Another advantage. I recently caught my foot on a small reflector in the road and did a spectacular and public faceplant. Definitely takes more energy to faceplant than to lift your feet.
Yes you are Correct you actually save energy picking your feet up when u run. I noticed my feet and glutes getting tired when i didnt pick my feet up enough while running then when I started picking them up the pain went away. Thanks for the Video 👍🏻 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I found my hammies and glutes were really lacking once I started picking up my feet more, since they are recruited during this process. The solution was to improve my strength and endurance in those muscles. I was slow because I wasn't really incorporating those muscles into my running. Lifting my feet and knees forced me to start using those muscles, overall preventing my quads and hips and other stabilizer muscles from doing all the work.
Whoa! This actually seems useful! In an age of tepid, and at the same time, noisy running advice videos I am quite surprised to find a video with some REAL INFORMATION 👍
I was one of those who was unconsciously stopping his legs. I knew my form is not good but always thought that I will eventually get faster and move my legs. I watched this video yesterday. Tried to ‘relax’ and just let my legs flow. My easy run was much faster and I felt that my effort was much less. I cannot explain how just relaxing could cause such a huge difference that too on first try! 😮
By relaxing you mean, don't think about what your feet are doing but just let them do their thing? Or did you actively focus on letting your feet 'relax'?
3 miles into a run. I had to stop and thank you! Its amazing what a difference it makes and its so easy to do! Plus, ive had some nagging knee pain and even that is not hurting!
I litteraly did this this week for the last six miles of a marathon! You litterally just relax after ground contact and it just happens! It was the fastest final 6 of a marathon and my 5th fastest 10k? Bonus* also my hips and anterior tibs not being total garbage the next day! Take away* running form is actually a thing! Great vid, sub too! Tq
It depends on pace. There's a certain pace that very much is more efficient without lifting. There's a break even point that's somewhere between a quick walk and a slow run that depends on the runner. Sprinting will always benefit from lifting because of the pendulum effect.
I think it depends very much on one's body physique as well. Even in the pendulum effect, the period of oscillation is proportional to the length of the pendulum, while the mass of the pendulum determines the amplitude of the oscillation. So for running, depending on the mass of the runner's legs/body as well as the length of the legs, there's got to be a most energy efficient stride to take to ensure we spend the least energy to run the same distance within the same amount of time. But It should be different for everyone because everyone's body is made differently. So in summary: the correct stride (which includes how high the legs should be lifted) depends on these few factors: 1) body physique such as mass of body, length of legs etc. 2) the target distance to be covered . and 3) the target time to finish running the distance. If any of the above factors are changed, the most energy efficient stride would change as well.
A really good runner knows how to feel their muscles getting tired and adjust to different types of strides to distribute the load better and make you able to run further.
I knew it! Thank you for confirming what I felt intuitively. I've had so many casual self-proclaimed "experts" tell me how I should run, and when I took their advice, it just felt so forced and bogged down. I've been running the way that feels good for years, and I have yet to encounter the injuries these weekend warriors claim I will if I don't follow their preferred method. Funny thing is that I run way more often than they do, yet they seem to think they know my body better than I know myself haha. The confidence is admirable!
This seems to explain why it's so tiring to run with together someone who is slower than me! I chalked it up to having longer legs and it being more tiring to run in smaller strides, as well as having to hit the ground more frequently, but this explains a lot! I might have been using energy to resist my legs going higher in order to maintain the slower pace, which may just have caused more fatigue
I know this theory and try to use it. But my breath can not effort the faster of the cadence that cause by kicking the leg higher. Can some one explain it to me pls.
Just started running in the last couple weeks, currently at about an 11 minute mile. Found myself leaving my feet closer to the ground when I got tired. Glad I stumbled on this video and your channel! Will be watching more of you!
Excellent description of the force characteristics of the gait cycle in running (at various speeds, even!). I've been coaching for a long time and have never quite thought about it in that way.
Great video! I did try and it worked well. I did knee drive forward and my feet naturally lifted up, I ran faster with less effort. Thank you so much for what you are coaching!
Finally somebody who explains the body mechanics for running! I love the Metronome example, that one works beautifully. When playing with high kick towards the back I find that the front landing has quite a bit more impact on the knees. Have you measured the front landing in your experiments?
Wow. I am a slow runner (or jogger I should say) and always struggled to run faster. The explanation here is very well done and makes total sense. I am going to try it.
Thanks for this! I've been wondering about this. Sometimes it seems that running a bit more faster gives me a better running form and "roll" while the heart rate stays pretty much the same.
@@siemniak Heart rate is a function of your fitness and how hard you're working. With a more efficient technique, you can cover more ground with the same effort. I'm now running 12.5% faster with the same heart rate.
Just done a 10km race and applied your technique! Massive thank you for this godsend information i went from 55mins to 45 mins and felt i could go on!! Absolute legend thank you from the UK
You are a great young man for trying to be nice and express gratitude, but this video alone did not improve your pace like this. You are in your teens and it is absolutely natural that you improve if only you train. Changing techniques can give you 2 or 3 or MAYBE 5 % improvement, and all these numbers are huge anyway.
This is especially true if you run on diverse terrain. If you keep your feet closer to the ground, then you actually have more obstacles to work with like gravel or sand. Imagine running uphill a gravel road, if you keep your feet close to the ground then you may find yourself kicking stones along the way, whereas keeping your feet and knees up avoids this and propels you further with less energy exerted.
I'm 3 weeks into my running return after decades: 65 yrs old, long-time ex-smoker on low-carb lifestyle, still lift & do calisthenics, very good to excellent shape. Couldn't finish a 2-mile shuffle without a walking break when I kept my feet low. Very tedious and tiring. Today, I concentrated on lifting my feet, shortening that pendulum, tracing an imaginary "cam", locomotive or bicycle crank with my foot. No concern about stride length, only paying attention to the vertical. I finished 3 miles with no break, a better pace, and felt good enough at the end to lift my foot a little higher and finish with a kick. Your advice is spot-on.
This might be true, but another thing to consider is wear and tear. A higher leg lift means more impact force with each foot down stroke. Minimizing wear and tear is a factor for longevity. Everything is a tradeoff. What a higher leg lift does do is train the body to take longer strides, and for racing longer strides = faster times, for me at least. It's interesting to note that in a race, my stride length goes down over time due to fatigue. Training with a higher leg lift would help with this, as well as hip flexor strengthening exercises...... Run for your life.
@@SpringSnabbareIf your claims were correct, one could simply make perpetual motion machine based on your measurements and diagram. The machine would create more energy by extending a rotating arm while it's coming down and getting pulled by gravity than it loses when the arm is moving up if it was retracted. You are confusing energy expenditure, force and torque. Your logic is an oversimplification because it doesn't for example account for the addition of forward momentum: when you accelerate the leg that is not touching the ground, you add to the forward momentum. So if you use more force to accelerate that leg forward, you need to use less energy of the planted leg to achieve the same speed and vice versa. You might be able to analyse the energy spent of those motions if the person was only swinging their legs that way while hanging from the ceiling, but to analyse the situation while the person is actually moving forward is much more complicated.
it was nonsense..... I could easily prove it the way this guy has or I could say there is a reason sprinters lift their feet higher than marathon runners...but I will let you think why that is.
Wow, someone finally explains clearly WHY lifting your legs a little higher can be more efficient, AND even has the good sense to say "do what you want." God, I LOVE British humor! I just subscribed, and I'm still laughing. Thanks! *P.S. (8 hours later):* I just got back from my usual 4-hr. run, using this new technique. I did the run in 3.5 hours and was not as tired as usual. That's a 12.5% improvement.
