How would improve a young runners form

I’d recommend videos, like filming her run and then showing someone with good form to compare. At least that’s what worked for me, I used to be overly vertical and twisty with my arms but after seeing my form on video I was able to change it. As for drills, banana hurdles and sitting arm drives are good from what I’ve heard and experienced.

Why you coach and have no idea about form? Running is a skill. Can nowadays every one be a coach?

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Could just be the way she runs.

everyone has a different gait based on their unique bone structure - sometimes trying to teach an athlete to achieve “correct” form just makes them tense up to try reach that form that looks great but isn’t natural to them.

better to make sure they’re doing some strength training - and if the form is still unsightly, who cares?

Middle schoolers are a challenge because they are growing quickly, hitting puberty, etc. So sometimes it has to do with muscular development/strength and adapting to a rapidly-changing body.

We usually work on refining the basic form drills that simulate good running form - A skip, B skip, etc. But start with slow, methodical movements. So A walk, B walk, etc. That helps figure out opposite arm/leg movements too. We talk about arm carriage and swing - those are easy to coach while they are running. I like the suggestion of sitting running drills to isolate and emphasize arm swing. But in general, start with really slow movements.

This is a good response. Once those are mastered and a regular part of a 'training' day, running over wickets (mini-hurdles) can also make a big impact on helping a runner 'organize' their running form. have them go over mini-hurdles (or even just evenly spaced sticks or tape on the ground) holding a rope or band overhead. Have them go over them holding something out in front of them. Have them run over them fast. Have them sprint uphill. Record it and let them watch it back. Lots of kids will self correct and reorganize without much cueing needed.

Form is best corrected by experience and more miles under the feet IMO.

If the athlete is doing strides, strength work, and a good (but appropriate for their age) amount of mileage their body will naturally find the most efficient way to run.

Ive always ran with Clayton Murphy arms (elbows out, not tons of movement until I get to faster speeds), my highschool coaches tried to fix it and it made me tense up and ultimately slower as another poster referenced. Sometimes ones most efficient running form isn’t what looks ideal.

Worry about something else. Honestly.

Worry about volume (too high or too low). Worry about the type and frequency of workouts. Worry about sufficient rest. Worry about how often they race. Worry if they're running, but seem to hate it.

I'm fairly sure that you don't know enough about biomechanics to "fix" her form. And frankly, given the number of high profile form change efforts of elite runners over the decades, I'm not sure that ANYONE does.

A long time runner/fan is certain about a few things: Great and/or injury free runners come in many and varied very "unappealing" gaits. And accumulated mileage certainly appears to eventually take the edge off of a lot of particular ungainliness. But again, even at that, there are LOTS of world class distance runners that "look" inelegant.

I'll also add that motivation and time are limited resources for the vast majority of people. Putting in decent volume and getting through workouts can easily be hard enough. Giving the (I believe inaccurate) message to middle school runners that part and parcel of getting better at running is spending all kinds of times doing drills is a good way to push more kids away from distance running.

Seriously, worry about something else.

Disagree with most of what you wrote, but I'll address this in particular. With the teams I coach, I can't remember a single complaint or any kids that have quit because we did too many drills. Some don't take it very seriously, but that's OK. With a large team, we understand that some kids are there for fun & socializing and some are serious.

We do drills and dynamics, plus basic body weight strength & flexibility stuff. It's part of our team culture. Older runners help younger runners. We coach that efficient is fast. Everything we do is geared toward being complete runners and self-improvement. They understand the value because they see the results in themselves and their teammates.

Which drills are your middle school team complaining about?

A few thoughts:

- Just because no one complains, doesn't mean that you know what they're thinking. And I'm not suggesting that an appreciable number would quit because of drills. But again, at any age, motivation and effort and energy are all finite things. Make the to-do list longer and/or items more burdensome, and something falls off the plate.

- Team culture. Just because you've decided that it's part of your team culture doesn't mean that it's athletically valuable. You could make eating popcorn or singing songs or talking about particle physics part of the culture, too.

- "We coach that efficient is fast. Everything we do is geared toward being complete runners and self-improvement. They understand the value because they see the results in themselves and their teammates."

