Pose Method running................

[TheBman]

As posted by George K on TRIRUDY.COM


RUN REVOLUTION: Part I
POSE METHOD
by Dr. Nicholas Romanov and Steve Freestone
1. The running Pose is the ability to allow your body to freefall under the influence of gravity, directed through the general Centre of mass (GCM) of your body.

2. To prevent yourself failing forwards completely, 2you need to swap support by pulling your toot from the ground vertically under the hip, using the hamstring muscles.

3. Using all the forces involved in running - gravity, 3inertia, ground reaction and muscle elasticity - is intended to help gravity pull your body forward. Co-ordinating the timing of these forces (the time when each force is acting and when it's not) produces a comprehensive running model that will enhance your performance.


Speed up your run and stave off injuries? Yes, it can be done. Join the revolution with Dr Nicholas Romanov's updated Pose Method of Running

Running - the most natural of skills. We're born, we walk, we run. It's easy, right? Well, no. It's time to rewrite the book that says running is a simple movement, which everyone can do from birth - something that's inherent. That's where the revolutionary Pose Method of Running enters the fray. Join us for the next few issues and you'll speed up, reduce the chances of injury and, more importantly, enjoy your running more than ever before.

Running must be developed
Before we delve into the intricacies of the Pose Method, we should ask why this form of running has been developed? Pose running came about through the lack of a scientific model to teach correct run technique.

The established opinion was that there's no running technique that suits everyone, and there are different requirements for different distances and speed, for runners of different ages and different physical abilities. In short, it's impossible to have a comprehensive holistic model of running technique for all.

This kind of philosophy leads to several negative consequences:
It excludes the necessity to learn running technique as a skill from childhood and makes getting it right a matter of chance or luck
It removes running technique from the training process as an unnecessary component, not one that's related to it
It makes it impossible to evaluate running technique due to the absence of an established standard. This means errors are, by definition, a deviation from the standard. But the absence of any standard makes the evaluation, identification and correction of errors practically impossible and dependent only on someone's subjective understanding or perception of running technique. It also makes it impossible to develop running technique as a skill and fine- tune it further. This kind of situation would be completely unthinkable in any other sporting event like swimming, tennis and so on
Improper movement is the main cause of injuries in running. So the right technique will eliminate this cause of injuries
Technique improvement has a positive influence on overall racing performance
The Pose Method is a formalized running technique and allows any athlete to take their running to a higher level.

What is the Pose Method?
The essence of Pose Method is to use gravity as a major propulsive force and let the other forces assist it. It's well-known that gravity pulls a body straight down towards the Earth. The Pose Method's objective is to redirect gravity's downward movement into forward motion.

For this we must determine the position where the body starts falling forward. It happens at mid-stance when you're supporting yourself on one leg - we call this position the Running Pose. It creates an 'S' shape to the body, which enables you to utilize muscle elasticity.

In order to increase a free-failing effect at this point, only one action should be instigated: breaking contact of the support foot with the ground while falling forward, And the easiest way to do this is to pull the support foot from the ground up using the hamstring muscles. in this way, the running technique could be reduced to a very simple sequence: fall forward from the S- shaped Pose position until you lose support, then swap support to the other to begin failing again by pulling the foot from the ground with hamstring muscles. It's simply Pose-Fall-Pull.

Learn to Pose
So the Pose Method consists of a few major elements that are easy to remember and control. Furthermore, you can easily determine and correct errors as deviations from the standard.

There are drills for each of the three major elements of Pose Method (Pose-Fall-Pull). The Pose is an S-shaped body position balanced on one leg, with your knee bent and your body weight located on the ball of the foot. You can practise this in front of a mirror. After getting comfortable in this position, try to bounce a little and feel the muscle elasticity at work.