@@richwall3747 Ah so. Fredrik speaks British English, and his sense of humor, at least in this video, is akin to what I associate with Brits. Thanks for the correction.
This has always confused me. When I do my speedwork I have to lift my legs to get the numbers I aim for but when racing i revert back to the small steps thinking of preserving energy. Thanks for the key point which is to relax after pushout. Will test this out. More power!
This man is RIGHT. 44 year old male here. My VO2max and topspeed increased significantly when I started paying attention to lifting my feet - as he said - RELAXED and let it swing up like a pendulum. I felt stronger, faster and - indeed - I felt it was way more efficient from an energy perspective. Not mentioning the fact that you use all your muscles, my glutes, adductors and hamstrings took over a LOT of the pressure I used to put on my quads as I am a quad dominant runner which caused me too many knee related tendon injuries in the past.
Another simple point is that if you lift your heel while the other foot is on the ground, this raises your centre of gravity unless you bend the knee on your grounded leg more (and increases the vertical force needed in the grounded foot to achieve the raised centre of gravity). This may increase stride length (loosely speaking, the higher your centre of gravity when both feet leave the ground, the longer it is before you hit the ground again, everything else being the same). This point also (correctly) suggests that raising your lower leg more while running outside tends to be associated with using more power in a useful fashion, making more sense when running fast. If you don't believe this then do an experiment. Run comfortably outside, then at some point focus on tucking your heel as you lift the back leg and move it forward, still running comfortably. I predict you will go faster, but not for free (power and heart rate rise).
the one and only thing this whole video proves is that u need you lift your heel higher when u wanna run faster. and as you pointed out: ofcourse this requires more energy. as well as not raising it higher and still running faster by just increasing frequency is using even more energy and increases further the faster you go. but all this is nonsense for slower speeds. just run and let your legs do their thing without forcing them anything. your body optimizes your running form just by running alone.
Yeah using your knee joint as a secondary lever to redirect the momentum of your legs upward rather than having to resist the backward motion of the legs and then bring them forward with basically only your hips saves alot of energy and could reduce overuse fatique in your hips and underuse of your knee. This is true up to a point (high knees now use more energy lol) and with the caveat that you try not to then slam your foot back down on front-foot-landing. Great video! This topic was a big eye-opener for me when studying biomechanics and kinesiology!
Excellent video as always. I also find if I relax and let me knees naturally drive up, your back kick will increase as well, as your pace increases, effortlessly. It’s like magic….watch the elites, as they effortlessly run at 4 min/mile, with negative splits toward the end of a marathon.
Very clearly explained. For slow running also, around 10km/h speed, I was dragging my feet closer to the ground. I think I need to kick them up a little, or maybe let them do their thing. Because I've realized, I put in energy to drag them forward and I can very realistically feel that effort. Kudos to you!
@@JohnSmith-rr8hp that's great. do you also mean to say that even in runs less than 9km/h, you lift your feet higher? For the last week I've been experimenting a higher kick for runs anywhere from 6km - 10km/h speed, (higher kick depending on the speed). What do you think about it?
@@VishalVishal-pf4nu I think you need to have a strong core to do that naturally, i'm almost 40 now and that's still a work in progress for me, mind you, I'm a beginner runner
@@JohnSmith-rr8hp It'll happen my friend. I'm nearing 40, but have been running for many years now.~15yrs, but still haven't got the heel kick integrated into my running. 😇
Very thoughtful video. Thank you! I keep my feet close to the ground because of lower back pain and have found I bounce a bit less with my feet close to the ground allowing me to run with less pain. The higher foot lift creates a bit more of a bounce which generates more pain.
I agree with the relaxation part, whatever that may look like for each person. I see that when I just get into a groove and let my legs/feet hit the ground and do whatever they want to do, that I enjoy the run more and just don't feel like I'm trying as hard. Same with upper body too, relax the arms and shoulders and just swing on through your stride and let the body do what it wants to do.
The way you explain it certainly makes sense, and it does match up to how I feel when I run. I mean I quite often force myself to keep my feet closer to the ground and it feels like it's more straining on my muscles to do so. However, both my heart rate and my running power (measured by Stryd footpod) seem to disagree. They are the reasons why I run like that in the first place, because it seems to be the only way for me to stay in zone 2 in either the watts or the HR. It is odd, because it might feel harder on my legs, but easier on my heart. But it is probably something else with my running form that causes this, then.
Because if you are doing any movement beyond what your automatic nervous system does, you are exerting your muscles for no gain. Think about this: is the ancient locomotion system of the brain efficient, evolved over billions of years, or did it need the much newer sapient layer to finally become efficient? Of course not. The ancient systems have been honed over millions of years into efficiency. We would never have been successful organisms if we had needed the conscious parts of the brain to control basic functions such as movement efficiency. It's total nonsense. You don't need to think about how you pick up a cup from the table. Running "right" is no different. Does your dog think about its running form?
This misses to most important reason why lifting your feet higher is more efficient. Lifting your feet is just a tiny fraction of the work you do when you-re running, the majority of work is done lifting the body when the feet is in contact with the ground. That's the part of the step you need to optimize, you do that by swinging your leg in a larger circle so you can activate large muscles in the contact phase, and direct the forces in a more optimal direction.
So that's why it's easier for a skinny person to run long distance, as compared to an overweight one? Muscles to lift the body up have to work less, thus expend less energy during the race.
personally, I think there's probably a sweet spot in speed and length of stride where one takes over from the other in respect to energy used, where the momentum of the pendulum has a better transfer to lift the foot naturally, the faster you go the more the lifting effect is productive, slower you go then more likely it's using more energy than is needed. so lifting your feet higher costs less energy when running... as long as you're not activating muscles to do the lifting.
there definitely is, and it's determined by the momentum of the limb. From a physics perspective, you need to consume energy to fight against momentum - so relaxation is key. Newton's 2nd Law, in short. Apply force with all the relevant musculature to propel your body through the stride until it feels awkward and inefficient. Then stop applying force and relax once while the foot is turning over, letting the weight of the leg guide the movement. The rest will work itself out according to pace because the limbs have more momentum at higher paces and less momentum at lower paces.
Thanks. That was very interesting and helpful. I’ve been working on form but have got a bit stuck when it comes to cycling legs: I’ve been actively thinking about pulling my feet/knees up and through but I can feel that using extra energy. I have not tried intentionally relaxing to pull through so I’m looking forward to giving it a go. I would be interested to see an HR overlay to this experiment. I’m assuming that the relaxed method would also give a lower heart rate that the higher energy, low feet method.
I've always instinctually known this. It's nice to finally have an explanation to go with it! 🙂 I've never understood why people who are trying to be intentionally lazy, want to make more work for themselves... But such is the plight of all laziness - in the end, you always end up working more.
Physiologically speaking, the amount of individual differences in muscle fiber types/distribution (muscle fiber type I,IIa, IIb, IIx) would help determine the precise amounts of adenosine triphosphate(ATP) used when running. This could also vary depending on the VO2 max of an individual-> more cardiovascular endurance could mean more ability to perform easier under conditions such as lifting legs higher.
Another very interesting video. I would be interested to know what method was used to measure and compare the energy consumption in these test scenarios. Personally I find my HR increases when I let my feet come up higher at a set pace.
