When most runners think of running form, they concentrate on what happens from the hips down. But what happens above the hips, especially in the arms, is equally, or even more important, in some cases.
The arms can increase the pace from 5 to 20 seconds per mile. On the other hand, poor running form generated by improper arm movement can be the root cause of many injuries. Even some advanced runners may not be taking full advantage of how their arms can help them while they run.

The arms are the key to good running form.

 Poor running form is often the root cause of many injuries. Many runners mistakenly attribute their injuries to overuse, but in reality, injuries such as hip and knee injuries are frequently caused by over-rotation. This is particularly common among runners who have solid upper bodies, and use their upper body power to propel themselves forward.

A common mistake among many runners is the side-to-side swinging of their arms. This can lead to a turn at the waist, which adds an extra rotation at the hip that travels all the way down through the knees and the foot strike.

Your body is designed to move forward smoothly, so when runners use the side-to-side arm motion, they introduce a rotation in the hip. This can generate speed, but at a cost, as it is less efficient and requires more energy to generate speed.

Over-rotation of the hips can also lead to many hip and knee injuries, but this is not an overnight process, so many runners never connect their poor form to their injuries. To avoid this problem, note the centerline that runs down your body and take care to ensure that your hands or arms do not cross this centerline to prevent over-rotation.Let’s examine what to avoid to better understand good running form. Poor running form is the root cause of many injuries. Many runners attribute their injuries to overuse, when in fact, many, such as hip and knee injuries, are caused by over-rotation. These are especially prevalent with runners who have upper solid bodies. They use this upper body power to help drive the body forward.
Many runners swing their arms not only back and forth but also side to side. This common mistake can lead to a turn at the waist, which adds an extra rotation at the hip that is echoed all the way down through the knees and the foot strike.
Your body is designed to move forward smoothly. When people use the side-to-side arm motion, they introduce a rotation in the hip. Yes, this can generate speed, but at a cost. It is also less efficient, requiring more energy to generate that speed.

The Golden Rule is to make sure your hands or arms do not cross the center-line of your body.

RELAX!

To better understand what constitutes good running form, it is important to first examine what to avoid. Poor running form is often the root cause of many injuries, and it is commonly attributed to overuse. However, many injuries such as hip and knee injuries are caused by over-rotation, particularly in runners who have strong upper bodies and use their upper body power to propel themselves forward.

One common mistake that many runners make is swinging their arms back and forth, as well as side to side. This can cause a turn at the waist, which adds extra rotation at the hip and is echoed all the way down through the knees and foot strike. Although this motion can generate speed, it is less efficient and requires more energy to generate that speed, leading to over-rotation of the hips and resulting in many hip and knee injuries.

The problem is that poor running form does not usually lead to injury overnight, so many runners do not make the connection between their running form and their injuries. To prevent this from happening, it is important to note the centerline that runs down your body and ensure that your hands or arms do not cross this line. This will help to stop the over-rotation and promote efficient forward motion.

Using arms to help generate speed.

Used properly, your arms can help you generate more speed when you run. This can get you to the top of the hill faster. On the downhills, they can help with the balance and increase the tempo. This will allow you to get to the bottom of the hill faster without expending extra energy.

The use of the arms can also help you change Tempo. By changing the rhythm of the arm swing you can change the Tempo or turnover of your legs. Try doing this consciously this on the next run.

To see how important the use of the arms can be, on your next run after you are fully warmed up, while running at a decent clip, just drop your arms by your side. Do not swing them at all. If you do this for a half mile or so you will feel that your legs are doing more work than normal. When you go back to swing your arms, you should be able to discern a slight lift of the knees on each stride. Using this knowledge, we can increase the motion of the legs even further by perfecting your form.

On the next run, while keeping the arms relaxed, ever so slightly push or lift you hands on the apex of the swing. This will cause the legs to drive forward ever so slightly which allows one to increase their stride length without over-striding.

Downhills

On the downhills, we know that shifting the center of gravity forward can help increase speed. In this case we need the arms to help maintain the new tempo without adding to the consumption of energy. Bring the arms away from the body core. The distance is dictated by the steepness of the hill, The steeper the hill the further the distance the arms are away from the body. In many cases on steep downhills their isn’t much need for too much movement.

Uphills

Running uphill can suck up a lot of energy. This is where it is better to be proactive with the use of your arms. The active use of the arms can help drive the legs up the hill. Yes, it takes energy, but it also helps take the loads off the legs, which can then help to be used on the downhills to generate a net gain in speed. Remember, the arms can help change cadence, so in this case, on strong uphill’s, it is better to shorten one’s stride.

Running tip for Advanced runners

Here is an advance trick from Olympian Ed Mendoza. Ed was slightly more active with his arms than other runners. Most elite runners  keep their upper body fairly quiet. The arms usually swing in cadence with the legs. For some there is barely any movement.

ED would generate a little bit of extra leverage with more than average movement. Making sure the arms never got close to the center line he would unhinge his arms and let the arm swing down further toward his hip. This created a longer arc to the arms. The upward swing causes a slight knee lift. So if your horizontal movement is at say 6 min mile pace and you add this army swing you will create and additional millimeter or two knee lift, which results in the covering extra ground without using too much additional energy being spent. This does some work and getting used to.

There is an exercise that can help with this form. Take two 5 pound weight. The type which are flat and goes on barbells. While stand stationary, slowly move your arms in a running type cadence. You will find very quickly that it is better to make sure your arms straighter than how you normally carry them. Slowly start unhinging your elbow more and more. The goal is to be able to drop your arms down to your hips then bring them back up to your shoulders. This is an over exaggeration. You will want what feels comfortable in your natural gait.

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