Watch Beginner's Guide to Pose Running

Now that you're in your final week of the program, it's time to grade yourself one last time.

Here's your running training schedule for week 12.

While this program teaches you the foundation of the Pose Method

Week 12 is your final assessment as a runner. This week you'll do one final running analysis, re-time your 5k, as well as learn what's in store going forward with your newly acquired running technique.

This is one of the most effective drills to prevent overstriding. The tension of the stretch cords will help you nail better pattern of movement.

This drill does not require a partner and can be done more frequently. The resistance from the stretch cords will help you avoid overstriding. Practice this drill on your own as often as you can to fine tune the perception of landing under your body.

This exercise will help you improve your ability to fall forward (lean) correctly without bending at the waist. Also pay attention to perception of bodyweight on your forefoot.

A very important way to continue to enhance your perception is through resistance training.

Week 11 introduces resistance training that will add on to your daily drills and exercises. As is a continued theme in the mastery segment of the program, advanced technique work is necessary to fine-tune your running stride.

Practice the sensation of free falling with the help of a partner.

This is one of the best old school exercises for the entire back surface: your hams, hips, glutes, back.

Strength exercises for hips and back. It will also help you further develop your perception of your hips as a vital bridge that connects your upper and lower body.

When making a decision about shoes it's important to know the role they play in your running.

You're not always going to be running on a track, road, or other smooth path. Watch this video to see how to adjust your technique when the surface becomes unpredictable.

Let's shift our focus to some external factors that can influence your running.

Here is a good way to gauge your degree of falling.

Again, if you have what we call a K-bend, this drill will help fix it.

If you have what we call a K-bend, this drill will help fix it.

Find out if you have it and fix excessive hip rotation.

Find out why and how you're getting injured.

An injury is an alarm that's going off, "Hey, you're doing something wrong." And that's how you should approach it.

Getting injured is nothing new to runners. In fact, according to an ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) presentation from 2005, 85% of recreational runners suffer an injury every year. Most runners just believe it's an unavoidable part of the sport, that when you go out to pound the pavement, you get hurt.

Practice pulling directly under the hip and strengthen your hamstrings at the same time.

Practice pulling action with a degree of difficulty by using an elevated box. It will help you develop better perception of unweighting the support foot.

Practice pulling your foot up with a partner.

The one actionable element of running - pulling your foot up - is the key to running longer. Take a look.

The touted ingredient of faster running that actually impedes forward movement.

Active landing can be a major source of injury. Learn more.

The final invariable element in the running stride is Pulling. Pulling is without a doubt the most important because it's the only true actionable element that you must perform on every step. If you recall many of the problems we brought up that can happen with your running stride, most of them can be traced back to whether or not you pulled your foot on time.

Practice the sensation of falling forward with safety of the wall while maintaining the running pose.

Practice the sensation of falling forward with safety of the wall.

Practice the action of forward movement by falling forward from Pose position.

Practice the action of forward movement by falling forward. Let gravity pull you.

Here's your running training schedule for week 7.

The Active Push Off concept deconstructed.

The Paw back is a somewhat popular notion in running. However, is this idea based on physical reality or merely a misleading visual perception? Here's a look at this concept deconstructed.

You've heard the term before. But its not what it's commonly presented to be. Arms are for balance, use them wisely.

Everybody talks about speed when discussing running faster. We've already discussed where speed comes from, now let's see how we can increase it.

Week 7 covers all the elements related to speed and acceleration in the running stride.

Practice change of support. That is how forward movement happens.

Practice correct running mechanics - lift the ankle not the knee. Bring the foot up with the hamstring and let it naturally drop down without any effort on your part.

Gravity is expressed through our bodyweight. Work on improving your perception of it.

The Forefoot strike is the most optimal landing option in running. Now to be clear, we're not talking about landing on the toes. Watch the video.

The Mid-Foot Strike is a concept that has gained popularity in recent years but it is anatomically incorrect. Find out why.

Heel striking is one of, if not the main, causes of injuries in running. Find out why.

As we go through the next three weeks, we're going to continue to break down all of the variables in the Anatomy of a Stride in order to give you a more advanced understanding of exactly where technique flaws exist, and how to eliminate them to become a better runner.

This is the lower body flexibility routine and will serve as a great cool down after your run and will increase the overall range of motion in your joints. Remember, the key is to relax the muscle, then flex the joint.

Practice coordination while also working on your muscle elasticity.

Strengthen and focus your perception of your hips, your general center of mass.

Work on your agility and resilience.

Practice balance, coordination, proper foot placement. This exaggerated movement helps develop better perception.

Practice balance, coordination and springness.

In this program, we're going to offer you a slightly different take on what's popularly referred to as Stretching, but what we refer to as Flexibility.

Let's round up a set of drills to give you a complete routine to do every day before you run.