It's better to start the failing drills by standing on the balls of both feet with your knees bent, in front of the wall or a partner. Lean forward from this position, keeping your head, shoulders and hips in a vertical line with the ball of the foot . Repeat a couple of times. Then, standing in Pose, try pulling your foot from the ground while leaning on the wall or your partner . After the pull, land on the opposite leg, then Pose on the other side.

Remember: the support foot is raised before the airborne foot is allowed to reach the ground. Focus all your attention on the support foot and pulling it off the ground with minimal effort. Each drill should be combined with a short run at a comfortable pace with controlled technique.

Strength Exercises
To perfect the Pose running technique, you can use specific strength and conditioning exercises for each of these elements, For example, failing requires hip strength, which you can develop with hip exercises. Balance yourself on your side using one hand and one foot. Then, keeping your other leg straight, raise and lower it . Your leg's weight should be ample to begin with but, once you start to progress, you can use a partner to gently push against your leg to add resistance.

Pulling your foot from the ground depends on the specific development of strength and neuromuwular patterns in hamstring muscles. These can be developed by exercises with a partner using medicine balls and/or rubber resistance bands .

Muscle elasticity is an important component of changing support, too, and is achieved by pulling your foot from the ground. The exercises that can be used for its development vary from bouncing up and over boxes to hopping with a rope . In addition to elasticity development, jumps are also helpful for the development of perception to keep your body weight on the balls of your feet. All strength exercises should be combined with short runs, in order to transfer their effects to running.

Always remember: Pose running is a movement skill that requires constant focus on the major elements to develop a deep understanding of it over the various distances and speeds. Also, flexibility is crucial, not only to Pose running but all athletic performance, with the three main components being:

1. Mobility in joints

2. Elasticity in ligaments and tendons

3. Relaxation in muscles


Strong hips, no blips
The importance of these exercises is because the biomechanical position of the hips affects the movement of the whole body. Also, strong hips provide the foundation for the loads experienced on the lower back and therefore reduce any potential damage from impacts.

Strength training for Pose running requires specific preparation. Sadly, a poorly conditioned body will display trademarks of poor running technique. Pose running is very simple, but there's a substantial amount of strength required to perform these movements.

In Pose Method the technique is understood and accepted as being universal for any distance and speed of running, and also for any sporting event, age group and gender.

Practise the drills mentioned here and you'll be in the perfect position to build on the basics and refine your technique before next issue's look at the next step in the run revolution.


RUN REVOLUTION: Part I

George Tolkachev

[fe.RMT]

Good timing, this on Matt Fitzgerald's blog today

Can Running Technique Really Be Taught?

[MichaelMc]

My feeling on the "Pose Method", and also "Chi Running", is they both preach one 'right' way of running. IMHO there are some things many runners do that are basically mistakes, but there are a number of different running styles that work. Both Pose and Chi make some clearly wrong claims (or perhaps I'll say give easy but wrong explanations). Romanov's "Gravity pulls you forward" argument kills me.

The "Science of Sport" guys actually worked with Romanov (the founder of the Pose method) and did a study in co-operation with him. Romanov coached 20 runners to convert to his style of running and the researchers from the University of Cape Town studied the effect. The results were mixed, to say the least.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/09 ... tific.html

I'm trying to find the source of the quote so I get it right: "there IS no secret, it is just bloody hard work". Sebastian Coe? Steve Ovett?

[VeloCarrie]

Interesting article, thanks Brian!

[Pat Menzies]

Notice that the article says redirect the force of gravity into forward motion.
Romanov may have incorrectly stated that gravity can pull you forward but give him some leeway since his English is very poor.
You can find plenty of good details in the method.
40 years ago Marty Liquori noted that the top Kenyans ran "as if they were constantly falling forward". They still do today and go faster than everyone else.
PS Michael, the quote is by Ovett. I mentioned it in another thread. Coe's quote is: " LSD produces long slow distance runners".

[drghfx]

Apparently I pose run after about 6 beers and pose fall after about 10.

