Slow Motion Running Form Video Analysis - please help

jlubkoll

jlubkoll

Barefooters
Apr 27, 2011
124
34
28
Berlin, Germany
#1
Hi,

as the warm weather allowed it around this time of the year, joohneschuh and me took some videos during a barefoot running session in Berlin Grunewald two days ago.

We took as camera with us that takes 210 pictures per second and took videos of our barefoot running form. So any of you that know how to do it properly, please take a look at the following two videos:

Jlubkoll barefoot running in slow motion from the side (youtube)

Jlubkoll barefoot running in slow motion from behind (youtube)

I have to tell you that this was my first complete barefoot run since 6 weeks due to my low tolerance for cold but nothing broke on this 18k run, so apparently I did not forget how to do it.

What I can see is that I mildly heel-strike and that I am lazy in lifting my foot. That may be to my general energy savings strategy of not using anything too much.

Any opinions on what I could/should change ?

Jörn

P.S. How to embedd youtube here, i saw TJ do it - can I also do it ?
 
#2
Now, I'm no expert, but in

Now, I'm no expert, but in both videos it looks like you may be slightly heel striking first then the ball of your foot and lastly toes. Do you ever have heel pain? I wonder if running on trails allows you to heel strike more because it gives more than pavement does...
 
#3
Nick: No heel pain ever, more

Nick: No heel pain ever, more heel striking on left foot than on right. Forefoot pain on left foot is pretty usual though for me after a run of more than 5k. On the behind video it seems that I am running on a very narrow lane, kind of having to move the foot around the leg on every step. Is that the way it should be?

btw. The behind video is on a trail, the from the side is on pavement.
 
#4
Sorry, Jörns, embedding

Sorry, Jörns, embedding videos is something only admins can do, since our editor button assignment is larger than yours and includes the Source button, which allows us to embed videos. It would be a security risk otherwise to let everyone do that. Thanks for understanding.
 
#5
In the first video, it does

In the first video, it does look like some of your steps are heel-heavy. Some look like you're heel striking while others do not. Not every step is heel-heavy, and not every step is a heel strike. I had to watch the video twice to be sure. At first, I thought it was with just one foot, but it's actually both feet, but not with every step.

I'm watching the second video now, and only at the rear shot. It's hard to tell. You are not lifting your feet, but that could be because you are afraid of how hard you may come down on something. If you don't lift them high enough though, you could end up racking your toes into some roots, should they be in your way. The swing of your feet could be due to lack of energy, so perhaps try to record the next time on the trail first to get a better capture of what's going on there. The reason why your steps make me think you may be a little drunk on some good German beer is because perhaps there is debris there that I don't see but you do, so you're swinging your feet around to avoid that debris?
 
#6
TJ, the trail was maybe 2-3k

TJ, the trail was maybe 2-3k further down the run, a total of 5k until then. I am pretty sure that I wasn't tired. And indeed on the trail I was heavily going left and right with my steps to avoid obstacles, mostly roots and a bit of stones. No beer involved that day for sure :)

The feet are as far as I know not getting any further up even with shoes, however in order to run faster barefoot I usually - with felt equally short steps - use a higher cadence - when running faster with shoes I do larger steps in less high cadence. So there is some truth in the fear of stepping to hard on something but I guess the non lifting is at least in some part due to not consuming too much energy.

Looking at the slowmo video i assume that I actually push off with the toes. (which would explain why they loose some skin on these runs).

The next day I tried to lift my feet more which lead to just running faster and I definetly reverted back to the normal way after not even 10k or so.

I believe I need to take more videos at defined speeds and with shoes to find out more about what I need to fix and I also need to run towards the camera some times to find out more. Ok, now I just need good warm weather and some bright day!
 
#7
I see.  I misread the last

I see. I misread the last line of your opening post thinking you said you were tired, for some reason. Sorry about that. Hopefully, we'll get some more opinions and input.
 
#8
It looks to me like you are

It looks to me like you are behind your center of gravity especially going uphill, but also a little on the downhill, leading to a slight overstriding. I'm coming from a perspective of Chi Running so others may see this differently. I would think leaning forward from the ankles a little would change this and at the same time reduce the tendency to heel strike (even softly). I am also wondering if on the uphill you might want to bend your knees a little more.
 
#10
Jlubk,Hi...in general you

Jlubk,

Hi...in general you are landing unnecessarily forward of tour center. To fix is easier said than done but still difficult on text only. I will try to help. First I would recommend evaluating and possibly adjusting your thinking about posture, releasing posture and recovering your legs/feet. Tell me more about your view of these aspects in your mind as you run?

Visually you are delaying the release of your posture due to excessive tension. Simply put you need to let go of landing much sooner than you currently do. In accompany with this earlier release of your landing you need to lift your feet rather than drag your leg and thigh as you are doing now. Shifting from dragging to lifting is no easy task. It is a totally different movement/way of recovering the leg. There are some exercises to help if interested let me know.

Are you aware of the tension in your feet as you prepare for landing? This is also not necessary. It is possible and ideal to let the feet land with almost floppy relaxation and as the body lands we can respond instinctively to stabilize our balance. I don't see this aspect in your run what do you think?
 
#11
You're running in invisible

You're running in invisible shoes. You're overstriding and bouncing up and down, you're even doing it going uphill, just like you'd see in any casual runner wearing big, puffy foot coffins. And this is going to cause you some serious trouble sooner or later.