And here is the Transition Phase. It's time to increase the amount of practical drills and exercises.

With the Pose Method

There are good elements in everyone's form so our goal is to eliminate the technique flaws that slow us down. Here we illustrate all of the possible variable and inefficiencies along the way.

It's now time to wrap-up the concept introduction portion of the program. Now that you're on week 4, you'll continue to learn about the invariable and variable elements of the running stride, as well as take time to re-assess your technique up to this point.

Lean backwards, leading with the upper body and run. It's a good way to feel your body weight leading your movement. Be careful not to lean too much, avoid moving your legs by throwing them backwards and don't twist your upper body to look back, just turn your head to see where you're going. Keep your arms compact yet relaxed, elbows bent at about 90 degree angle.

Practice the action of forward movement by falling forward from Pose position.

Practice the action of forward movement by falling forward. Let gravity pull you.

Practice change of support with minimum effort and minimum range of motion (ROM).

If marathons or ultras are in your future you must see this video. To run longer learn to do this simple move right. Check it out.

How to run faster? Think - falling. What does that mean? Watch the video.

It's simpler than you think. Injuries in running primarily stem from several factors. Correct those = prevent injuries.

Every runner may look different, but they unavoidably do three things in every stride. Did you know every single runner passes through the Running Pose?

You've heard us mention those three words before and in this week's installment of videos you will learn what they mean, why they are important and how they relate to running better, faster and longer.

This drill is an exaggeration of pulling under your hips. This will serve to help you better perceive actively pulling your foot underneath your hips, and to reinforce a proper landing pattern as your front foot is allowed to drop into position under its own weight, not by being forced down.

In athletics, coordination is king. This drill may seem easy, but it is actually much more difficult to execute than it looks. It's important to maintain a steady rhythm while raising the leg out to the side as high as possible.

As you're running, your feet may land in any number of directions. The toes in-and-out drill not only simulates these conditions, but helps strengthen and prepare your feet for any elements.

While we're on the topic of coordination, this may be the most challenging of them all. Almost everyone can "skip", but the more advanced version of this exercise, where both feet land simultaneously is one of the most difficult coordination drills in this program. This is a great starting point to help reinforce the idea of separating the "pulling" and "landing" actions as exact opposites of each

This is where you'll begin almost all of the warmup sessions moving forward in this transition program. A simple yet effective way to begin to engage the muscle-tendon elasticity component in your muscles and tendons that is essential to efficient running.

Here's your week 2 training schedule to improve your running.

Perception is at the root of our skill development. Going beyond just training our physiology, when we improve our perception of a given movement, we are able to "feel" even the slightest variation in our form and correct it accordingly and on the fly. The drills and exercises in this program are tailored toward enhancing your perception, and by extension, your running form.

Gravity is a central component of why we are able to run on Earth. Without it, we would be suspended in space. The hierarchy of movement as expressed by Dr. Romanov highlights the importance of Gravity and how it interacts with other key elements in order to achieve the final movement.

The transition program has a foundation of strength development drills and exercises that should be performed before every run. That is what week 2 is all about. Along with developing your strength, you will get an overview of the foundations of running so that you are able to identify what technique elements are occurring as you run.

More often than not, our shoes get in the way of our perception. This drill makes us more aware of where our body weight is centered when we stand and move around. Imagine your body weight as pressure moving around the bottom of your feet as you perform these drills.

The Running Pose is a very specific alignment of your body, where there is balance and potential energy to fall-forward. Thrusting your knees up (high knees in track and field), or performing butt kicks does not achieve the same results. Soon you'll be able to feel the difference in your running as these Pose drills will be prescribed with varying complexity throughout the program.

The Springness Position, is a position of readiness. Your joints should be unlocked and your body should be able to move in any direction at a moments notice, this is a foundational point that most of the drills will begin from.

Each week you will have a weekly training schedule. Take a look at how it'll be built for you

The most important aspect of our drills and exercises, is to understand that they are not meant to be performed perfectly, rather, they are design specifically as exaggerations of our movement in order to enhance our perception. By taking our body through motor patterns it would not normally go through, we learn the difference between efficient and inefficient movement.

Let's see how the Pose Method

How do you define running? Most runners describe themselves based on their foot strike (e.g. 'I'm a Heel Striker') and have painful associations with their running. Have you ever thought about what you really know about running? If you've ever looked up the definition of running in the dictionary, you'd find a description of something that doesn't necessarily correlate to teaching you how to run

Having a visual representation of your current running form will help evaluate your improvement through the program.

Learning a new skill takes time and diligence. This program provides systematic week by week instruction to improve your running. Lasting 12-weeks, the series provides a conceptual foundation of running, practical drills & exercises, as well as video analysis. Check out this video to get a bird's-eye view of the entire transition program, explaining how the 12 weeks are structured.