Not that I know the answer, but it's clear in the video that it's about relaxing. If you let your legs swing to whatever position they want to by relaxing the leg as much as possible once the foot has left the ground then I expect it will give you the optimal lift. If you try to lift it higher/faster then you will once again use more energy. Most systems that include elasticity have resonance. A metronome was the simple example used in the video, but a more complex system of springs and weights will have multiple resonances. My guess is that we're being pushed towards finding our own resonance, and that will be a function of body shape and the amount of energy you put into each propelling kick.
@@robiniddon7582 I agree. The concept of relaxing rather than lifting is very interesting. The comment at the end about lift being related to speed also sounds right to me.
@@SpringSnabbare I think the mismatch between what you explain and perceived reality is the challenge. I believe you have the results and they are genuine. But if I actually try to lift my knees more my HR goes up, and that seems to be the experience of other commenters here too. No doubt there is a technique to letting them come up just the right amount, but it's not natural for everyone 😜
One more thing to think about is getting used to the change. It may take a couple of weeks to get used to lifting heels higher while running. Since you are telling your body to run differently, initially you may be spending extra energy (hence higher HR) to compensate for the changes, so I would say don’t just jump on to conclusion based on a few runs, give your body a couple of weeks and then compare the HR data. This is my opinion of course take it with a grain of salt.
I coach runners. You are a phenomenal coach. What you are saying is incredibly helpful. New runners will never fully approached what you are saying. Saving them decades and many injuries.
Thank you for your work. It would have been interesting to give more details on the spent energy comparison. For exemple an oxygen comsumption comparison would have been interesting (of course it would have been more costly and difficult to realize). Thank you !
Saw your item on foot lift rather than strike being important. Virtually every coach online talks about foot strike. Once again the experts are wrong. Congratulations. What you said is 100% true. Concentrate on the foot lift and your form improves straight away. It is instantaneous and so easy.
First off..I love the counter argument to most runners that say, ' I need to increase my cadence so i will lift my foot less'. I knew this couldn't be correct. Kipchoge said there's a difference between jogging and running
Great informative video. Speaking from experience in training for my first marathon. I was one who thought keeping your feet low saved energy, but I found that method puts it all on your hips to swing your legs. My hips would kill me on long runs and it would take several days for them to heal. Also, you're way less likely to "heel strike" when you lift your knees, which is basically like running with the brakes on. For those that struggle with lifting your legs, this is why you must stretch to work on flexibility and incorporate drills. Running in place and lifting your knees high is a good one, mixed with butt kicks. If you're new to running try to use shoes that have less drop on your shorter runs. I also recommend running barefoot on the treadmill or in the grass on miscellaneous days. Then try to run with the same "barefoot" form when you have shoes on. Modern rockered shoes with high stacks are partly to blame, because you can get away with poor form on shorter runs when you're first starting out. Those habits are hard to break once you build the muscle memory.
Might be interesting to try the same experiment with a heart rate monitor? And at different paces perhaps? You see a lot of Ultra runners doing that kind of a shuffle, wonder if it’s more efficient at low speeds?
I don't need a heart rate monitor to tell you that it's much harder to run with your feet close to the ground. I think I reached the lactate threshold in the short time I ran to film for this video. You could of course argue that it's because I'm used to relaxing and running the way I do on that part when my feet aren't close to the treadmill. But you can also ask those I help. I often get messages from people I've helped about significantly faster times with the same heart rate they usually have. Got several just today. And as I tell all my clients: It doesn't matter if my software for the 3D cameras shows them to be more energy efficient or if I can explain all the theory of biomechanics and the laws of physics. It is their heart rate and pace when they run outside that is the only thing that counts. And their answer is like this: fredrikzillenonline.newzenler.com/testimonials
Very true, thank you for this illustration of the process! Playing around with this and noticed my heart rate is lower when lifting legs. Only needs to feel balance and not over lift)
Just getting into your channel and binging the videos and love them! Great advice and backs up a lot of things from Shane Benzie and Lawrence Van Lingen work. I think if everyone follows you and those 2 then gives everything they need to improve run form 👏
Wow what a gr8 explanation / analogy whatever you want to call it - this all makes sense now - oddly enough I used to run with higher legs / knees but over recent yrs Iv gotten kinda lazy and Iv started running with low long straight legs which I’m finding absolutely exhausting ! So I actually went back to picking my legs up abit higher from the hip and bingo I’m not getting as fatigued as quickly !! I’m so glad I stumbled across you - I think u are fab I really enjoy listening to you - you make it make sense ! 🫶
The two best things that you can do to improve your biomechanics while running are first, to keep your body fully erect and to control speed by hinging ONLY at the ankles NOT at the hips. (Your foot merely stops your fall.) Second, practice skipping. Running is actually a vertical jump (coupled with a forward fall). The jump is achieved by flexing the calf and driving the knee upward. The first, the lean, moves your center of mass forward and hence your body forward thus controlling forward speed. The second, the jump, moves your center of mass upward and hence your body upward, thus controlling your air time. A fast lift increases airtime and makes you run faster. That is why a higher leg lift uses less energy, because of increased air time. But it is not the height of the leg that is critical it is the velocity at which you raise it to that position that matters. Run then practice skipping for a week then run again. See what happens.
High knees like the kenian runners are energy saving if you run fast enough to use the elastic energy that your body accumulates at every bounce, but nobody can keep that pace for insanely long distances (hundreds of miles)... At lower speed it's the shuffle the way to go because in that case that's the most economic movement. In reality it's like the story of the turtle and the hare... it all depends on the goal of your run: if you are running 20 km or a marathon than you are right, the fastest will win, but if you need to cover 200 km or more in the less amount of time, than the turtle strategy (the shuffle) is the best because the winner is not the fastest runner but the one who doesn't need to stop and have a rest (or need to rest the least). We say in Italy: "the one who goes slow, will go safe and will go far"...
Thank you for the great video. Very interesting and informative indeed. I am guilty of trying to keep my feet closer to the ground to "save energy". Now, the question is, how do I go about "relaxing" while running to take advantage of what you’ve just taught me? One tip: The vertical vooden beam background isn’t too great. I got motion sickness while watching you explain things. It would be great if you could use another background.
Thanks for posting. I personally pick my feet up (but am still dreadfully slow). However, look up 'glider versus gazelle runners'. There are plenty of elite long distance runners who keep their feet low.
I love the way this technique feels when I'm on a faster run, but struggle to lift my feet on slow runs. Do you have any tips for doing it while running slowly?
Im always running with my feet closer to the ground too when im running slower. I think that it is a natural way to run, so you shouldn't worry about lifting your feet up too much when you are on slow runs. Just try to focus on being relaxed instead.
I too can only do this at faster paces, i over stride at lower speeds. Which i think (in my hopelessly unqualified opinion) is way worse. #calfstrain #3in6months #onlygottwocalves
probably the energy saving has to do with torque on the legs. bringing them in reduces the angular momentum of bringing them forward. at higher speed the enegy saving of that increases, but the energy needed to lift the legs is the same at both slow and fast speeds I guess?
This actually makes sense. Since the feet is going up while relaxing the bottom of the leg, the energy it gets will depend on the speed différence between your knee going forward (the joint around which this movement happens) and the ground (the starting position of the feet). The faster you run, the fastest your knee will travel above the ground when going forward, and the more your feet will be "slingshot" upwards behind the knee
Excellent biomechanical analysis, Fredrik, but the bottom line where expenditure is concerned is not mechanical but physiological - specifically what happens to heart rate across the various gait patterns. I would love to see HR data for your various analyses. My suspicion is that ground reaction forces trump everything and, as such, gait patterns involving lower foot lift induce the lowest HR responses and the lowest net cost to the body. Would be simple enough for you to refute.
