I have been told I bounce too much when I run.

Wear a sports bra.

My coach told me the same thing when I was a freshman in high school. 3 years later I was running 1:52 and 4:15 with the same bouncing form. I'm at a good D1 school now and still running well

Are you getting told this by people faster or slower than you?

Doesn't matter.

Low cadence = bounce. Mo Farah has a cadence of 160. That makes him incredibly bouncy. Ryan Hall's was 170. The "magic target" of 180-200 just isn't based in any sound exercise science.

There are some studies mentioned in Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Running where they take some runners, get them to alter their stride to make them more "efficient," yet after 12 weeks their running economy is still worse than before when they were using their original, so-called "sloppier" form.

M Wanna Be F wrote:

1. Does it matter? Is this bad?

2. How to fix it? Drills, etc?

I noticed that I was moving side to side with to much bounce as well, I focused on head rock by focusing on a particular spot up ahead and keeping still, this works for me (you can notice your side & vertical movement). Focusing on a back kick like Bekele, instead the frontal over stride helps to. Also, a slight lean forward may help. Also, I noticed having too tight of an upper body can contribute to poor form, so lose some chest bulk. You may want to look at hip/quad flexibility/range-of-motion.

Piano_Man87 wrote:

Low cadence = bounce. Mo Farah has a cadence of 160. That makes him incredibly bouncy.

Actually Farah, at least when running fast, falls to the "magic target" (180+ steps per minute). His force is directed very effectively to forward movement.

Mo´s 7:32 NR 3k

Which I think goes to the point of do what comes naturally. I'm no Mo, but I naturally end up in the same place as him. - 160 to 165 spm at easy pace and about 180 in races and workouts. Nothing thoughtful or intentional about it, just what my body does.

Run how you feel comfortable.

U.N.O. wrote:

Piano_Man87 wrote:

Low cadence = bounce. Mo Farah has a cadence of 160. That makes him incredibly bouncy.

Actually Farah, at least when running fast, falls to the "magic target" (180+ steps per minute). His force is directed very effectively to forward movement.

Mo´s 7:32 NR 3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVTH-pygyRE

That link proves absolutely nothing about Mo's cadence.

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

That link proves absolutely nothing about Mo's cadence.

Yes it proves, if you can count to 180+.

Hey UFO, the clip never focuses on Mo for a full minute to do an accurate count.

Hey idiot, count the arm swings (1/both arms) from 4:20 to 5:20. Even though he´s a bit "shadowed" by the pacemaker for a ~4seconds, you can see at least his arm swings easily. OR if it´s still too hard for you, from ~5:52 to ~6:48 you see Mo running alone, count the steps in 30/45/50 sec or so and then use some basic mathematics, if you can (you obviously can´t, though).

U.N.O. wrote:

Hey idiot, count the arm swings (1/both arms) from 4:20 to 5:20. Even though he´s a bit "shadowed" by the pacemaker for a ~4seconds, you can see at least his arm swings easily. OR if it´s still too hard for you, from ~5:52 to ~6:48 you see Mo running alone, count the steps in 30/45/50 sec or so and then use some basic mathematics, if you can (you obviously can´t, though).

Hey knuckle head, you said above "steps" but counting arm swings it is still very difficult to observe the magic 180 you seem to profess. If can find a spot of him achieving it I will gladly post it.

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

Hey knuckle head, you said above "steps" but counting arm swings it is still very difficult to observe the magic 180 you seem to profess. If can find a spot of him achieving it I will gladly post it.

Yes I said, because from ~5:52 to ~6:48 you actually can count THE STEPS, because he´s not shadowed by the pacemaker anymore. Got it?

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

counting arm swings it is still very difficult to observe the magic 180 you seem to profess.

It wasn´t difficult for me, I watched it again briefly, and ended up to about 183 steps per a minute. But for sure Mo´s cadence is over 180. I don´t have to "profess" anything, it´s a FACT, but if it´s "very difficult" (you mean not impossible?) for you to watch and count by yourself, it´s not my problem.