anyone was able to switch from running on heel to toe?

BFF wrote:

Yeah sorry, English is not my first language.

To me it looks as if the heel only touches the ground as an afterthought - the loading of the achilles/calf has already happened totally before the heel touch. And yes, his heel lifts so quick.

In a lot of cases where midfoot landing is being "marketed", the advice seems to be to let the heel come down, fully load the back foot with your weight, and then sort of muscle yourself and your foot from heel to toe. It becomes sort of a double landing, too slow, too much time on the ground.

I think Mosop doesnt even wear zero drop shoes in that video. I wonder what it would look like to see him running without shoes.

Somewhere online I recall a study of elite runners showing foot strike pressure points from initial contact to push off. I recall little difference for forefoot versus midfoot strikers and pressure that passed through the heel once it made contact.

If you look at calves of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners they are like sticks. If big strong calves or the secret to good running form then western Europeans should be crushing the Africans.

BFF wrote:

I always find this video to be pure forefoot porn. Moses Mosop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMgIViinuQ

His heel goes down, but it only barely touches the ground.

Also, note that his left and right footstrike are not identical. His right foot comes down on the outside edge (5th metatarsal) and his left foot comes down flat on the ball of foot.

Question: Which is right? Answer: Both footstrikes are correct. You should land whichever way feels more natural to you.

When the foot initially comes down, the foot and leg aren't tensed at all. The foot hits and collapses naturally on the heel. The heel contact loads the Achilles as the foot moves behind the body for a spring-like response.

The "push" comes from the leg extending to the rear and the glutes. The calf push only comes from the calf muscles in the final sprint of a distance event (or in the case of the 800m, pretty much the whole race! :)

Okay, interesting, guys.

I didn't mean to say/ imply that you should run with the calves. But when you hop in place, it doesn't feel as if the loading only begins after heel contact.

I don't know if it is a function of speed. I am very slow, and not only by lets run standards :)

But if I look at race videos of myself from a 10k, I cringe at my ridiculously long contact time. During the race it feels as if I am very quick on my feet but when looking it back my feet are too much plantar flexed before stance, so it takes ages for my heel to touch the ground.

That is what happens when I dont pre-tense my foot/calf - there is too much plantarflexion, hanging foot. I don't see Mosop's [or Rudisha's] feet hanging so there seems to be some deliberate tension to keep the feet neutral during swing the phase?

jumbomo wrote:

I land on my heel but I want to change to either flat foot or on my toes.

anyone transitioned successfully to doing this? all tips are appreciated !

I went from heel to mid foot and it was the worst running mistake I ever made. I was largely indestructible as a heel striker. After switching I've had nothing but knee trouble and i can't seem to switch back. I think it's a mistake to force your feet to do something they don't naturally do.

HRE wrote:

I went from heel to mid foot and it was the worst running mistake I ever made. I was largely indestructible as a heel striker. After switching I've had nothing but knee trouble and i can't seem to switch back.

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. I've tought many people a more 'barefoot style' (for lack of a better word) running form and it has helped most of them a great deal.

You are right when you say that not everybody reacts positively to change, it takes time, dedication, some trial and error and individual adjustments to realy get the best result.

HRE wrote:

I think it's a mistake to force your feet to do something they don't naturally do.

That's a fallacy. You don't 'naturally' overstrike and land on your heel, that's a result of overly cushioned shoes with raised heels (and the running form people have had ingrained in their minds the last 40 years or so by magazines etc.). So yes, we have come at a point where many people have to learn how to run more naturally, however strange that may sound.

Straight leg calf raises won't help much. You can try high reps with bent knees and do them eccentrically. Jumping rope will also be helpful in prepping your calves. Regardless, proceed slowly. When i did it, i was running 30 miles a week. 1st run of 2 miles in minimalist shoes focusing on not heel striking took me out of running for a week and even walking comfortably for a few days.

HRE wrote:

I went from heel to mid foot and it was the worst running mistake I ever made. I was largely indestructible as a heel striker. After switching I've had nothing but knee trouble and i can't seem to switch back. I think it's a mistake to force your feet to do something they don't naturally do.

