Wanting to get better, to improve, and keep
injuries in the ‘not me’ drawer are great motivators for many.
Improving how you run, swim and cycle is a part of journey. How well you
‘move’ – or run - is based upon many things - including accumulated experience
(years), expectations, and desire. Of course, your body size, leverage, various
structural & functional aspects, and work capacity have a fair say.
It’s important to understand that running well - running economically, efficiently and effectively aren’t the same thing. Although economy and efficiency
are related they require different strategies, different approaches and
different time-frames to improve. And, your strategy needs to be different to
your team-mates’, training partners’ and competitors’.
Wanting to improve running (swimming,
cycling) technique comes into the
equation too. Similarly, running
technique, running mechanics and running form aren’t the same thing.
Needless to say, ‘good mechanics’, ‘good technique’ and ‘good form’ aren’t the same.
Mechanics,
Technique & Form:
Your running (cycling & running) mechanics, technique and form provide the ultimate training conundrums.
They are simple and complex: separate yet related. They relate to you, and can
be impacted by others. Training affects them, routine and habit can wreck them.
Again , they’re not the same things. In recent years the terms have become
interchangeable: partly through culture, partly through popularisation, partly
through ignorance.
Mechanics are the inherent ways in which you move. They are related mainly to your musculoskeletal (& neuromuscular) systems. To begin
with, they’re related to height, limb length, joint shape, and muscle-attachment
leverage. These, and how you move, are shaped by forces inside and outside your
body. The latter includes: gravity, friction, and air & water resistance.
Like this, they’re called biomechanics. These types of biomechanical forces
cannot be changed. That said, how these forces impact your body, and how you
move and adapt in relation to the forces can be altered. Beware the guru who
offers to change your biomechanics though.
Mechanics have large phylogenetic (and
individual) components. That is, they’re coded in your genome and are largely
genetic and evolutionary and have been shaped over vast periods of time and
many generations. Ontogenetic factors – those of intermediate or life-cycle
periods of time – relate to developmental, learning, and loading mechanisms
and, therefore, training and technique. Accumulated movement experiences,
training loads and postural habits are ontogenetic factors that can and do
affect your mechanics.
‘Here-and-now’ factors are immediate,
short-term and dynamic. Being behavioural and contextual, they relate closest
to training and competition form, and fatigue.
Mechanical factors are predominantly structural, related to the way you’re made. Over
time, they can be influenced by functional changes or adaptations your body
makes. Muscle dysfunction caused by weakness or inhibition, and postural
changes related to habituation and loading can and often do affect movement
type, quality and economy, technique and the likelihood of injury.
Technique is the learnt ways in which you run (swim & cycle
etc). Some result from accumulated early life
movement and sporting experiences. Part relates to your current training focus:
execution, quality and quantity, that is, how you run (cycle, swim). Some are
the result of conscious efforts to change and use an efficient technique to
improve economy and performance.
Functional
changes such as your ‘fitness’ and metabolic
pathways can improve in as little as a few days, and two-to-three weeks. Structural technique changes (muscle,
fascia, tendon, and bone strength) often take weeks to months. Because the
former brings a sense of progress and success it’s often chased in preference
to the latter. Training efficiency ('quick results') unfortunately is often preferred over training effectiveness '(better results'). Injuries and
stagnation ultimately result.
Good technique relies on sound mechanics,
intent and good awareness – using varied sources of input (contextual, and
experiential) and feedback: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, proprioceptive and
tactile, and pride. Developing good technique requires time, change, desire,
systematic and developmental training loads & progressions, and positive
postural habits.
Form is the expression of your mechanics and
technique during training and competition. It is your expression of energy, confidence and technique. Strength,
strength-endurance and fatigue-related awareness help maintain your form.
Fatigue and lack of concentration negatively impact form - especially with
‘quirky’ mechanics and poor technique – and decrease
economy. Form can change quickly -
throughout the duration of an event, and is often cyclic throughout a season or
year.
“Yeah, so-and-so is in good form at the
moment!”
Mechanics, technique and form are
inter-related. How they manifest themselves collectively is your individual style or sweet spot: your
strengths, quirks, nuances and differences. Elements can be changed, yet they
take time, and strategy.
Good "form" of the elite rarely (ie. doesn’t)
relate to most of us!
And the approach to improving, altering or
changing them needs to be different – and individualized – for running (swimming,
cycling etc). Different courses for different horses.
The
Best Approach:
I’m often asked “what’s the best way to?”,
“what’s the most effective way to?”, “what’s the most efficient [quickest] way
to..?”, “what’s the easiest/cheapest way to..?”, “what’s the most scientific
way to..?”
The
best (and only respectful) answer to this is, “it
depends”. In short it depends upon:
- who it’s for
- where they’re starting from ie.
what their background is - general sporting, movement, health, injury and
current (specific sport/training) background
- where they are now: current
fitness, strengths & weaknesses, opportunities, capacity and willingness to
change, resources, time (time to major event/goal, time availability), habits,
expectations, persistence and patience
- where they want to go: general
aims & specific goals
It’s like a journey: you’re at a point now,
you came from somewhere somehow, and you want to get/go somewhere.
That journey is – and needs to be –
different for individuals.
Not necessarily different in process or
principle/s, but different in:
·
starting point (assessment)
·
journey (application)
·
and arrival (aim, goal/s)
Yet few want to work through the journey,
the process. They’d rather efficient (quick) results rather than effective (better) ones. They want and believe they can get it now.