For most people, if not quite all, I think the heart rate settles into correlating with the physical effort. So, if you want to be efficient, lift your legs a little more, per the advice offered and beautifully explained in the video. You just have to get used to the mechanically more efficient pattern and enjoy the run.
kia ora, you (and coach Fredrik) might well be right: above, all adopt a swing pattern that maximises pendulum efficiency. however, until you measure the energetics from the perspective of internal work, it's an hypothesis and not a rule. measuring heart rate across a variety of patterns would be very simple to do and settle this little argument. it might also show that mechanical efficiency and cost/ work, by extension, involves several parameters of which swing is only one.
I am an 800m runner and did not understand this and thought it was confusing/BS. But it just clicked the other day on my run - if you dont understand think about it like this: when you are running, focus on moving your femurs forwards in order to move, rather than your lower legs. Putting the focus on "running with your femurs" in order to move will force your knees and heels to go higher, then you can relax your lower legs and trust them to catch you. My whole life I have been running thinking about moving my lower legs/feet forwards if that makes sense? I also did the new technique in a track session and had one of the best track sessions I have ever done (according to my coach who I hadnt even told about this). This is also true for walking to a lesser extent, and I have always had a short stride and quick turnover because of it. Now I feel I can get more power out of every step instead
Glad to hear it clicked! You are now halfway there. Yes, it is the movement of the femur that moves your lower leg. But the movement of the femur is greatly helped by the up/forward movement of the hip which is greatly helped by your core and, indeed, the movement of the shoulders/shoulder blades. You may have seen how diagonal lines appear across the body/shirt of runners when viewed from the front. They come from the movement that speeds up the hip which helps the femur that lifts your lower leg. Maybe I made it confusing again. But that's how it works. And it's not (either) BS😄
The cost of energy seems reduced not only because of the shorter lever arm but the re-directing of the energy upwards and forwards. We can demonstrate this with the arms too: Try chain punching straight forwards and back and then chain punching in an elliptical path. The elliptical path saves a lot of energy.
I never used the close to the ground technique until I went to get my running techniques analysed and they told be it was too bouncy and I needed to stay low. Basicllaly, use the glide technique. They said it is good for the knee. I use this glide technique from time to time just to rest other muscle group for short period but I usually don't use for more than a few minutes. I prefer natural running. Thank you for you point of view. It is nice to need that it isn't white or black.
Heel height is connected with the size of angle between legs. If the angle is larger, the back leg can swing more and its heel will get higher. Such mechanics spends less or more energy proportional to the BMI.
Really good advice. I have improved my time a lot when running. I had a bad habit to drag my feet when getting fatigued, you think it'd be easier to run but it's actually not.
Thank you. I’ve heard this concept before but I could never execute properly. Not blaming other explainers but your explanation resonated with me. I had been more actively trying to lift the heel I suppose. I’m training for a marathon and had been disappointed in my speed. I tried out what you recommended and it worked ! I also seem to be landing more front of foot now versus mid-foot or heel strike, not sure if that is good or bad but I seem less tired and faster. I appreciate your work sir. 😀✅ P.S. I told colleagues on Strava about you and they demanded the link 🎉
I would just naturally lift my legs up higher while jogging up hills because it felt easier (felt like i was hopping). Thanks for confirming it is actually more efficient
Great explanation. Will certainly try this on my next run. I do wonder if this technique inflicts more strain on the joints. I’d think the landing impact is bigger when your feet are higher off the ground. However, I could be totally wrong about this, so I hope someone could inform me about this
Great Video , Here is the Summary : Lifting feet and knees less while running saves energy. It's about relaxation and letting the foot swing up. Proof exists through 3D camera measurements. ✦Keeping feet close to the ground saves energy while running 00:01 ✦The position of weight affects the speed of movement 01:05 ✦Relaxation is key to efficient running 02:06 ✦3D cameras measure energy to move body parts 03:07 ✦Moving body parts closer to the ground costs more energy 04:04 ✦Higher cadence with bigger leg movements saves energy 05:01 ✦Keeping feet close to the ground saves energy 06:01 ✦Proper foot and knee height depends on running speed 06:58
The hamstring is contracting already to achieve hip extension, let the contraction spill over into knee flexion when the rear foot breaks contact with the ground.
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Another advantage. I recently caught my foot on a small reflector in the road and did a spectacular and public faceplant. Definitely takes more energy to faceplant than to lift your feet.
Does it take energy to faceplant? I'd have thought it just happens effortlessly once you've caught your foot on something.
Takes energy to recover from a faceplant, both physically and emotionally hah
@@adrien5834 you lose a lot of potential energy by faceplanting 😂
@@markopolic9964 Ah, but then, strictly speaking, it's picking yourself up that takes energy. Lying down is very energy efficient.
Well said sir
Yes you are Correct you actually save energy picking your feet up when u run. I noticed my feet and glutes getting tired when i didnt pick my feet up enough while running then when I started picking them up the pain went away.
Thanks for the Video 👍🏻 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
that doesn't sound right. he's saying NOT to expend energy to pick up your feet. that you need to relax your legs and just let the movement happen
@@longebane read it again big bro
Lifting feet higher is only bad when used in front of the person's body or are doing more push off or bounding/bouncing.
I found my hammies and glutes were really lacking once I started picking up my feet more, since they are recruited during this process. The solution was to improve my strength and endurance in those muscles. I was slow because I wasn't really incorporating those muscles into my running. Lifting my feet and knees forced me to start using those muscles, overall preventing my quads and hips and other stabilizer muscles from doing all the work.
Whoa! This actually seems useful! In an age of tepid, and at the same time, noisy running advice videos I am quite surprised to find a video with some REAL INFORMATION 👍
Every advice video should end, "Do what you want. I don't care!" It's the kind of attitude I can relate to. Five stars. Subscribed.
I was one of those who was unconsciously stopping his legs. I knew my form is not good but always thought that I will eventually get faster and move my legs.
I watched this video yesterday. Tried to ‘relax’ and just let my legs flow. My easy run was much faster and I felt that my effort was much less. I cannot explain how just relaxing could cause such a huge difference that too on first try! 😮
Like driving with the E-brake on.
whoever you are, your comment has contributed to my running epiphany. Time to try this!
By relaxing you mean, don't think about what your feet are doing but just let them do their thing? Or did you actively focus on letting your feet 'relax'?
@@uNexAPBSecond one
Solid gold, this video has made a significant instant improvement in my running. Thanks FZ!!
3 miles into a run. I had to stop and thank you! Its amazing what a difference it makes and its so easy to do! Plus, ive had some nagging knee pain and even that is not hurting!
I am 65 yrs.Just a beginner in running.I hv done three 10km runs.
I will try to follow your tips in my coming 10kms run.
Hopefully, it went well 😊.
@@jjhaya i think he passed away
Take care of you knees, happy running 👍🏻
@@Lawdasur69Why do bastards like you talk like this?
@@Lawdasur69 he’s only got 9km to go…
I litteraly did this this week for the last six miles of a marathon! You litterally just relax after ground contact and it just happens! It was the fastest final 6 of a marathon and my 5th fastest 10k? Bonus* also my hips and anterior tibs not being total garbage the next day! Take away* running form is actually a thing! Great vid, sub too! Tq
I am going to try this today. My feet stay so closely to the ground when I run that it looks like I’m skating 🛼.
❤❤
@@jamstar876hopefully the result was great for you 😊.