[MichaelMc]

Notice that the article says redirect the force of gravity into forward motion.
Romanov may have incorrectly stated that gravity can pull you forward but give him some leeway since his English is very poor.
You can find plenty of good details in the method.
40 years ago Marty Liquori noted that the top Kenyans ran "as if they were constantly falling forward". They still do today and go faster than everyone else.
PS Michael, the quote is by Ovett. I mentioned it in another thread. Coe's quote is: " LSD produces long slow distance runners".

Thanks Pat.

I like some of the stuff in both Pose and Chi in spite of my reservations about the whole marketing "schtick". My background coming into running as an adult left me with a form very much in keeping with their philosphies, so I can hardly say it is 'wrong'. Having said that, I've heard Romanov speak and repeat that gravity was doing the work and all you have to do is get out of the way. Through close questioning he maintained there was free energy to be had from gravity, that one could continually fall without having to exert force to return to the original height. This is just wrong.

The postural positioning in both forms is nice, and I think Chi running has some nice drills/exercises to encourage runners to run without the bent lower back so many suffer from. A solid, relaxed, athletic posture is a good place to work from in any sport.

[Jo-Jo]

Apparently I pose run after about 6 beers and pose fall after about 10.

so that picture of you on the park bench Friday night at CTRR 2006 was you "pose falling"...gotcha

[Pat Menzies]

I'm surprised that such specialists in their field as the guys who did the SA study were unable to notice a key part of the study.
It is understood that one of the main advantages of the African runner is their increased running economy. A large part of that stems from their background of often barefoot running and continuing to run with that increased bend in the knee that works the achilles and calf to a greater degree. That "free" energy from the elastic recoil of the lower leg tissues is one of the keys.
It is no wonder that the group suffered sore calves and achilles injuries.
That area was obviously being neglected in their former running method.
The achilles and calf is supposed to work like a bungee cord, not a slack piece of rope.
You are unlikely to really develop this unless you regularly run barefoot, in spikes, or other shoes with no heel lift.
I recently wore my track spikes in a snowy road race and felt like kangaroo. Spikes really enhance that springing effect.

[MichaelMc]

I'm surprised that such specialists in their field as the guys who did the SA study were unable to notice a key part of the study.
It is understood that one of the main advantages of the African runner is their increased running economy. A large part of that stems from their background of often barefoot running and continuing to run with that increased bend in the knee that works the achilles and calf to a greater degree. That "free" energy from the elastic recoil of the lower leg tissues is one of the keys.
It is no wonder that the group suffered sore calves and achilles injuries.
That area was obviously being neglected in their former running method.
The achilles and calf is supposed to work like a bungee cord, not a slack piece of rope.
You are unlikely to really develop this unless you regularly run barefoot, in spikes, or other shoes with no heel lift.
I recently wore my track spikes in a snowy road race and felt like kangaroo. Spikes really enhance that springing effect.

As you mention, these guys are very up-to-date on the studies of African runners. There are lots of interesting data points on the source of the dominating performances of East African runners (in Kenya's case specifically one 'tribal' group). Lighter calves, more ankle flexion, different muscle insertion points, long runs to school everyday, altitude, simple high incentive and hard work... . The jury seems to be out. Given the fact that people all over the world run barefoot, yet we haven't seen such dominance from, for example, India, West Africa or Indonesia my conclusion is it is more than simple barefoot running style.

More specifically for us, if three months coaching by the originator of the technique is not enough to produce the desired effect, and in fact resulted in an increase in injury and a decrease in running economy, is adopting the style wise?

I played with stride mechanics quite a bit on my own, and have worked with many others. I encourage people to adopt the things they find helpful from whatever the source. I'd just like to say 'buyer beware'; don't swallow anyone's claims of miraculous improvement with little effort.

[s rasmussen]

Though mine is not an expert opinion i believe there is a fallacy in the theory that leaning forward will cause gravity to assist the runner.

