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  • DR. LIEBERMAN: I think there's a number of key elements to good running form. The first

  • is not to overstride. Overstriding is when you stick your leg out in front of you and

  • you land with your foot in front of your knee and really way in front of your hip. A lot

  • of people think they're running hard when they do that. You know why? Because they are

  • running hard. Because when you stick your leg out in front of you, you actually decelerate

  • in the time it takes the center of mass of your body to get over your foot, you're actually

  • losing energy. The other thing that happens when you overstride is that you stick foot

  • out in front of you and make your leg stiffer. And you have what's called an impact peak

  • and you have this shock wave that ripples up your body. But when you land without an

  • overstride you don't have that jolt of force and you're much less likely to get injured.

  • It's just a better way to run.

  • Another key element to running is to land with a pretty flat foot. I think that most

  • good runners tend to land on the ball of their foot. It just happens naturally. If you don't

  • stick your leg out in front of you, you will not land hard on your heel. You'll land on

  • the ball of your fit or your mid foot stride, but it's a gentle landing.

  • Don't lean. A lot of runners lean forward at the hips. That's another total evil. Be

  • vertical from the hips up.

  • If you can hear your feet, if your feet are landing really hard. If you're thumping as

  • we call it in our lab, it's a sign that you're running poorly. The thump is the sound of

  • the collision of your body hitting the ground. Running should be light and gentle and collision

  • free so if you're making a lot of noise, you're running poorly.

  • And then finally, the most important thing if you're learning to run properly and you

  • haven't been doing this for a long time, listen to pain. Don't overdo it. Transition really

  • slowly and gradually. Your body is not designed for this explicitly. If you transition into

  • learning how to run properly too fast, you are guaranteed to injure yourself. You have

  • to adapt your body. Everybody can learn to run this way, or most people can learn to

  • run this way, but you can't do it overnight.

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