@@jamstar876Well?
@jamstar876 Why have you forsaken us jamstar?
It depends on pace. There's a certain pace that very much is more efficient without lifting. There's a break even point that's somewhere between a quick walk and a slow run that depends on the runner. Sprinting will always benefit from lifting because of the pendulum effect.
Exactly.
Sort of the difference between jogging and running then…
I think it depends very much on one's body physique as well. Even in the pendulum effect, the period of oscillation is proportional to the length of the pendulum, while the mass of the pendulum determines the amplitude of the oscillation.
So for running, depending on the mass of the runner's legs/body as well as the length of the legs, there's got to be a most energy efficient stride to take to ensure we spend the least energy to run the same distance within the same amount of time. But It should be different for everyone because everyone's body is made differently.
So in summary: the correct stride (which includes how high the legs should be lifted) depends on these few factors: 1) body physique such as mass of body, length of legs etc. 2) the target distance to be covered . and 3) the target time to finish running the distance. If any of the above factors are changed, the most energy efficient stride would change as well.
@runspace He’s thrown a kettle over a pub
7:00
A really good runner knows how to feel their muscles getting tired and adjust to different types of strides to distribute the load better and make you able to run further.
I didn't know that. Thanks
well pointed out, most people think there is one universal rule for everything while its not the case
BING.
Gears, son. Gears.
Do tell us how one could do that please
@@user-hejwihfwwjdfk you just have to run a lot and focus on the feeling in your body and contact with the ground
Fantastic! The moment I read the title, I understood the mechanism.
I knew it! Thank you for confirming what I felt intuitively.
I've had so many casual self-proclaimed "experts" tell me how I should run, and when I took their advice, it just felt so forced and bogged down. I've been running the way that feels good for years, and I have yet to encounter the injuries these weekend warriors claim I will if I don't follow their preferred method. Funny thing is that I run way more often than they do, yet they seem to think they know my body better than I know myself haha. The confidence is admirable!
I suppose you experienced the Dunning Kruger effect in real time
This seems to explain why it's so tiring to run with together someone who is slower than me! I chalked it up to having longer legs and it being more tiring to run in smaller strides, as well as having to hit the ground more frequently, but this explains a lot! I might have been using energy to resist my legs going higher in order to maintain the slower pace, which may just have caused more fatigue
I’ve felt the same thing!
I never thought of this but yes, I don't understand why I'm hurting on long runs with slower people and this makes sense!
@@georgepagotelis doesn't make sense to me and i have long legs. I can run at a slow pace forever it's just extremely boring and frustrating
I know this theory and try to use it. But my breath can not effort the faster of the cadence that cause by kicking the leg higher. Can some one explain it to me pls.
That's why when I run with friends, we all agree that we'll run at our own pace and not at someone else's
Eye opening for me. I’ve always tried to keep my feet as close to the ground as possible! MIND BLOWING!
Yes, I think that is a lot easier on the knees and ankle too.
Just started running in the last couple weeks, currently at about an 11 minute mile. Found myself leaving my feet closer to the ground when I got tired. Glad I stumbled on this video and your channel! Will be watching more of you!
Excellent description of the force characteristics of the gait cycle in running (at various speeds, even!). I've been coaching for a long time and have never quite thought about it in that way.
Great video! I did try and it worked well. I did knee drive forward and my feet naturally lifted up, I ran faster with less effort. Thank you so much for what you are coaching!
Finally somebody who explains the body mechanics for running! I love the Metronome example, that one works beautifully. When playing with high kick towards the back I find that the front landing has quite a bit more impact on the knees. Have you measured the front landing in your experiments?
Bump
Wow. I am a slow runner (or jogger I should say) and always struggled to run faster. The explanation here is very well done and makes total sense. I am going to try it.
So did u try and what was the outcome?
Thanks for this! I've been wondering about this. Sometimes it seems that running a bit more faster gives me a better running form and "roll" while the heart rate stays pretty much the same.
I'm afraid of getting injured so I always start from the back and get faster and more confident over time, should start like that from the getgo
More faster? So, to win a race, you have to run most fastest? Sorry, not sorry.
@@siemniak Heart rate is a function of your fitness and how hard you're working. With a more efficient technique, you can cover more ground with the same effort. I'm now running 12.5% faster with the same heart rate.
Just done a 10km race and applied your technique! Massive thank you for this godsend information i went from 55mins to 45 mins and felt i could go on!! Absolute legend thank you from the UK
This video alone improved my pace from 5:30min/km to 4:30min/km! Excellent explanation! Thank you for this Fredrik :)
You are a great young man for trying to be nice and express gratitude, but this video alone did not improve your pace like this. You are in your teens and it is absolutely natural that you improve if only you train. Changing techniques can give you 2 or 3 or MAYBE 5 % improvement, and all these numbers are huge anyway.
This is especially true if you run on diverse terrain. If you keep your feet closer to the ground, then you actually have more obstacles to work with like gravel or sand. Imagine running uphill a gravel road, if you keep your feet close to the ground then you may find yourself kicking stones along the way, whereas keeping your feet and knees up avoids this and propels you further with less energy exerted.
I'm 3 weeks into my running return after decades: 65 yrs old, long-time ex-smoker on low-carb lifestyle, still lift & do calisthenics, very good to excellent shape. Couldn't finish a 2-mile shuffle without a walking break when I kept my feet low. Very tedious and tiring. Today, I concentrated on lifting my feet, shortening that pendulum, tracing an imaginary "cam", locomotive or bicycle crank with my foot. No concern about stride length, only paying attention to the vertical. I finished 3 miles with no break, a better pace, and felt good enough at the end to lift my foot a little higher and finish with a kick. Your advice is spot-on.
That's neat, I also thought of car engines and wheels on locomotive trains as soon as I understood the body mechanics
This might be true, but another thing to consider is wear and tear. A higher leg lift means more impact force with each foot down stroke. Minimizing wear and tear is a factor for longevity. Everything is a tradeoff. What a higher leg lift does do is train the body to take longer strides, and for racing longer strides = faster times, for me at least. It's interesting to note that in a race, my stride length goes down over time due to fatigue. Training with a higher leg lift would help with this, as well as hip flexor strengthening exercises...... Run for your life.
Great video and excellent analysis with a concise explanation! You just changed my mind. Subscribed.
Great explanation! Where were you 30 years ago when I needed this the most.
I was probably standing at a track here in Sweden. Where were you? 😃
@@SpringSnabbare Running cross country and track in Philadelphia. I love Sweden.
@@SpringSnabbareIf your claims were correct, one could simply make perpetual motion machine based on your measurements and diagram. The machine would create more energy by extending a rotating arm while it's coming down and getting pulled by gravity than it loses when the arm is moving up if it was retracted.
You are confusing energy expenditure, force and torque. Your logic is an oversimplification because it doesn't for example account for the addition of forward momentum: when you accelerate the leg that is not touching the ground, you add to the forward momentum. So if you use more force to accelerate that leg forward, you need to use less energy of the planted leg to achieve the same speed and vice versa. You might be able to analyse the energy spent of those motions if the person was only swinging their legs that way while hanging from the ceiling, but to analyse the situation while the person is actually moving forward is much more complicated.
it was nonsense..... I could easily prove it the way this guy has or I could say there is a reason sprinters lift their feet higher than marathon runners...but I will let you think why that is.
