How much faster could one person get by correcting their form?

Which event?

If they were exactly the same they wouldn't have different form.

If you were talking about the same person the difference would be somewhere between negligible and zero.

Running form is mostly based on genetics and there isn't much that can be done to correct it. Tweeking arm carriage isn't going to have much of an effect.

I was the one who was asking. I wanted to know because someone I knew said that I bounced too much when I ran, and I was wondering how much effort I should put in to tweak my form... also I was wondering if it would help much to breaking 5 in the mile. Thank you guys for the responses

Maybe there’s a good reason you bounce when you run? I had a great Physiotherapist who used to say that we run the way we do because of the physiological makeup of our body. Maybe your form is perfect for YOU, and if you screw around with it, you might get slower?

Hypothetically... wrote:

Hypothetically, say there are two people who are exactly the same in every way. Now imagine that one of them has bad form, and one of them have the absolute best form possible. They are both in excellent shape. What would the difference in time probably be?

Running form has nothing to do with running fast. We are built the way we are built, and running how we run is a natural motion. Trying to change your form will lead to injury and will not make you faster. Anyone who disagrees with that is wrong.

See any elite runner with horrible form and any super slow runner with great form.

Note: Great form is a myth. It's just a visual that looks good but has nothing to do with fast running.

WAY faster. But you have to do it right, and that means listen to a sprint coach. If there are any reading this, they're laughing heartily at the previous poster.

If you're bouncing too high, you are setting a natural limit to your speed by restricting your cadence from ever getting high enough to run a good 800m or less.

Right, and on the opposite end of the spectrum too: a bouncy stride will lower your efficiency for events like the marathon. There is an optimal form for a combination of each event and body type, but it is variable.

JxxxjCan wrote:

a bouncy stride will lower your efficiency for events like the marathon.

Jim Walmsleys bouncy stride looks pretty efficient

Form can make you or break you. It takes a quality coach-athlete dynamic to properly make adjustments over time. Haile G had to dramatically and consciously alter his form to transition successfully from the track to the marathon, and it paid off handsomely. Bekele, on the other hand, already had a from suited to both the track and the roads, and didn't need to change much if anything at all.

A good place to start is with drills and plyos. Plenty of good vids on the topic. Also, lots of hill repeats, focusing on different aspects of contact, pushoff, arm carriage and so forth.

Francois wrote:

JxxxjCan wrote:

a bouncy stride will lower your efficiency for events like the marathon.

Jim Walmsleys bouncy stride looks pretty efficient

Exception to the rule.

In fact, Jim is a human surprise. I think he's got something special for the OTs and I can't wait to see what's going to happen.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Running form is mostly based on genetics and there isn't much that can be done to correct it. Tweeking arm carriage isn't going to have much of an effect.

From a sprint perspective, it can be changed dramatically with massive effect. Where you foot strike through the acceleration phase can mean a significant % difference.

Similarly pelvis position and excessive extension and back kick can create greater breaking forces.

There is no known “correct” running form.

It's completely deranged that in a sport like running, you wouldn't care about your form, or think it had any bearing at all on performance.

That's not to say there is one perfect form for all, but that's also not to say that form can't be improved for some individuals.

That's also not to say that you can simply change your form. Often you have to work on weaknesses to let form change naturally.

ElGuerroujFan wrote:

I was the one who was asking. I wanted to know because someone I knew said that I bounced too much when I ran, and I was wondering how much effort I should put in to tweak my form... also I was wondering if it would help much to breaking 5 in the mile. Thank you guys for the responses

If you are bouncing too much on distance runs, then yes you need to work on this. I don't know the answer other than thousands of miles of running to make your power go into producing a longer stride rather than a bouncy stride.

However, you will notice that when you sprint, you don't bounce like this. Go on try it and you will see it's true.

Nico Young - bad form. Karissa Schweizer - bad form. Connor Mantz - bad form. Anna Rohrer - bad form. Millions of people - good form. Too much focus on what people perceive as bad form.

Deranged wrote:

It's completely deranged that in a sport like running, you wouldn't care about your form, or think it had any bearing at all on performance.

That's not to say there is one perfect form for all, but that's also not to say that form can't be improved for some individuals.

That's also not to say that you can simply change your form. Often you have to work on weaknesses to let form change naturally.

What's completely deranged is to think you can draw inferences out of thin air as to what constitutes proper running form and improve it by providing arbitrary cues that are not in any way anchored to known scientific facts.

Now how it works2 wrote:

Deranged wrote:

It's completely deranged that in a sport like running, you wouldn't care about your form, or think it had any bearing at all on performance.

That's not to say there is one perfect form for all, but that's also not to say that form can't be improved for some individuals.

That's also not to say that you can simply change your form. Often you have to work on weaknesses to let form change naturally.

What's completely deranged is to think you can draw inferences out of thin air as to what constitutes proper running form and improve it by providing arbitrary cues that are not in any way anchored to known scientific facts.

Who said anything arbitrary cues ?

Are you suggesting that running mechanics can't be improved in some people ?

Are you saying you couldn't detect poor running form in some people ?

If bouncing is bad why does everyone wear the boing boing pogo shoes now?