Lifting your feet higher costs LESS energy when running ?

Thank you for your recommendations, now they are also interested in this topic.

It's not bad. It's a little more complicated than what he leads on (but having experience as someone who has done running form tutorials on Youtube for the past 14 years, I'd say it is better to try to explain things in simplistic terms like he has).

The graphic demonstrations are good, he's got some fancy software to work with, and his analogies are on point enough. Also shot the video with good light and good sound which always helps with quality and less distractions in getting the message across.

This is a big reason why we have people do the whole "butt kick" drills (Even alternating feet while running forward slowly) to feel this difference in an exaggerated form/motor pattern . In one video I think I called it the "heel flick trick." Obviously "kicking your butt" while running slowly is inefficient, but at higher speeds (i.e. sprinting) you are going to shorten that lever arm (pendulum) for the forward swing (heel into butt/upper hammie) as much as possible.

The key point (and he did mention this at the end) is that it's quite dependent on running speed. We generally don't want to increase vertical oscillation of our center of mass, so focusing too much on this could result in a drop of Running Economy (efficiency) or cause activation of muscles that we don't want....if vertical oscillation is increased. So we don't want to be too ballistic with a "bouncy stride" and have a drop in running cadence as a result either. If the cadence (or stride rate) is kept in check that is one good thing. As he demonstrated in the video cadence increased closer to an ideal efficiency of around 180 steps/min (one's ideal cadence may be more in the range of 170 or 190 though)

We want to work with the body's skeletal muscular recoil and natural elasticity to gain efficiency essentially. It is a more natural effect of a "follow through" as the "lift on backswing" should be a more passive motion (compared to actual toe-off/pawback when we contact the ground). The real key is to keep that calf and heel closer to the hammie on the forward swing (which the whole "high knee cue" or "driving the knee forward" can help with). As he said it should be a "relaxed motion" though and not something you really want to overthink.

Doing some basic drills like "butt kicks" and "high knees" as well as regular Strides and some speed training generally will iron this out naturally.

Essentially "don't drag your feet"...especially on the forward swing.

Sage et al:

what nobody seems to cover well when discussing form is which actions in running are active vs passive. most seem to agree that an active, intentional focus on posture is a good thing when running, but I see little consensus on what we should actively do when running vs what we should allow to happen.

My experience is that a focus on the wrong intentional actions makes me much less “efficient,” but I’m not sure—even after 130k lifetime miles what the right things are to be doing actively.

Well, if you've run over 130k lifetime miles then you've run more than me! That's quite impressive.

Basically I wouldn't overthink it too much (unless one is getting injured all the time).

Running efficiency (economy) and your "best form" is going to iron itself out (and may not look "textbook perfect") if you have a balanced training approach with appropriate speed work and aerobic mileage base. And you're staying healthy of course.

If we do things poorly with bad running form (or develop some imbalance/weakness) we'll eventually know because it usually results not only in a loss of efficiency but an over-use injury.

Of course injuries can just be caused by things like low bone density (from low vitamin D etc) and a pre-disposition to certain impact forces....even with "good running form."

Like said though, it is a tricky balance between "trying to stay relaxed and loose and run faster" vs "trying to force more power and speed" with sheer muscular engagement or running form cues. You can be active with "thinking about a forward lean from the ankles" or "keeping the stride rate over 170 steps per minute" but that doesn't mean you want to be thinking about flexing or contracting any extra muscles or areas to force that kind of posture or cadence.

in all honesty, from what i have read n seen about the legends (autobios n likewise) non did drills or running techniques. they just ran, a lot. some did high mileage (70s) and some did more intense intervals (50s). some were naturally smooth runners (zatopek) whereas others were more like locomotives (bannister, herb elliott etc) maybe if you are top notch at the very elite level, it can make a difference. but for 99% of us hobbyjoggers, we are better off with just running.

but cheers to the guy for being a sweet swede. yi pi ka ye mf

I’m 52 with consistent training since I was 12 with a collegiate/sub-elite background. I’ve found that in the past 10 years/25-30k miles, my running form has degraded. I still run fast sessions and strength train. Aging is related, but more that than, I lack a cue or two to ground me. More YouTube running form videos makes me efficiency worse not better. I think a “focus” on “relaxation” is an oxymoron.

What body parts do y’all intentionally move? What do you do differently to go faster?

Here is what he didn't bring up and is what makes things so complicated.

The extra energy used to keep your foot closer to the ground is not wasted. It plays through the body to make the force your other foot hits the ground with greater and so increases your speed.

The proper question for endurance running is not which uses more energy but which gives the greater speed for the same energy (for sprinting it would just be which gives the greater speed; energy expenditure is not a criteria).