Wow, someone finally explains clearly WHY lifting your legs a little higher can be more efficient, AND even has the good sense to say "do what you want." God, I LOVE British humor! I just subscribed, and I'm still laughing. Thanks! *P.S. (8 hours later):* I just got back from my usual 4-hr. run, using this new technique. I did the run in 3.5 hours and was not as tired as usual. That's a 12.5% improvement.
I also spat with laughter at that moment although, as a Brit, we can take no credit for Fredrik's very direct, Scandinavian sense of humour.
@@richwall3747 Ah so. Fredrik speaks British English, and his sense of humor, at least in this video, is akin to what I associate with Brits. Thanks for the correction.
This has always confused me. When I do my speedwork I have to lift my legs to get the numbers I aim for but when racing i revert back to the small steps thinking of preserving energy.
Thanks for the key point which is to relax after pushout.
Will test this out. More power!
This man is RIGHT.
44 year old male here. My VO2max and topspeed increased significantly when I started paying attention to lifting my feet - as he said - RELAXED and let it swing up like a pendulum. I felt stronger, faster and - indeed - I felt it was way more efficient from an energy perspective. Not mentioning the fact that you use all your muscles, my glutes, adductors and hamstrings took over a LOT of the pressure I used to put on my quads as I am a quad dominant runner which caused me too many knee related tendon injuries in the past.
Great video! The best one I’ve seen on RUclips discussing this topic. Subscribed ✅
Another simple point is that if you lift your heel while the other foot is on the ground, this raises your centre of gravity unless you bend the knee on your grounded leg more (and increases the vertical force needed in the grounded foot to achieve the raised centre of gravity). This may increase stride length (loosely speaking, the higher your centre of gravity when both feet leave the ground, the longer it is before you hit the ground again, everything else being the same). This point also (correctly) suggests that raising your lower leg more while running outside tends to be associated with using more power in a useful fashion, making more sense when running fast. If you don't believe this then do an experiment. Run comfortably outside, then at some point focus on tucking your heel as you lift the back leg and move it forward, still running comfortably. I predict you will go faster, but not for free (power and heart rate rise).
the one and only thing this whole video proves is that u need you lift your heel higher when u wanna run faster. and as you pointed out: ofcourse this requires more energy. as well as not raising it higher and still running faster by just increasing frequency is using even more energy and increases further the faster you go. but all this is nonsense for slower speeds. just run and let your legs do their thing without forcing them anything. your body optimizes your running form just by running alone.
Even after running for 5years,I still continue to learn things.. Thanks sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar.
Yeah using your knee joint as a secondary lever to redirect the momentum of your legs upward rather than having to resist the backward motion of the legs and then bring them forward with basically only your hips saves alot of energy and could reduce overuse fatique in your hips and underuse of your knee.
This is true up to a point (high knees now use more energy lol) and with the caveat that you try not to then slam your foot back down on front-foot-landing.
Great video! This topic was a big eye-opener for me when studying biomechanics and kinesiology!
I felt like this but never knew how to describe it.
When going on slower runs with my dad my legs hurt more than on faster runs. Now i know why.
Excellent video as always. I also find if I relax and let me knees naturally drive up, your back kick will increase as well, as your pace increases, effortlessly. It’s like magic….watch the elites, as they effortlessly run at 4 min/mile, with negative splits toward the end of a marathon.
Very clearly explained. For slow running also, around 10km/h speed, I was dragging my feet closer to the ground. I think I need to kick them up a little, or maybe let them do their thing. Because I've realized, I put in energy to drag them forward and I can very realistically feel that effort. Kudos to you!
10km/h is not slow, 90% of my run are below 9km/h
@@JohnSmith-rr8hp that's great. do you also mean to say that even in runs less than 9km/h, you lift your feet higher?
For the last week I've been experimenting a higher kick for runs anywhere from 6km - 10km/h speed, (higher kick depending on the speed). What do you think about it?
@@VishalVishal-pf4nu I think you need to have a strong core to do that naturally, i'm almost 40 now and that's still a work in progress for me, mind you, I'm a beginner runner
@@JohnSmith-rr8hp It'll happen my friend. I'm nearing 40, but have been running for many years now.~15yrs, but still haven't got the heel kick integrated into my running. 😇
@@JohnSmith-rr8hp10kmph is Slow I am beginner I can run at 12.5 kmph for 10 km
Very thoughtful video. Thank you! I keep my feet close to the ground because of lower back pain and have found I bounce a bit less with my feet close to the ground allowing me to run with less pain. The higher foot lift creates a bit more of a bounce which generates more pain.
It’s also about maintaining momentum.
This is so interesting. I always find I run easier and faster when I focus on relaxing, especially when I’m tired.
I agree with the relaxation part, whatever that may look like for each person. I see that when I just get into a groove and let my legs/feet hit the ground and do whatever they want to do, that I enjoy the run more and just don't feel like I'm trying as hard. Same with upper body too, relax the arms and shoulders and just swing on through your stride and let the body do what it wants to do.
no, you have to do whatever some guy with a youtube channel says. and when theyre contradictory you have to do both regardless
The way you explain it certainly makes sense, and it does match up to how I feel when I run. I mean I quite often force myself to keep my feet closer to the ground and it feels like it's more straining on my muscles to do so. However, both my heart rate and my running power (measured by Stryd footpod) seem to disagree. They are the reasons why I run like that in the first place, because it seems to be the only way for me to stay in zone 2 in either the watts or the HR. It is odd, because it might feel harder on my legs, but easier on my heart. But it is probably something else with my running form that causes this, then.
Same here. When my feet go higher up, so does my HR, which in turn makes it much harder to stay in Zone 2.
Because if you are doing any movement beyond what your automatic nervous system does, you are exerting your muscles for no gain. Think about this: is the ancient locomotion system of the brain efficient, evolved over billions of years, or did it need the much newer sapient layer to finally become efficient? Of course not. The ancient systems have been honed over millions of years into efficiency. We would never have been successful organisms if we had needed the conscious parts of the brain to control basic functions such as movement efficiency. It's total nonsense. You don't need to think about how you pick up a cup from the table. Running "right" is no different. Does your dog think about its running form?
This misses to most important reason why lifting your feet higher is more efficient. Lifting your feet is just a tiny fraction of the work you do when you-re running, the majority of work is done lifting the body when the feet is in contact with the ground. That's the part of the step you need to optimize, you do that by swinging your leg in a larger circle so you can activate large muscles in the contact phase, and direct the forces in a more optimal direction.
So that's why it's easier for a skinny person to run long distance, as compared to an overweight one? Muscles to lift the body up have to work less, thus expend less energy during the race.
personally, I think there's probably a sweet spot in speed and length of stride where one takes over from the other in respect to energy used, where the momentum of the pendulum has a better transfer to lift the foot naturally, the faster you go the more the lifting effect is productive, slower you go then more likely it's using more energy than is needed.
so lifting your feet higher costs less energy when running... as long as you're not activating muscles to do the lifting.
there definitely is, and it's determined by the momentum of the limb. From a physics perspective, you need to consume energy to fight against momentum - so relaxation is key. Newton's 2nd Law, in short. Apply force with all the relevant musculature to propel your body through the stride until it feels awkward and inefficient. Then stop applying force and relax once while the foot is turning over, letting the weight of the leg guide the movement. The rest will work itself out according to pace because the limbs have more momentum at higher paces and less momentum at lower paces.
It's true, running a natural movement must be more relevant than trying to awkwardly apply physics.
