pose running

A few nights ago when I was talking with a girl at work about working out and running, she mentioned a new style of running that was introduced to her that is amazing. It is called Pose running and is a low impact, more economical and less likely to have injuries, type of running. I did some research on how it is done and after watching a few videos of how to do it properly, I decided to give it a try. So last Friday I laced up my running shoes and headed out for my first attempt.

The main components are instead of running heal to toe, you run mainly on your forefoot and barely touching down on your heal last. When running heal to toe it is very hard on your knees and you are more likely to get shin splints - which I was getting just from running outside on two different occasions. You also run with your upper body leaning forward, almost like you are falling! This is more economical keeping your body in a straight line, instead of concave when running heal to toe. I lucked out when I first started this as I was running into a head wind which made the motion a bit easier to do. The last thing is kicking your heals up when running. With all three of this combined, you naturally run faster using gravity to help you, instead of against you if you are running heal to toe. Heal to toe running you slow down every time you slam your heal into the ground, but when running forefoot first, by the time you foot hits the ground you are already moving ahead allowing gravity to help you.

It is kind of difficult to explain, but it actually worked! I naturally ran faster, almost too fast and I found it difficult to jog lightly. Plus it made my lungs work harder which affected my asthma. Most times I had to stop was because of my lungs. AND, you work your hamstrings and calf's much harder, and by the time I was 3/4 of the way done, my calf's were already starting to burn. That evening I could feel them tense up and for the next 2 days I would barely walk or go up and down stairs! Good thing I had to work the next day to keep the blood flow going or they would have stiffened up for sure!

I have yet to head back out and try it again, i think I ran too far the first time, and my calf's are finally back to feeling good. Maybe tomorrow when I wake up I will try and go for a short run and see how I do. I think I will have to slowly work my way up to gaining endurance and increasing my lung capacity.