It is actually more complicated than that as you can measure higher VO2 max when it is measured doing something like cross country skiing rather than biking. Nominally because you are getting more muscles involved. So, in theory, even if a motion is less efficient, it might not be limiting the energy you can put into other muscles enough to hurt your racing (and might be helping). Unless it is a marathon, where conserving carbohydrates is a thing, so lowest overall energy would probably be better.

Bottom line is that is the best running form is complicated, will vary person to person and depends on the surface and the event (and these days the shoes).

Best way to get the most efficient gait is probably just to run a lot of miles at race pace in race shoes on the race surface and let your body figure it out.

got a nice chuckle out of this one

"some were naturally smooth runners (zatopek)..."

anyhow, you've got it mixed up in regards to who is best off "just running"

the 99% are the ones that needs their form cleaned up most

it's the 1% (technically quite a bit less than that actually) that are naturals who are most often messed up by an over-zealous coach who thinks they know the secret to great form; see Mary Cain & Salazar

hey Ex L, we prob would be agreeing on this if in person

just wanted to say that while "not thinking" would be best for vast majority of humanity, in practice the act of not thinking is virtually impossible while sober

anyhow, i tend to agree that those who work on their running form see little actual changes in their stride, even when they swear they've put so much time into doing just that

i once coached the top hs miler in the country. he'd been working with a private coach since 7th grade to improve his form. one day i found race footage of him back from 6th grade and his stride hadn't changed a bit from then until his senior year. literally identical.

psa: if you reeeeally want to change your running form in a meaningful way, you need to start by changing your walking form and posture when standing still. that's the very foundation of our running form.

this has been a lifelong quest of mine so i can confidently say that one of the major things that prevents most people from changing their posture, walking form, running form etc is in fact their ego: it's extremely uncomfortable to change one's posture because it makes us feel like everyone else notices the adjustment and surely thinks we look like a fool

Myth. If you could hop on one foot at 6 m/s and 3 steps per second cadence, you'd still have a 2 meter stride.

Stride length is a function of speed and cadence, not the legs somehow moving farther forward. It's generally slightly above 2m at a high performance level, but not much more. Sprinters with high back kick move faster by increasing their cadence to 4 or 5 steps per second, and have only a slightly higher stride length.

4 or 5 steps per second, compared to the normal 3 steps of middle to long distance running, is a 33% to 66% increase and enabled mainly by that high back kick. This is necessary because at their speeds the gait cycle has to spin faster, just like the wheel of a car.

Follow up: I've decided this guy is all about clickbait and is pretty misleading after watching this horrible video of his:

Misleading? Horrible? Would you like to elaborate?

This guy has running technique & biomechanics as his job. He's been helping hundreds (maybe thousand) runners, both hobby-joggers to elite runners, to IMPROVEtheir individual technique! If you think he is looking for clickbait you are wrong Sage. Yes, he sometimes seems a little bit "loopy" in his way to describe things (especially when he's in the spotlight) but that's his image. He is a professional guy, highly competence helping people improve their running technique in a more efficient way.

intentionally move the head

everything below it follows that lead

think of yourself as a jelly-fish (now our central nervous system) that evolved into a snake (now our spine) that evolved into a human (AI's future foundation?, but i digress).

you want to focus on relaxation in the same sense you seamlessly follow someone's lead while dancing

In this video he simply says that "leaning forward from the ankles is BS" and then shows pictures of people running mid-flight (in the air) and says "where is the ankle lean?".... This was after showing pictures of people on toe-off with ankle flexion/forward lean. Watch the video. I think it's terribly misleading.

The point is that regarding a photo taken at that point where the toe is just about to leave the ground, it is arbitrary to draw the line through that back leg which has pretty close to zero force on the ground.

This advice could be worse. Cues slow me down.

i thought you were looking for a cue or two, no?

it's not an "arbitrary line".....it would be a line exactly showing the kind of forward lean one should have at toe-off with their body mass relative to the ground and illustrating ankle flexion. When you start to plantar flex and are toeing off (think big toe power) there is absolutely more than "zero force on the ground" being applied by the push-off leg!

Most people are going to interpret his advice as deliberately lifting their leg higher, which is unlikely to be more economical than one’s natural leg lift for a fixed pace, rather than as a cue or passive indicator of an already stronger runner.

Most experienced runners drag their feet or shuffle because their muscles are fatigued and can’t do more, but the fraction of people who have a decent length of running experience and are still suboptimally dragging their feet even when fresh and will benefit from deliberately trying to butt kick more is probably minuscule because it is difficult to sustain that dragging form for long as your body naturally pushes you towards more economy and strengthening of your hams and glutes as needed to support that more economical form.