Thanks. That was very interesting and helpful. I’ve been working on form but have got a bit stuck when it comes to cycling legs: I’ve been actively thinking about pulling my feet/knees up and through but I can feel that using extra energy. I have not tried intentionally relaxing to pull through so I’m looking forward to giving it a go. I would be interested to see an HR overlay to this experiment. I’m assuming that the relaxed method would also give a lower heart rate that the higher energy, low feet method.
I've always instinctually known this. It's nice to finally have an explanation to go with it! 🙂
I've never understood why people who are trying to be intentionally lazy, want to make more work for themselves... But such is the plight of all laziness - in the end, you always end up working more.
Physiologically speaking, the amount of individual differences in muscle fiber types/distribution (muscle fiber type I,IIa, IIb, IIx) would help determine the precise amounts of adenosine triphosphate(ATP) used when running. This could also vary depending on the VO2 max of an individual-> more cardiovascular endurance could mean more ability to perform easier under conditions such as lifting legs higher.
You really think this know it all spaz understands any of that? lol
I've been trying to improve my low heart beat running and really struggling with it. This was a big piece of the puzzle! Thanks!
I do and recommend doing both in training, including stiff legs. Also there are natural elasticity characteristics to consider.
Another very interesting video. I would be interested to know what method was used to measure and compare the energy consumption in these test scenarios. Personally I find my HR increases when I let my feet come up higher at a set pace.
Not that I know the answer, but it's clear in the video that it's about relaxing. If you let your legs swing to whatever position they want to by relaxing the leg as much as possible once the foot has left the ground then I expect it will give you the optimal lift. If you try to lift it higher/faster then you will once again use more energy.
Most systems that include elasticity have resonance. A metronome was the simple example used in the video, but a more complex system of springs and weights will have multiple resonances.
My guess is that we're being pushed towards finding our own resonance, and that will be a function of body shape and the amount of energy you put into each propelling kick.
@@robiniddon7582 I agree. The concept of relaxing rather than lifting is very interesting. The comment at the end about lift being related to speed also sounds right to me.
I use 3D cameras and MotionMetrix software.
@@SpringSnabbare I think the mismatch between what you explain and perceived reality is the challenge. I believe you have the results and they are genuine. But if I actually try to lift my knees more my HR goes up, and that seems to be the experience of other commenters here too. No doubt there is a technique to letting them come up just the right amount, but it's not natural for everyone 😜
One more thing to think about is getting used to the change. It may take a couple of weeks to get used to lifting heels higher while running. Since you are telling your body to run differently, initially you may be spending extra energy (hence higher HR) to compensate for the changes, so I would say don’t just jump on to conclusion based on a few runs, give your body a couple of weeks and then compare the HR data. This is my opinion of course take it with a grain of salt.
Thanks I actually tried this, expected my stride length to increase but to my suprise, cadence increased.
I coach runners.
You are a phenomenal coach.
What you are saying is incredibly helpful.
New runners will never fully approached what you are saying.
Saving them decades and many injuries.
Thank you for your work. It would have been interesting to give more details on the spent energy comparison. For exemple an oxygen comsumption comparison would have been interesting (of course it would have been more costly and difficult to realize). Thank you !
I just started running recently and this is very informative, i will try to put these into practice tomorrow morning!
Love the science behind it! Way to back it up!
This video is life-changing. Thank you very much coach Fredrik Zillen.
Saw your item on foot lift rather than strike being important. Virtually every coach online talks about foot strike. Once again the experts are wrong. Congratulations. What you said is 100% true. Concentrate on the foot lift and your form improves straight away. It is instantaneous and so easy.
First off..I love the counter argument to most runners that say, ' I need to increase my cadence so i will lift my foot less'. I knew this couldn't be correct. Kipchoge said there's a difference between jogging and running
Frederik- you blew my mind. Thanks!
I squat 565 lbs, my legs are calves are heavy af. And I can confirm for me lifting my legs feel much more tiring.
I am not a runner, never seen your channel but this is super fascinating to me.
Great informative video. Speaking from experience in training for my first marathon. I was one who thought keeping your feet low saved energy, but I found that method puts it all on your hips to swing your legs. My hips would kill me on long runs and it would take several days for them to heal. Also, you're way less likely to "heel strike" when you lift your knees, which is basically like running with the brakes on. For those that struggle with lifting your legs, this is why you must stretch to work on flexibility and incorporate drills. Running in place and lifting your knees high is a good one, mixed with butt kicks. If you're new to running try to use shoes that have less drop on your shorter runs. I also recommend running barefoot on the treadmill or in the grass on miscellaneous days. Then try to run with the same "barefoot" form when you have shoes on. Modern rockered shoes with high stacks are partly to blame, because you can get away with poor form on shorter runs when you're first starting out. Those habits are hard to break once you build the muscle memory.
Might be interesting to try the same experiment with a heart rate monitor? And at different paces perhaps? You see a lot of Ultra runners doing that kind of a shuffle, wonder if it’s more efficient at low speeds?
Look at Alexandr Sorokin running. He looks "normal", but he's also exceptional.
I don't need a heart rate monitor to tell you that it's much harder to run with your feet close to the ground. I think I reached the lactate threshold in the short time I ran to film for this video. You could of course argue that it's because I'm used to relaxing and running the way I do on that part when my feet aren't close to the treadmill. But you can also ask those I help. I often get messages from people I've helped about significantly faster times with the same heart rate they usually have. Got several just today. And as I tell all my clients: It doesn't matter if my software for the 3D cameras shows them to be more energy efficient or if I can explain all the theory of biomechanics and the laws of physics. It is their heart rate and pace when they run outside that is the only thing that counts. And their answer is like this: fredrikzillenonline.newzenler.com/testimonials
Thanks Fredrik, I'll try this next run!
This is finally clicking for me. Thank you!! Can’t wait to try this technique and reconnect with the efficient use of laws of physics 😅
Many thanks for explaining concepts!!! Now you have a new subscripter from Argentina, cheers!
Thank you for explaining this. I always wondered about the energy use from higher heel lift.
Very true, thank you for this illustration of the process! Playing around with this and noticed my heart rate is lower when lifting legs. Only needs to feel balance and not over lift)
Thanks for this! Nice to have it explained so well. Great video!
Thank you for simplifying the concept.
Regards
Giri
First time I watch this man. I love your attitude, Fredrik!
Just getting into your channel and binging the videos and love them!
Great advice and backs up a lot of things from Shane Benzie and Lawrence Van Lingen work. I think if everyone follows you and those 2 then gives everything they need to improve run form 👏
Really glad for this insight! I have to keep this in mind!🏃♀️🌿🙏
Wow what a gr8 explanation / analogy whatever you want to call it - this all makes sense now - oddly enough I used to run with higher legs / knees but over recent yrs Iv gotten kinda lazy and Iv started running with low long straight legs which I’m finding absolutely exhausting ! So I actually went back to picking my legs up abit higher from the hip and bingo I’m not getting as fatigued as quickly !! I’m so glad I stumbled across you - I think u are fab I really enjoy listening to you - you make it make sense ! 🫶
The two best things that you can do to improve your biomechanics while running are first, to keep your body fully erect and to control speed by hinging ONLY at the ankles NOT at the hips. (Your foot merely stops your fall.) Second, practice skipping. Running is actually a vertical jump (coupled with a forward fall). The jump is achieved by flexing the calf and driving the knee upward. The first, the lean, moves your center of mass forward and hence your body forward thus controlling forward speed. The second, the jump, moves your center of mass upward and hence your body upward, thus controlling your air time. A fast lift increases airtime and makes you run faster. That is why a higher leg lift uses less energy, because of increased air time. But it is not the height of the leg that is critical it is the velocity at which you raise it to that position that matters. Run then practice skipping for a week then run again. See what happens.