Sorry, but is just kind of meaningless gobbley-gook. What's a "complete runner"? One that does drills? Does self-improvement (whatever exactly that means?) require drills? They "understand the value" of what? If we're talking about the proven or evident value of drills, they surely don't know.

I've been running fairly seriously for nearly half a century. What is there? The enjoyment of running. And performance. One can SURELY enjoy running without spending time on drills. And if we're looking at the pie chart of what contributed to Susie beating Jenny's butt every race this year, that pie is made up MOSTLY of talent, volume, and quality (and maybe I'd throw in proper rest). The benefit of drills is a tiny sliver, if it's there at all.

So again, you can make anything part of your team's culture. But that's not proof that it's athletically important.

My kid struggles with running form. One thing that the youth club coach taught years back was to think “socket to pocket” to control the arms. Just a very basic mantra to play on repeat and at least be aware of where the limbs are going.

The little banana hurdle drills also helped.

As stated above add hills.

Exactly! I know of a guy... a logistics manager (at least when he began coaching), husband, and father with no running experience. He decided to coach his own kids. He and his wife eventually had seven kids. You would think he had better things to do than coach, even if he knew how to coach.

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Now sons 2, 3, and 5 are all European Champions. Son 2 was an Olympic 1500m finalist (in 2012), placing 5th. Son 3 has a World Championships (in 2017) bronze for 1500m. And Son 5 has an Olympic gold for 1500m (in 2021 ("2020 Olympics")). They currently have PRs for 1500m of 3:28.32 (son 5), 3:30.01 (son 3), and 3:31.46 (son 2).

I generally agree with this. Form mostly gets ironed out by running lots and lots of miles at a wide variety of paces. If the runner has an obvious strength issue (e.g. hip drop indicative of weak glut med/min) or if they have a structural issue (significant leg length imbalance), these are obviously things you need to actively fix. Otherwise, the right prescription is a few thousand more miles of running.

Ingebrigsten.

First i think, this thread is a setup.

Second, as a coach you have a responsibility to the person you coach. Especially for kids! OP writes in a way which indicates little or even zero knowledge about form. This is unacceptable. Especially kids are vulnerable persons.

Third, if you teach you should know your business. You should not teach something if you have no training/education to do so. Especially nowadays there is a lot more information available as several years ago.

I am out here.

whether you have a small or large turnout, i'd recommend working on body movement patterns with all the kids, not just the one that has a good attitude about learning. i've been there and i know that it's hard to not give more attention to those most receptive to it, but it's still something to work towards as a coach. having favorites is normal and ok, but try not to let the kids be aware of it.

also consider that this girl will move in a very similar way no matter what activity she is doing; walking, running, dancing, sitting, standing, throwing a ball, etc.

point being you don't need to focus exclusively on running-specific drills to move better as a runner.

how would i personally improve a young athlete/runners form? i'd teach them how to walk and breathe properly in addition to doing some bodyweight resistance training before moving on to running drills. but i can tell that's not really your jam, so i'd just recommend bodyweight strength/resistance training at this point, which helps with coordination quite a bit.

Running form is overrated.

Wasn't there a study where good coaches couldn't tell who was the better runner while looking at their running form?

Thanks for the compliments, friend!

The OP is asking for advice on middle school running. I currently coach middle school runners during XC season plus middle and HS runners during summer and club seasons. I've coached all ages of youth runners. I figured maybe I could help out a fellow coach and runner.

We do the same kinds of things that pros, college, and HS teams do. Molly Seidel, Des, Rupp, and Cole Hocker do things that we do. Top SEC, Big 10 teams, and post-collegiate runners that I've been around do the things we do. Newbury Park and our HS team do the kinds of things we do. I personally do the things I coach.

Buy hey, I'm open to new ideas that would be more "athletically important". If you can provide something constructive to this conversation, I'd love to hear it.

Yes! 100% hills will help with form.

I also like short sprints 50-200m. In both situations, runners naturally self-correct their form to get fast and efficient. Short duration encourages focus and concentration throughout.