THE POWER STROKE IN RUNNING by Dr Stacy
Osborne D.P.M.
Runners will do and try anything to run faster. Nutrition supplements, creatine,
Bee Pollen, fluid replacements, caffeine, carb loading, and more shoe enhancers
than you can possibly remember. Plus not to mention all of the illegal training,
performance and recovery enhancing drugs. But the one aspect of running that
a runner can control the most, and is probably the easiest aspect in running
to address, and is the most forgotten link in the improvement chain, is biomechanics.
Understanding biomechanics is, for most runners, the most neglected and
confusing subject in running. Runners know and understand how to run and
how to train, but when they have to articulate the why of running movements,
they become mental lightweights.
When you ask runners what is the most important biomechanical event in running,
the biomechanical event which is responsible for generating the power for
forward running, they usually tell you is has something to do with the leg
that is on the ground. A good answer but a wrong one. Runners, when they train,
concentrate on the leg that is on the ground. Runners believe that is where
the action is. When runners lift weights they work on building up the calves,
building up the Quads, thinking that they are the key to faster running;
not so. That is, simply stated, the power stroke in running, the primary
forward driving force in running, is accomplished by the pulling action of
the swing phase leg. The swing phase leg, the non weight bearing leg, is
responsible for generating a pull on the runners center of gravity. This
advancing center of gravity acts on the leg that is in contact with the ground,
using the foot locked onto the immobile ground as a lever to generate rearward
thrust, which drives the body forward. Therefore, the power for maintaining
forward velocity (pace), the acceleration for speeding up (kicking) and the
rate at which you run (cadence), is initiated and controlled by the non weight
bearing leg while it swings through the air. So if you wish to run faster
or if you wish to be able to hold your pace longer before fatigue slows you
down, you have to strengthen, condition and imprint your swing phase muscles.
The muscles that are responsible for the Power Stroke, the swing phase, are
your hip flexors, Psoas Major, Psoas Minor, Iliacus and your inner thigh
muscles. These muscles are the last group of muscles to get into shape and
are the first group of muscles to de-train when we stop working out. You
can almost predict how you are going to do in a race by how firm you can
contract you inner thigh muscles. Feel firm? You are probably ready. Feel
like jello? You are in for a long day. So if you wish to race well, to paraphrase
a popular a workout video, you need "groins of steel."
When we fatigue in a race, it is not the leg on the ground that is slowing
down, it is the hip flexors and inner thigh muscles that are fatiguing. As
our ability to maintain the rate, pace or cadence that we are racing at becomes
more difficult, the hip flexors and inner thigh muscles demand more blood
and oxygen than the body can supply. Since the power stroke swing phase muscles
are not in condition to function at the level you are recruiting them to perform,
they must down shift ever so gradually into a power stroke swing phase turnover
rate they can handle. Don't go out too fast. Or in other words, don't let
your brain write out a check that you hip flexors can't cash.
Our hip flexors are the Psoas Major, Psoas Minor and Iliacus muscles. These
muscles lie deep on our lower abdomen, attached to our vertebral bones running
over the inner surface of our pelvis, finally attaching to the inside of our
upper thigh bones. These muscles in conjunction with our groin muscles, when
contracting, pull our thigh towards our chest in effect lifting the knee.
How do we strengthen these muscles? The best way to strengthen this group
of muscles is to simply practice running faster. Jogging or shuffle pace running
does not stress or force your body to recruit and use these muscles enough.
They will not function long in a race if all you train at is a shuffle pace.
Another method to increase strength and endurance in the power stroke swing
phase muscles is lifting weights in a direction that requires you to pull
your thigh towards your chest while lifting a resistance. Low weight high
repetition will do the trick.
Another way is to put on ankle weights but don't run with them, just lift
one knee up and gently down for 30 repetitions, then switch and do it for
the other leg. Do three sets of 30 for each leg every other day. Also, paint
cans weighted down work well to strengthen your power stroke. Take one can
at the bottom of a step. You stand one step up, loop your foot through the
paint can handle and lift up, then return it down slowly. Do repeats just
like with the ankle weights.
Another great way to strengthen you power stroke swing phase muscles would
be for someone to invent a reverse step climber. It wouldn't be hard. You
would strap your shoes to the lever arms but instead of pushing down, you
would pull up on the step climber lever arm, working your hip flexors and
groin muscles. Every runner would have to have one.
The best and most effective way to turn your power stroke phase muscles
into tireless super charged "groins of steel," is through hill repeats. Find
a hill 200 to 300 yards long and charge up it. Walk back down and repeat
several times. Hills build your power stroke swing phase muscles and everything
else included. Training with hill repeats will allow you, once sufficiently
trained and rested, to hold a faster pace for a longer period of time in
your next race.
In summary, running speed is initiated and controlled by the power swing
phase leg. To maintain a fast, even rhythm for as long as you can in a race,
your power stroke swing phase muscles must be firm and in peak operating condition.
By strengthening and training your power stroke swing phase muscles to have
greater endurance, you can hold your pace longer, therefore slowing down
less, resulting in faster times. The faster you can power stroke and swing
your leg through the air - the faster you will run.