Working on Form: Video Analysis

Aug 17, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Back when golf was my obsession, I occasionally recorded my swing and tried to analyze my faults.  Many times, what I thought was happening was proven wrong by the video. Up until the last couple of weeks, I had not used video to help my running form. Now that I have an HD video recorder in my possession most of the time thanks to a smart phone, I figured it was time to use it.

What is good form?  Click here for a link to a good video on form at Active.com.

How am I working on improving my form?  I am concentrating on foot strike mostly, trying to transform from being a heel striker to a mid-foot striker.  I know I am a heel striker from race photos and shoe wear patterns.  I am working on this transformation through changes in shoes (reducing heel to toe drop) and experimenting with barefoot running to get the feel of not heel striking. I am learning to lengthen my stride by lifting the heel higher toward my rear end, instead of extending my forward step. Here is a video of me running in my new Newton Gravitas shoes.

What did I learn from this video? #1, I think this is going in the right direction. #2, I am definitely not heel striking, and #3, I can see how high my back kick was.  I was intentionally going with what felt like a higher heel lift than I normal feel, and I can see that it was much better.  This run was very short and it was tough to keep the form toward the end.  I will now have to work on hamstring strengthening.

Here is a video of me barefoot on the treadmill.

 

What did I learn from this video? #1, I seem to be way too tense.  I already figured out earlier in the year that I am an under pronator, and I don’t see much pronation there at all.  So, I need to relax and see if I get a bit of normal pronation.  #2, I might have my feet pointed outward a bit.  Just a minor thing maybe, but I could experiment with my toes pointed a little more inward.  Other than those 2 things, I was pleased with the foot strike.

So, just like in golf, the video proved very useful.  Feel free to comment.

Finally, here’s a link to a recent article at Runner’s World which asks ‘Does form matter?”

POFIFOTO!

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