Gravity will only help if the runner is actually descending a hill: leaning forward simply changes the centre of gravity of the runner so that if the same foot position is maintained the runner is no longer in equilibrium and the feet must be moved to restore equilibrium (balance). The runner uses no less muscular effort to move forward this way than any other method of running.

So, just as putting smaller front wheels on a car will not save gas, this method of running is not more efficient.
Simon.

[scottp]

"In Pose Method the technique is understood and accepted as being universal for any distance and speed of running, and also for any sporting event, age group and gender."

Really? So...show me the gold medals and WR's...

[Pat Menzies]

Like it or not the Kenyans and Ethiopians are doing it. Break down their strides and the components that make up the POSE technique....
If you watch Daniel Komen's 3000 meter record you can see a whole slew of poser's The forward lean, the highly flexed ankles and high back kick, legs whirling like spokes on a wheel... It's all there.
If they didn't keep their legs moving they'd fall on their faces.

[MichaelMc]

Like it or not the Kenyans and Ethiopians are doing it. Break down their strides and the components that make up the POSE technique....
If you watch Daniel Komen's 3000 meter record you can see a whole slew of poser's The forward lean, the highly flexed ankles and high back kick, legs whirling like spokes on a wheel... It's all there.
If they didn't keep their legs moving they'd fall on their faces.

If a forward lean is the whole thing, then it isn't really a method, it is simple physics. All sprinters lean. The faster you run, the more likely you are going to lean forward. Try leaning backward and see how it feels.

There are a couple of things that really annoy me about Pose and Chi, and one thing I quite like. The annoying thing is the marketing which tries to discredit perfectly good strides. The UNhelpful thing is that it tries to persuade people to ditch very good strides in what I beleive to be a vain (and probably harmful) search for huge gains.

The helpful thing is a circumstance when you have a runner with very deeply ingrained bad habits. Trying to fix all the interconnected flaws is challenging. I have one friend whose stride is limiting him and I've actually suggested he read Chi Running because I think he SHOULD start from scratch. Few runners have strides bad enough I'd suggest they throw it out, but it happens, and both Pose and Chi do pretty good jobs of explaining ONE possible stride.

[RunforFun]

I've tried it a bit while running but haven't quite got it.

Is it the "leaning from the ankles" technique I've heard of (haven't read the whole article)?

[Jo-Jo]

Like it or not the Kenyans and Ethiopians are doing it. Break down their strides and the components that make up the POSE technique....
If you watch Daniel Komen's 3000 meter record you can see a whole slew of poser's The forward lean, the highly flexed ankles and high back kick, legs whirling like spokes on a wheel... It's all there.
If they didn't keep their legs moving they'd fall on their faces.

If a forward lean is the whole thing, then it isn't really a method, it is simple physics. All sprinters lean. The faster you run, the more likely you are going to lean forward. Try leaning backward and see how it feels.

There are a couple of things that really annoy me about Pose and Chi, and one thing I quite like. The annoying thing is the marketing which tries to discredit perfectly good strides. The UNhelpful thing is that it tries to persuade people to ditch very good strides in what I beleive to be a vain (and probably harmful) search for huge gains.

The helpful thing is a circumstance when you have a runner with very deeply ingrained bad habits. Trying to fix all the interconnected flaws is challenging. I have one friend whose stride is limiting him and I've actually suggested he read Chi Running because I think he SHOULD start from scratch. Few runners have strides bad enough I'd suggest they throw it out, but it happens, and both Pose and Chi do pretty good jobs of explaining ONE possible stride.

I took a Chi Workshop a couple years ago.
I have to agree with your summary.
It turms out that I don't have a horrible stride....yes...it could be improved..but to be honest I haven't changed one thing in my running form as a result of taking the workshop.
I have changed a couple things since I've been videotaped by my coach...and also having his coach watch me run. (my coach lives in Victoria..his coach lives in the city I live in)