The power in getting better lays in the balance between persistence & patience.
Skills
and drills:
For running (& swimming) in particular,
drills are often prescribed as a strategy for improving mechanics, technique
and form. A drill craze is likely a new mecca of recreational running and
triathlon hype. Arguably, it’s true about many drills in triathlon training.
I’ve swam for 20 years, run for over 30,
and coached athletes in endurance and run-based sports for 25 years and have
seen, heard, done, read, changed, altered, tried, discarded, re-tried, re-modeled,
reconstructed, adjusted and modified more drills than I care to remember. I am
stunned by the use of drills nowadays – or, more accurately by their inappropriate use. Swimming and
cycling are more skill-based than running, and have to be learned.
Running, swimming, and cycling well can be
taught, and drilled. Whether they’re learned is another issue.
What
about You-Tube?
You-tube is what it is, and (often) what
you want it to be: a source of entertainment, information, demonstration,
recreation and learning. Of course, it can be a source of technique and form
drills. Just because it’s an easily accessible source doesn’t mean it is ‘the
best’ or a good, reliable and relevant source for you, and your journey.
If you’re serious about changing and getting better use it as a complementary
(additional) source, not a
supplementary (replacement) source for:
(1)
diligent process
(2)
experienced and qualified professional coaching and/or practitioners
(3)
asking, starting, trying, reworking, evaluating and repeating - see (1)
I recommend you be cautious using drills from You-tube (or a book, or a magazine,
or a blog!), particularly if you have little experience doing (or coaching)
them; don’t understand nor value their background or development, variations and
progressions; have no real access to feedback – both immediate and delayed,
internal (knowledge of your performance or ‘how you feel doing them’) or
external (knowledge of results or ‘how you did them’).
Why
(not)?
- many people aren’t ready
(physically) technique, strength and mobility wise to do them properly
- many aren’t prepared (mentally)
to learn them properly, nor to learn to coach them properly; take the time to
repeat, review and revise them over many months, nor restructure their plan,
program or sessions; nor change habits and routines to make them truly
effective
- many aren’t willing to alter or
change (reduce in most cases) their training load at relevant times
- you shouldn’t assume the drills
you see are actually performed/executed/done properly (trust me, many aren’t)
- be wary assuming (given the
above) that the drills your viewing – or Y-tubing – are the appropriate starting
point, progression, or variation for you
- you assume they way you do/perform them is the same way they're (meant to be) performed, or as demonstrated on You-tube
- your assuming they’ve been
filmed, recorded and produced without the effects of parallax
- most simply are not designed nor modified (nor constructed) for you, or your athletes
Drills can
be good tools to use, but not all drills for all people all the time – nor as a
blanket approach to squad/group training, nor as a simple “these’ll make you
better”
You-tube can be a good source of drills, but this doesn’t mean they’re ideal
for you at this point in time. Sometimes, there even a good source of how not
to do/perform and coach them.
Just because you can do something, doesn’t
mean you should.
Good mechanics, technique and form take
time, diligence and proper process.
Begin with asking the right questions, not
seeking the right answers to questions you don’t know.
Then seek an assessment of your mechanics
and technique before you worry about form.
A video assessment will be a part of this.
Avoid eye-balling – see below.
Use video – iPads, tablets and You-tube for
follow-up and feedback.
Then go to work, and train smart.
Seek professional advice and coaching , and
make your time, money, effort and improvement worthwhile.
Video Analysis vs ‘Eyeballing’:
If
there’s something unusual in your technique, what you see/eyeball isn’t what’s
“wrong” with your mechanics or technique. Rather, you see your compensation or
reaction strategies around the actions that are ineffective, uneconomical or
painful. Your body always aims to co-ordinate itself between minimising energy
expenditure and reducing pain caused by either structural or functional
instability and/or immobility (magnified by training load) to complete a task
or movement.
In
other words, in order to complete each arm cycle, leg revolution, or run
stride, amongst it’s myriad of joints and movements, your body will find a way
to make your swim, cycle or run gait possible. It may be a flick here, or bob
there; an extra bounce here, a limp there; a crossover here, early rotation
there; a lean here, and added rotation there. In biomechanical terms: an action
there, and a reaction elsewhere.
So,
importantly, if someone simply looks at you swim, ride and cycle and suggests
you do that or do this, be wary, they’re most likely suggesting or recommending
you change an action (or component) in your technique that is really a reaction
– a compensation for a structural or functional mechanical problem that shows
up in your technique. Video recording helps, but ensure it’s done
professionally and properly (we’ll have more on this in a future edition).
If
its true basis is mechanical, you most likely won’t be able to change it, unless
it’s functional rather than structural. If it’s habitual it will take time and
a systematic and progressive change strategy. Not too many want to invest the
time required. Again, effectiveness is usually sacrificed for efficiency. And –
wanting to get back to training and competing as soon as possible – usually
with the same problem, or a secondary one, returning.
Improvement comes in many guises too: in how easy a run or a hill or a given pace feels; how often a runner gets out the door; how much easier it is to talk when running; learning stuff about their body, running & fitness; buying new workout, active-wear or training clothing and shoes with passion and pride; feeling more confident; losing weight; feeling better; recovering quicker, being less tired and less sore. All are qualitative markers of improving as a runner. 
