Heel-toe running hurts, bad. Seriously, if you’re landing on your heels as you run you won’t be running for long. If you are running though, I’m happy.

Many people are against running. They say they aren’t good at it, their body can’t take it, they feel like they’re dying when running, etc, etc. We are biologically designed to run. Literally, we survived as a species cause we ran. We must embrace this human instinct. If you want to be fit, we need to get you running.

How Do You Run?

Lets start here:

1. Maintain a braced core — the #1 priority in any movement is to stay injury free, especially with the spine. Maintaining tension in the abs protects the spine, we must do this when we run!

2. Good posture — Get your torso vertical, try not to hunch over at the hips. If we hunch over, its kind of hard to breathe… and we tend to limit the range of motion in our hip flexor, which may cause some hip pain. Tight hip flexor — Stand tall!

3. Feet land under body — When athletes run sometimes they tend to over extend their feet landing outside the center of gravity of your body. If you reach when you run, you’re literally slowing your body down. You are hitting the breaks. Ensure your feet land under your body!

Start by focusing on these 3 technique concepts, and they will improve your run. Start here. Get comfortable with running. If it hurts (physically or mentally) to run, shorten the distance you’re running. Run a short distance thinking about these technique tips, then walk. I have found the Run/walk training sessions are one of the best ways to train.