VIDEO OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU RUN IN MINIMALIST SHOES

Once you get to my website scroll down just a little bit to find the links to the video (it's right near the top).

Does anyone here have any thoughts / suggestions after watching the video. I know that my left foot tends to cross over my body's center line while running (as is demonstrated from the rear shot), should I attempt to change this or just run naturally?

NO

Your point is that your stride is better? it isn't. it's exactly the same, with less of a heel on the shoe. Thats it. By the way, YOUR FORM IS HORRIBLE.

Eh, perhaps your shoelaces aren't tight enough in the before video.

You need to do some serious core strength work, and loads of stretching through your hips...you seriously lack and extension through the hips. You might also benefit from some skipping and bounding exercises to give you some knee drive, you are just shuffling along in that at video.

That was the worst example of anything. You were simulating your stride. You look like a hacker too.

I don't even know the point of what you were trying to get across? Was it that you have run more so that your stride has improved(although not much), but improved through running more!!!! wow what a find!!

Not easy to have full stride on a treadmill.

You said you could feel different muscles get tired rather quickly. Did you think that might be because you had not run in 6 weeks? Just a thought!

I haven't viewed the video yet (too slow on the dialup), but maybe your form isn't up to par if you're coming back from a break. I even noticed a chance in biomechanics in my second pair of Puma H Streets verses the first pair because of a difference in wear pattern. My form was very sloppy for the first month in the Pumas but smoothed out as I learned to control how I landed; I got an extra 150 miles out of my second pair of Puma H Streets. What would be interesting is to see if you could get video clips a month from now, two months from now, etc.... Not sure if you know this, but you can pause the videos at certain phases, copy, paste to Word, and compare form.

The video wasn't entirely clear, but it looked like the "before" and "after" shots were both shown with the same shoe?

Thanks jaguar. Yes, my form has probably suffered a little due to the lapse in training. I am going to continue to videotape myself so that I can get a better comparison in a month or two.

Guest_of_Letsrun wrote:

The video wasn't entirely clear, but it looked like the "before" and "after" shots were both shown with the same shoe?

Yes, sorry I wasn't clear enough in the first post. The entire video was shot yesterday. When I hopped on the treadmill yesterday it was my first time wearing H-streets. When I began running I noticed that I had to adapt my stride so that I wasn't pounding the ground (or treadmill in this case). When I heard/felt the difference I decided to videotape myself so that I could check it out afterwards. After watching the video I noticed that my foot was impacting the ground in the midfoot area as opposed to the heel with my old stride. Just an observation that I thought some others would want to see in case they were considering trying minimalist shoes.

Self-fulfilling prophecy...?

Interesting video. What I would be interested in seeing is you doing the same thing in trainers. In others words could you the same foot strike in trainers as you do with your good foot strike in the H-streets.

Probably the most interesting thing to me, was the stability of your heel strike with your good stride, almost no movement of the heel after it hit the ground, or may I should see significantly less movement then from your bad foot strike.

It reminded me of the article in Running Times (jaguar mentioned it in another post) by Yessis about "pawing" vs "braking".

Didn't look that bad. You are overstriding and spending too much time on support. Work on quickening your cadence, pulling your feet from support quicker, and leaning forward at the hips a little more, which should help get you more on your forefoot. Thanks for posting that clip -- pretty cool.

Ok, I'm a little confused. For the first clip, when was this taken (when you first stepped on the treadmill)? For the second clip, when was this taken (after you had adapted to the shoes)?

jaguar1 wrote:

Ok, I'm a little confused. For the first clip, when was this taken (when you first stepped on the treadmill)? For the second clip, when was this taken (after you had adapted to the shoes)?

Sorry jaguar. Yes, I took both clips yesterday during the same run (which was my first time wearing H-streets). As soon as I started running I noticed that my heels were striking the treadmill very hard (old stride), so I altered my stride a little bit (new stride) to compensate. I could hear (less of a thud) and feel the difference immediately, so that's why I decided to videotape myself. Does this help at all? Thanks to everyone who contributed positive feedback. I have had a few lower leg injuries over the last year and I am hoping to change that by running more efficiently. Your input is greatly appreciated.

zubrek wrote:

Interesting video. What I would be interested in seeing is you doing the same thing in trainers. In others words could you the same foot strike in trainers as you do with your good foot strike in the H-streets.

It reminded me of the article in Running Times (jaguar mentioned it in another post) by Yessis about "pawing" vs "braking".

When I did my video clips (outside on the track), I compared barefoot to shod (in trainers); whereas the landing was flatfooted while barefoot, the landing while shod was still on the heel. This is quite simply a matter of adaptive strategy and may have to do with the extent of heel lift on the shoe. I have yet to get a video clip while in flats, but I'll work on this in the spring.

And you're right.... you could definitely notice the "pawback" in the "new" form, especially in the slowed down version. The leg starts to move backwards before landing so that the landing is midfoot and under the bodies center of gravity. With the "old" form, the foot lands much further away from center of gravity on the heel. Amazing!