The 'rear' video gives me the impression that your core is weak, too. You don't seem to have a lot of control over what your legs are doing and it looks like they're actually crossing the center line, meaning the left foot is landing on the right side and vice-versa. Do you ever bang your ankles together while running? Or your knock your knees?

Or, you might just be too relaxed. That's another bad habit a lot of us get from those horrible shoes. Too relaxed = too much bounce, not enough support for the joints, terrible energy-usage.

Regardless:

The simplest, most effective and safest 'corrections' you can make are still the classics: increased turnover rate + drastically shortened stride length. Try it. Shoot for 200 (doch, zweihundert) steps per minute, without increasing your forward speed/pace (meaning you'll have to take really short, choppy steps).

Do this as a drill - you do it for a few minutes and then stop doing it and just run normally. The nice thing about this is that it's a no-brainer, you can't really do anything wrong, and if you decide that it just doesn't work for you, well, so what. Just forget it, no harm done.

Also, while doing this, you could add some arm work into the mix. Push your elbows up and back, very snappy, like there's someone behind you and you want to bang him in the chin. Use your arms to count the 200 steps per minute and just relax the legs ... There are a lot of variations on these things (und, wenn du mal Zeit hast, fahr nach Kulmbach und wir können doch ein wenig zusammen trainieren ;)

Another really good exercise for you, specifically, would be good old 'Anfersen' - butt kicks. Lay your hands on your butt cheeks, palms outward, to the rear. And kick your feet up behind you, smacking your hands as hard as you can. Do this at fast as possible - bapbapbapbapbapbap! - and force your upper legs to remain as vertical as possible. Your forward speed will be very slow but this is a tough exercise (anstrengend).

Grüße aus Oberfranken und einen Guten Rutsch!!!
 
#12
ouch. that's some massive

ouch. that's some massive heel striking you're doing in every video. drop your hips, bend your knees, and lift your foot. relax.



what i can see is you're pushing off and driving your knee which makes you heel strike. you have the proof by the lost skin on your toes. i don't think you're push off is strong or you would land harder.



hopefully jimmy or someone with coaching experience will stop by and look at your video and give more specific advice. all i have is the simple stuff above. good luck and go slow. run light and free.
 
#13
So for all of you who

So for all of you who recommend faster turnover (up to 200). I tried this a lot in the beginning and frankly, I found it much harder to run relaxed that way. Now my turnover is around 150-160 on level ground (and running very slowly) but I think I'm balanced. Maybe I'd better post a video next. :)

My question: Would it not be better to increase turnover gradually to keep injury risk down? I'm just going by my own experience, though.
 
#14
Palouserider,The

Palouserider,

The relationship between cadence and being out of balance can be both confusing intellectually as well as physically. The reason for the physical difficulty is due in part to the fact that we have options to how we interact in recovering our leg(lifting the feet vs raising the knee). Not to mention the need to perform this movement with in a certain time frame as our body is going thru balance and out. Regardless of whether you increase your turnover the most important feedback as you run is that you move relaxed over and off your feet. Tension or pain is a sign that you are not having a proper relationship between posture and leg recovery as your run.
 
#15
I find when I concentrate on

I find when I concentrate on increasing my cadence, I feel faster, step lighter, all of that, but the effort goes way up too, just like PR noted. I think, though, if we were to continue through it, being consistent to practice it during each run, until we could train ourselves to run that way, like anything, it would become more second nature.
 
#17
Barefootandagel wrote:Tj,I

Barefootandagel said:
Tj,

I agree 100% as we get used to doing higher cadence it can and should become second nature.
Click to expand...

That's why I was careful to point out that you do these things as drills, a few times during a run for a few minutes or whatever, and then just run naturally. It takes time for things to become integrated into your natural form.
 
#19
Barefootandagel wrote:Jlubk,

Barefootandagel said:
Jlubk, Hi...in general you are landing unnecessarily forward of tour center. To fix is easier said than done but still difficult on text only. I will try to help. First I would recommend evaluating and possibly adjusting your thinking about posture, releasing posture and recovering your legs/feet. Tell me more about your view of these aspects in your mind as you run?
Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting way to think about the motion. In theory I am trying to lean forward (does not work) and do short and especially silent steps (does not work either, small yes, silent no).

Barefootandagel said:
Visually you are delaying the release of your posture due to excessive tension. Simply put you need to let go of landing much sooner than you currently do. In accompany with this earlier release of your landing you need to lift your feet rather than drag your leg and thigh as you are doing now. Shifting from dragging to lifting is no easy task. It is a totally different movement/way of recovering the leg. There are some exercises to help if interested let me know.
Click to expand...

definetly interested. How would I not drag my thigh/feet, they need to get to the front or at least in it's direction?

Barefootandagel said:
Are you aware of the tension in your feet as you prepare for landing? This is also not necessary. It is possible and ideal to let the feet land with almost floppy relaxation and as the body lands we can respond instinctively to stabilize our balance. I don't see this aspect in your run what do you think?
Click to expand...

Apparently I do lift my toes/forefoot a lot when landing (I always have holes in thin shoes over the big toes after a while and the nails are well maintained). Is that lifting what you refer to as tension ?

Thanks for helping

Jörn
 
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