High knees like the kenian runners are energy saving if you run fast enough to use the elastic energy that your body accumulates at every bounce, but nobody can keep that pace for insanely long distances (hundreds of miles)... At lower speed it's the shuffle the way to go because in that case that's the most economic movement. In reality it's like the story of the turtle and the hare... it all depends on the goal of your run: if you are running 20 km or a marathon than you are right, the fastest will win, but if you need to cover 200 km or more in the less amount of time, than the turtle strategy (the shuffle) is the best because the winner is not the fastest runner but the one who doesn't need to stop and have a rest (or need to rest the least).
We say in Italy: "the one who goes slow, will go safe and will go far"...
Thought provoking - will try it tomorrow.
Thank you for the great video. Very interesting and informative indeed. I am guilty of trying to keep my feet closer to the ground to "save energy". Now, the question is, how do I go about "relaxing" while running to take advantage of what you’ve just taught me?
One tip: The vertical vooden beam background isn’t too great. I got motion sickness while watching you explain things. It would be great if you could use another background.
Thanks for posting. I personally pick my feet up (but am still dreadfully slow). However, look up 'glider versus gazelle runners'. There are plenty of elite long distance runners who keep their feet low.
I love the way this technique feels when I'm on a faster run, but struggle to lift my feet on slow runs. Do you have any tips for doing it while running slowly?
Im always running with my feet closer to the ground too when im running slower. I think that it is a natural way to run, so you shouldn't worry about lifting your feet up too much when you are on slow runs. Just try to focus on being relaxed instead.
I too can only do this at faster paces, i over stride at lower speeds. Which i think (in my hopelessly unqualified opinion) is way worse. #calfstrain #3in6months #onlygottwocalves
probably the energy saving has to do with torque on the legs. bringing them in reduces the angular momentum of bringing them forward. at higher speed the enegy saving of that increases, but the energy needed to lift the legs is the same at both slow and fast speeds
I guess?
This actually makes sense. Since the feet is going up while relaxing the bottom of the leg, the energy it gets will depend on the speed différence between your knee going forward (the joint around which this movement happens) and the ground (the starting position of the feet).
The faster you run, the fastest your knee will travel above the ground when going forward, and the more your feet will be "slingshot" upwards behind the knee
Slow jogging techniques? Uses a faster cadence.
Excellent biomechanical analysis, Fredrik, but the bottom line where expenditure is concerned is not mechanical but physiological - specifically what happens to heart rate across the various gait patterns. I would love to see HR data for your various analyses. My suspicion is that ground reaction forces trump everything and, as such, gait patterns involving lower foot lift induce the lowest HR responses and the lowest net cost to the body. Would be simple enough for you to refute.
For most people, if not quite all, I think the heart rate settles into correlating with the physical effort. So, if you want to be efficient, lift your legs a little more, per the advice offered and beautifully explained in the video. You just have to get used to the mechanically more efficient pattern and enjoy the run.
kia ora, you (and coach Fredrik) might well be right: above, all adopt a swing pattern that maximises pendulum efficiency. however, until you measure the energetics from the perspective of internal work, it's an hypothesis and not a rule. measuring heart rate across a variety of patterns would be very simple to do and settle this little argument. it might also show that mechanical efficiency and cost/ work, by extension, involves several parameters of which swing is only one.
Ok you got me intrigued. I've subbed. Hopefully you've got vids that show how to move from one to the other
I am an 800m runner and did not understand this and thought it was confusing/BS. But it just clicked the other day on my run - if you dont understand think about it like this: when you are running, focus on moving your femurs forwards in order to move, rather than your lower legs. Putting the focus on "running with your femurs" in order to move will force your knees and heels to go higher, then you can relax your lower legs and trust them to catch you. My whole life I have been running thinking about moving my lower legs/feet forwards if that makes sense? I also did the new technique in a track session and had one of the best track sessions I have ever done (according to my coach who I hadnt even told about this). This is also true for walking to a lesser extent, and I have always had a short stride and quick turnover because of it. Now I feel I can get more power out of every step instead
Glad to hear it clicked! You are now halfway there. Yes, it is the movement of the femur that moves your lower leg. But the movement of the femur is greatly helped by the up/forward movement of the hip which is greatly helped by your core and, indeed, the movement of the shoulders/shoulder blades.
You may have seen how diagonal lines appear across the body/shirt of runners when viewed from the front. They come from the movement that speeds up the hip which helps the femur that lifts your lower leg.
Maybe I made it confusing again. But that's how it works. And it's not (either) BS😄
The cost of energy seems reduced not only because of the shorter lever arm but the re-directing of the energy upwards and forwards. We can demonstrate this with the arms too: Try chain punching straight forwards and back and then chain punching in an elliptical path. The elliptical path saves a lot of energy.
Running with feet low makes it look like you hate running
As for... "You do what you like, I don't care" after all that wealth of wisdom 😅 really funny. Thanks for the eye opener Sir!
I never used the close to the ground technique until I went to get my running techniques analysed and they told be it was too bouncy and I needed to stay low. Basicllaly, use the glide technique. They said it is good for the knee. I use this glide technique from time to time just to rest other muscle group for short period but I usually don't use for more than a few minutes. I prefer natural running. Thank you for you point of view. It is nice to need that it isn't white or black.
Heel height is connected with the size of angle between legs. If the angle is larger, the back leg can swing more and its heel will get higher. Such mechanics spends less or more energy proportional to the BMI.
Really good advice. I have improved my time a lot when running. I had a bad habit to drag my feet when getting fatigued, you think it'd be easier to run but it's actually not.
Thank you. I’ve heard this concept before but I could never execute properly. Not blaming other explainers but your explanation resonated with me. I had been more actively trying to lift the heel I suppose. I’m training for a marathon and had been disappointed in my speed. I tried out what you recommended and it worked ! I also seem to be landing more front of foot now versus mid-foot or heel strike, not sure if that is good or bad but I seem less tired and faster. I appreciate your work sir. 😀✅ P.S. I told colleagues on Strava about you and they demanded the link 🎉
You are great sir Ji from India ❤
I tried this walking technique in tescos and also only selected products from waist to shoulder height, so much more efficient
I would just naturally lift my legs up higher while jogging up hills because it felt easier (felt like i was hopping). Thanks for confirming it is actually more efficient
Great explanation. Will certainly try this on my next run.
I do wonder if this technique inflicts more strain on the joints. I’d think the landing impact is bigger when your feet are higher off the ground.
However, I could be totally wrong about this, so I hope someone could inform me about this
Very interesting, Thank you
Great Video , Here is the Summary : Lifting feet and knees less while running saves energy. It's about relaxation and letting the foot swing up. Proof exists through 3D camera measurements.
✦Keeping feet close to the ground saves energy while running 00:01
✦The position of weight affects the speed of movement 01:05
✦Relaxation is key to efficient running 02:06
✦3D cameras measure energy to move body parts 03:07
✦Moving body parts closer to the ground costs more energy 04:04
✦Higher cadence with bigger leg movements saves energy 05:01
✦Keeping feet close to the ground saves energy 06:01
✦Proper foot and knee height depends on running speed 06:58
I try It today! And yes it’s faster easier ! Thanks 🙏🏼
What about the force of the impact on the ground when comparing these two types of running ?
Anyone?
The hamstring is contracting already to achieve hip extension, let the contraction spill over into knee flexion when the rear foot breaks contact with the ground.