what kind of exercises and drills? thanks for sharing
what kind of exercises and drills? thanks for sharing
as difficult as it is to bring myself to do this, i have to agree with john smallberries.in most cases core, hip/glute work will help immensely.
John Smallberries wrote:
Adductor is driving too hard, probably because of pronation or misaligned hips and weak or disengaged hip flexor and glute. Strength work on the hip/glute is the key.
squats - with proper form done with a broomstick then work up to a bar and some weight.
dead lift
kettlebell swings
various planks prone, supine, bird dog, dart, superman.
And this is a problem because??????
I got a hunch that if you don't have the knowledge to correct the problem, then you don't have the knowledge to diagnose it either.
Hey! I do that too! I used to have really exaggerated toeing-in, but I worked on it a lot and now it is only bad toward the end of races. I have found that hip strengthening definitely helped me and also just concentrating on keeping my ankle flexed when I toe off (it feels like my ankle just collapses to the outside if that makes sense.) For me, the problem also gets better with higher mileage, probably because I'm getting more efficient.
Anyway, it made me happy to see that this form abnormality is something that even really fast runners have. It is encouraging to see that you don't necessarily have to be graceful to be fast.
wet & soggy wrote:
We saw potential in her in 8th grade and wanted to fix the flaw in her form as soon as possible. She regressed a little at first, but who cares in 8th grade. The older years were what counted. She has never had an injury because she still sees the PT guy every week to train and work on form drills.
Great to hear. I think more runners should work on their mechanics, the same way athletes in other sports work on theirs. Patience, caution, etc - small, consistent improvements over a long time.
Suggestion for trying to fix something like what's in the OP photo - start by trying to walk on a treadmill while watching leg action in a mirror. Note in the photo how the knee is turned in - everyone watches the foot, but it's actually caused by the rotation of the upper leg bone (turned in) in the hip socket. Try to keep the knee pointed straight ahead through the entire stride.
lay on the ground and have someone take your foot and rotate your leg outward. You will see how much less rotation you will get on the pigeon toed leg. also that same leg will get more turn inward and this is because of the position of the femur head in the hip socket. great job to the parent who had his daughter start working on this from 8th grade. I would guess it's very important to start doing the key exercises at a young age before a lot of miles are run and the body is still growing. and it its left leg only before a lot of track running.
u r stupider wrote:
soup ur stupid wrote:"OFF" as in off the ground, and as stupid put it post toe off.
Get it stupid?
No, I don't get it. What's wrong with, "The rotation occurs post-toe-off"?
I know you're just busting my chops because nobody could possibly be that stupid but just in case you are in fact that stupid let me advise you to go back and read the op. Then go to the "r u blind" post which responded by criticizing the op when refering to the rotation occuring at "toe off" in which he (r u blind) calls it "post-toe-off". My response was mearly pointing out they were basically saying the same thing thus there was no need to correct the op in the first place. I was correcting the corrector. Get it now? If not then please shoot yourself "mouth off" or "post mouth off"
Thanks for the props. She came to us and said I love this sport and want to do this forever. We looked at her and said great, but we need to get help on your form. She didn't even realize she was doing it until we showed her pictures that we had taken of her in a race. She was shocked herself. She was so open to trying to do anything to fix it within reason. Not going to lie it cost us some money but keeping her injury free and then getting a full scholarship to a DI school with a very stong distance program was great. We invested in her and it paid off. She also see a chiropractor once a week to help keep her in alignment. She tends to pull up on the one side and her leg lenths go off. She is less out of alignment then in the past onces we addressed the weakness with the PT.
People keep talking about this being a muscular problem that can be corrected, but just looking at him standing there, this looks skeletal and like something that can't/shouldn't be changed (right knee turned in):
http://runningtimes.com/rt/images/200903/College_KinsellaPortland3.jpg
So maybe he has to flail his right foot out to get the knee to be "straight forward". Who's to say attempting to "correct" this would make him faster/more efficient?
http://runningtimes.com/rt/images/200903/College_KinsellaPortland2.jpg
I remember reading several years ago about how they tried correct Bill Rodgers arm swing, but it actually made his oxygen consumption go up! They said he did it to correct for a deficiency in his lower body. Each individual is built differently and moves a certain way to be the most efficient. I agree that we can often find our most efficient stride, simply through lots and lots of miles (even if that means some not-so-pretty form).
As someone who has run with Kinsella here and there throughout the years, I'm pretty sure he has mentioned core/hip/adductor strength being part of his routine... Back in high school he looked even worse, if that's imaginable. To the posters who say that his form is like Al, Abdi, etc., I would give a hesitant "yes", but I don't think this means he's better off for it. His body has found ways to run fast despite it, but his long-term potential has been shot because of how many injuries stem from it.
He's said he's always had this knock-kneed, massive internal-rotation motion, ever since he was a kid. As another poster mentioned, I think he was born with it...
My feet kind of point out like Time Nelson's do in this pic. Really bad on the right foot. Not sure that anything can be done about it. It just seems like I have always ran duckfooted.
http://runningtimes.com/rt/images/200805/USXC_Men_Finish.jpg
OlderSlowerDude wrote:
My feet kind of point out like Time Nelson's do in this pic. Really bad on the right foot. Not sure that anything can be done about it. It just seems like I have always ran duckfooted.
http://runningtimes.com/rt/images/200805/USXC_Men_Finish.jpg
I meant Tim Nelson of course.
Still stupid wrote:
I know you're just busting my chops because nobody could possibly be that stupid but just in case you are in fact that stupid let me advise you to go back and read the op. Then go to the "r u blind" post which responded by criticizing the op when refering to the rotation occuring at "toe off" in which he (r u blind) calls it "post-toe-off". My response was mearly pointing out they were basically saying the same thing thus there was no need to correct the op in the first place. I was correcting the corrector. Get it now? If not then please shoot yourself "mouth off" or "post mouth off"
Toe-off occurs the instant the foot leaves the ground. The next few moments are considered "post-toe-off" just as the moments immediately prior to toe-off are usually referred to as "pre-toe-off."
The OP refers to a rotation occuring "at toe off." More accurately, the rotation begins at toe-off and continues post-toe-off (as illustrated in the linked photo).
If it works why change it?
jaguar1 wrote:
Each individual is built differently and moves a certain way to be the most efficient. I agree that we can often find our most efficient stride, simply through lots and lots of miles (even if that means some not-so-pretty form).
Agreed. This is not a flaw any more than Paula Radcliffe's head bobbing is a flaw. Too many coaches think they know what perfect form is when, in fact, they do not. Perfect form is highly individualized. Any attempt to correct these types of idosyncrasies seems to invariably lead to a reduction of economy and possibly injury. Leave it alone. Put in the mileage and your body will find its' most efficient movement pattern.
