change from one foot to the next. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I learned this concept years ago from POSE Method. It was a game changer.
Foot Strike
Your feet should strike the ground on the mid to front half of your feet rather than on your heels. This goes along with the concept above about landing with a bent knee rather than out in front with a straight leg. I watch a LOT of runners and I can say without hesitation that all top runners on the international stage run like this for all distances! Will it take time to build up the strength of your lower legs? Yes. If this is new to you, I caution you to start slowly because your calves will give you all kinds of grief if you do too much too soon. If you need some help devising a plan, check out Get Coaching Help.
Proper Running Form: Front Side and Back Side
In order to explain the last bit, I have to teach you a concept. It’s a big part of how to watch, analyze and talk about running form. When you watch a runner from the side view, you should imagine a line running right through their body that divides them into halves, the front side and the back side. You can then analyze the movements of their limbs (arms and legs) in terms of how they move on the front side of their body and the back side of their body. This concept is very important and necessary to understand because it will come up often in the rest of the description.
Leg Swing
When distance running, there will be limited motion of the legs on the front side of your body. Your knees will lift only as high as is necessary to lift your heels up before they drop back down underneath you. Your legs and feet will spend more time on the back side of your body, depending on how fast you are running. If you are running slowly there is not much movement of your legs in either direction. As you run faster, they will drift farther back before returning to the front. Your feet should move in a circular or elliptical motion, rather than shuffling or reaching.
How to Learn How to Run Properly
It’s one thing to read about how to run properly, but will that transfer to you actually running with good running technique? Here’s how I coach this: I start each season by going over the basics of proper running technique with my athletes. I teach this list step by step. For each element, I have them run about 50 meters focusing on that one item, take a breather and then return. Once they can do each of the steps properly, I start the list all over again, this time adding them together one by one so when we get to the bottom of the list, it’s an accumulation and they are running perfectly…I wish!
Some athletes can pick it all up quickly, but most take weeks or months to master everything together. I tell you this because it’s important to understand that learning how to run properly is a process and often times it is something that you will have to think about regularly as you run. I don’t run as much as I used to, but when I did, I spent most of the time thinking through the elements of my running form like a checklist. Most top level runners also do running drills daily in order to maintain good running form.
Conclusion to How to Run Properly
I hope this article helps you understand how to run properly. I will get images on it ASAP. I’ll also make a video that demonstrates it as well. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions below and I’ll respond. Also, if you would like me to help you further, check out ways I can coach you.