Olympic Runner Knocks Off Chi Running/POSE

Another interesting piece of the puzzle:

Not only does Olympian Grant Robison teach and profit from running form...

He promotes MINIMAL shoes.

http://www.newbalance.com/performance/running/good-form-running/

An OLYMPIC MINIMALIST.

I thought that was an oxymoron.

1) Robison is retired from competition, thus what he does now has nothing to do with his competing in the Olympics.

2) He's obviously figured this is how he'll make his money after retiring as an athlete. Much like Galloway, he's found a niche market to exploit. Doesn't really mean there's automatic merit to what he claims just because he went to the Olympics once, years ago.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:

1) Robison is retired from competition, thus what he does now has nothing to do with his competing in the Olympics.

2) He's obviously figured this is how he'll make his money after retiring as an athlete. Much like Galloway, he's found a niche market to exploit. Doesn't really mean there's automatic merit to what he claims just because he went to the Olympics once, years ago.

Doesn't matter. The point is it disproves the sweeping generalizations that NO olympic runners care about form or minimalism.

How many olympic runners and coaches talking about form is it going to take to convince you nitwits that FORM MATTERS.

The 70s were a long time ago. Just run doesn't cut it anymore.

He knows there are idiots everywhere who will buy into it and run 25 minute 5k's.

laughingostrich wrote:

He knows there are idiots everywhere who will buy into it and run 25 minute 5k's.

For every idiot on letsrun who claims to run a sub-15 5K, there are a thousand non-letsrunners who can run 5K in 25 minutes, and have job, a personality, and a spouse. Which do think is a better market?

before real wrote:

Doesn't matter. The point is it disproves the sweeping generalizations that NO olympic runners care about form or minimalism.

Galloway proved that Olympic marathoners care about walking.

Admittedly, he finished 241st at club nationals the other weekend.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:

1) Robison is retired from competition, thus what he does now has nothing to do with his competing in the Olympics.

2) He's obviously figured this is how he'll make his money after retiring as an athlete. Much like Galloway, he's found a niche market to exploit. Doesn't really mean there's automatic merit to what he claims just because he went to the Olympics once, years ago.

If you read the article, you can see that your statement is incorrect. He was working on making these changes in his own form when he was still competing, well before retiring.

What Grant is doing for a living is no different from any other former Olympian's professional pursuits (post-competition). Whether it's sales, retail, coaching, writing, speaking, announcing, etc., they love the sport and their position is one where they can build successful careers within the industry.

It seems, too, that the "Good Form Running" approach, while certainly not entirely original, is packaged in a way that makes things easy to understand for beginners. There's no book to read, no drills to practice day-in and day-out, no physiological mumbo-jumbo...it's all very simplistic. Furthermore, there's nothing that suggests what type of footwear to use while practicing good form...it just so happens that he is wearing a minimalistc shoe in the promo clip.

Grant's a great guy...very humble, very personable, and very altruistic...I strongly doubt this is a venture he is undertaking to get rich at the expense of the 25 minute 5ker. And if he does? So be it.

Best of luck to Grant with Good Form Running...I am sure he will be as successful as other former Olympians have been in their career undertakings.

Tadpole Ferguson wrote:

Another interesting piece of the puzzle:

Not only does Olympian Grant Robison teach and profit from running form...

He promotes MINIMAL shoes.

http://www.newbalance.com/performance/running/good-form-running/

An OLYMPIC MINIMALIST.

I thought that was an oxymoron.

Actually the real oxymoron would be the overweight novice jogging minimalist.

Most Olympic and elite level runners do a lot of training in racing flats. How do I know? From going to Oregon track camp back in the 80's. And yes we worked on "form" back then also with Bill Dellinger and Pat Tyson, though the form was for middle distances.

This from one of the biggest sham artists around.

Tadpole Ferguson wrote:Another interesting piece of the puzzle:

Not only does Olympian Grant Robison teach and profit from running form...

He promotes MINIMAL shoes.

http://www.newbalance.com/performance/running/good-form-running/

An OLYMPIC MINIMALIST.

I thought that was an oxymoron.

Full moon again already? Just when I thought we'd seen it all on the Elites don't heelstrike thread and the Imaginary barefoot 1/2 marathon thread...

before real wrote:

Doesn't matter. The point is it disproves the sweeping generalizations that NO olympic runners care about form or minimalism.

How many olympic runners and coaches talking about form is it going to take to convince you nitwits that FORM MATTERS.

The 70s were a long time ago. Just run doesn't cut it anymore.

Can you nitwits point me to where there are sweeping generalizations that that NO olympic runners care about form or minimalism?

Where?

Hey, I do all these things and I run like Chit!

Therefore, they definitely work!

I'm going to write a new book about how you too,

can Run Like Chit if you do the same things that I do!

I'm wondering why you think:

- Olympians generally don't care about form

- Olympians aren't minimalist

- Why POSE would be good form, or the only example of good form

Form has long been a fundamental topic of concern among top athletes and their coaches. Lydiard talked about developing good form as far back as the 1960's. Anyone who does sprint drills, or any work to improve efficiency, and economy, are basically concerned with improving form.

Ever since form became a huge topic for discussion people have used the argument "elites don't care about form...they just run"

"just run baby" is an infamous letsrun quote that illustrates the attitude of many that form will take care of itself and conscious changes to gait are useless.

The recent news about ritz changing his form has provided much debate. There is a huge impressionthat ritz is the only elite working on his form.

Regardless of what has happened in elite running circles, form has NOT been taught to the masses until the recent books on form such as pose, chi, evolution etc. Agree with them or not, they are the first to bring the importance of form to the masses. Sure lydiard may have mentioned form sporadically as did a few others. The point is: pose/chi/evolution placed form in it's rightful place: FIRST work on your technique, THEN add more distance. For years people have done it backwards: distance first, hope/pray form takes care of itself second(which it rarely ever does without conscious attention placed on the stride)

Many people have flowed this advice and gotten hurt, then told to get certain shoes, and finally told they are just not "made" for running. By working on technique, many of these runners are running again.

I expect there will be a lot more of these technique copycats, which is ironic considering the old paradigm was "form doesn't matter"

Can you show us where someone said "form doesn't matter"? Do you have some evidence to support your theory that technique should be mastered before running more or you will get injured? How many is many when you say that many of these runners are running again?

I am Grants Cat Lucy, he makes me do drills over and over!

He is not making any money, I am often shipped off to other runners homes just to eat. This has hurt my form as I gain weight when fed. Grant often yells at strangers out the window who are not leaning into their strides.

Love LUcy

Get off letsrun.com and craigslist in the back of marathon sports and_ help some customers, Schendel. Jesus.

Lucy wrote:

I am Grants Cat Lucy, he makes me do drills over and over!

He is not making any money, I am often shipped off to other runners homes just to eat. This has hurt my form as I gain weight when fed. Grant often yells at strangers out the window who are not leaning into their strides.

Love LUcy