I too tried to switch from a heel strike to a midfoot and suffered a stress fracture in my 3rd metatarsal. I was out for about 5 weeks. I believe the 'barefoot' running style is the most efficient and natural, although impractical for the average runner because of the very hard surfaces we run on. There have been studies done that prove no difference in injuries for a self-selected midfoot vs. heel striker, and for the average runner a midfoot strike does not improve times drastically, so I see no point in trying especially if there is a risk of injury.

I made the switch from being very much a heal striker to a midfoot runner and made a lot of mistakes along the way. I think I'm a better runner for it, however, it took years to get back to where I was and for some people (like HRE) it may not be worth it in the end. If you are having success currently, I wouldn't necessary recommend the switch but if you do intend to go for it, here are couple points of advice:

1) Moving your footstrike forward shifts stresses lower in the leg. This is a good thing if you've been plauged by problems in the hips, ITB, back etc, however, it will be a shock to your achilles tendons, metatarsals etc. As has been mentioned, I'd recommend calf raises, however, with the emphasis on the eccentric (stretching) component. This is good for rehabbing achilles tendonopathy. I'd recommend doing them preemptively. I'd also recommend taking a cal/mag/zinc/D suppliment. Studies have shown that adaquet calcium greatly lessens the incidence of stress fractures in military recruits.

2) Avoid uncushioned minimalist shoes on hard surfaces. Pretty much everyone I know that switched exclusively to Vibrams has had at least one metarsal stress fracture. Many also end up with achilles problems. The problem with these shoes is that they niether let your feet feel the ground coming on footstrike nor provide cushioning to protect the leg from the jarring of impact. Run barefoot when you can and in zero or low-drop (

[my long post above clipped]

2) Avoid uncushioned minimalist shoes on hard surfaces. Pretty much everyone I know that switched exclusively to Vibrams has had at least one metarsal stress fracture. Many also end up with achilles problems. The problem with these shoes is that they niether let your feet feel the ground coming on footstrike nor provide cushioning to protect the leg from the jarring of impact. Run barefoot when you can and in zero or low-drop (

[apparently you shouldn't type a less-than symbol]

2) Avoid uncushioned minimalist shoes on hard surfaces. Pretty much everyone I know that switched exclusively to Vibrams has had at least one metarsal stress fracture. Many also end up with achilles problems. The problem with these shoes is that they niether let your feet feel the ground coming on footstrike nor provide cushioning to protect the leg from the jarring of impact. Run barefoot when you can and in zero or low-drop (less then 5mm) drop but cusioned shoes on roads (e.g. racing flats).

3) Run barefoot on challenging surfaces to teach form. Running on grass is great but it is too forgiving to unteach bad habits. Overstriding may be the worst of these habits and running on a slightly gritty dirt surface will quickly teach you not to overstride.

The common definition of overstriding as contacting the ground ahead of your center of mass is wrong by the way. Eveyone makes contact ahead of their center of mass. You are overstriding if your foot does not match the horizontal speed of the ground at the moment of impact. In a proper stride, your foot goes ahead then is pulled backward at the same velocity as the ground is receeding. The foot then hits the ground without scuffing. You can scuff barefoot on grass but will quickly find a way not to do it on a rough surface.

jumbomo wrote:

I land on my heel but I want to change to either flat foot or on my toes.

anyone transitioned successfully to doing this? all tips are appreciated !

Yes. Take a look at this image:

On the left, there is Moses Mosop.

Look at the position of his right foot. Is almost perpendicular on the ground when he passes on front of the left leg.

From that position is impossible to land on heel, unless you are dancing.

For a heel striker this transition will be very demanding with the hips, so I recommend adding squats in the program.

Most posting here who are injured switching to a midfoot/forefoot strike might be doing it wrong.

You can't simply start landing on your forefoot/midfoot and continue to overstride (what most heel strikers do). That will result in sore calves, metatarsal stress fractures, etc. You need to move your foot strike closer to your center of gravity.

Do this test: Stand up and do little jumps straight into the air. Play around with landing on your forefoot and then midfoot. Try landing on your heels and note how uncomfortable this is (heel strike is comfortable only when landing in front of your knee, aka overstriding).

Choose which feels most comfortable from the test (forefoot or midfoot). Jog slowly and reproduce this feeling. To run faster use hip extension and push off harder. Make sure you are landing with your lower leg vertical and your heel roughly under your knee.

If running on asphalt/concrete don't wear minimalist shoes.

Try doing some barefoot lunge jumps on mats, landing on the forefoot as well as single leg deadlifts on a balance cushion. These two exercises have helped me tremendously in making the transition. A skips and B skips as well as all out sprinting should also help. Avoid shoes with too much cushioning as they tend to destabilize the body. One last hint: don't wear socks as they make the foot slide.

jumbomo wrote:

I land on my heel but I want to change to either flat foot or on my toes.

anyone transitioned successfully to doing this? all tips are appreciated !

Yeah I was able to accomplish this a couple of years ago. Two of the biggest sources I used for how to land was this video of Haile Gebrselassie in slow motion and a video of Sebastian Coe in slow motion. I will include the links.

There are a couple of thing to remember. First land on your midfooot/forefoot not your toes. By landing on your toes you actually create more breaking forces than if you land on your heel and open yourself up to more injuries in both the lower leg and the foot. The second thing is to land on the lateral section of the midfoot and let your foot roll naturally after that. Don't run on the lateral portion of your foot just land there. Another important thing to do is to point you toes upward while keeping you foot relaxed. This will make your foot "roll" on the ground still instead of "slap" off the ground and will also lengthen your running stride. One of the most important things to remember is to not over stride still. By focusing on not overstriding it will help you keep your toes pointing upward as well as helping yourself avoid injury. The last and most important thing to remember it to keep your foot relaxed while running. The purpose of running on the midfoot/forefoot is to both speed you up by having less braking forces and reducing ground contact time, but also to let your foot absorb the shock of you running. Your midfoot/forefoot is a natural shock absorber. It accomplishes this by having your metatarsals expand or splay out whenever your foot lands on the ground. This can be observed while barefoot or in socks. Just place your foot flat on the ground while keeping your foot relaxed and shift your bodyweight over to that foot. You can observe your foot actually expand like a shock absorber. If you keep you foot tensed on the other hand, rather than relaxed, you are fighting your metatarsals natural desire to expand, which in turn makes other parts of your body absorb the shock such as your knees, Achilles, calf, of plantar fascia, which can cause these muscles to become injured. So make sure to stay relaxed, it should feel natural.

A couple of things to expect by doing this is for your shoes to wear down differently and for your calves to be very sore for either a couple of days or couple of weeks. This is because you are engaging the calf muscle much more than you used to. Also your calves will look pretty nice after a couple of months. Also try wearing shoes with a lower heel-toe drop. This will make it easier to land on your midfoot/forefoot.

The last thing you should be cautious of is new injuries. Due to the fact that you are changing you stride pattern you are going to be using certain muscles more. This can lead to more injures, not as much as you are exposing yourself to when heel striking, but the can be easily prevented.

I recommend doing barefoot drills as well as toe raises and calf raises. These will help prevent shin splints along the top of posterior side of the shin and will also help against Achilles tendinitis and plantar fasciitis.

I hope this helped!

Gebreselassie slow motion-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y41U9fms58A

Sebastian Coe slow motion-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vb_m5THiPQ

Could someone describe the difference between forefoot and midfoot strike?

It seems to me that the terms are used differently on the internet.

I changed from a bad heel strike to a midfoot strike. It was a combination of becoming a faster runner and really really focusing on it. It will take a lot of effort at first, I would run for a mile everyday really focusing on midfoot plant, and eventually it became habit to run like that.

I heel strike even when I run barefoot

jumbomo wrote:

I land on my heel but I want to change to either flat foot or on my toes.

anyone transitioned successfully to doing this? all tips are appreciated !

I usually make this change when I speed up. When I slow back down, it's heel striking again. This is normal, and how must people run. Don't over think running form.

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

[quote]jumbomo wrote:

I usually make this change when I speed up. When I slow back down, it's heel striking again. This is normal, and how must people run. Don't over think running form.

What you say is true for a minority. I wish all of us could naturally be blessed with good running form.

In HS as a soph I was a 4:40 1600 runner. Made some form corrections and ran 4:12 as a junior. National class 5k/10k runner in college. The secret is generating power through hip extension (use your glutes and hamstrings) and stop overstriding (reaching out with the lower leg).