Chi Running
123 watchers
Feb 2013
6:58am, 18 Feb 2013
21,139 posts
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cabletow
My only suggestion or word of warning If you are looking to extend..... Make sure you extend to the rear ie at the hip, not the knee by reaching out to the front |
Feb 2013
9:01am, 18 Feb 2013
8,502 posts
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ChrisHB
Thanks, CT. I am helping to care for someone with MND at the moment and medical conditions are not far from my mind.
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Feb 2013
10:05am, 18 Feb 2013
497 posts
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Canute
Chris, Here is an article about loss of passive elastic stiffness of calf muscle with age. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov However this article does not attempt to relate elastic stiffness to running. Be cautious about introducing too much jumping and hopping. It takes time to build up the good coordination to do it safely. I only do it after a good warm-up but not when tired. With regard to deliberate attempts to modify running action, I think the most helpful thng for increasing stride length is aiming to decrease proportion of time on stance, but as noted in a recent comment, I do this by focus on a short downward arm swing with minimal back swing of the arm opposite the stance leg. I suspect that minimising arm backswing helps reduce forward swing of the opposite leg. |
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Feb 2013
10:07am, 18 Feb 2013
498 posts
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Canute
NB I should have said 'calf muscle tendon'
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Feb 2013
4:44pm, 18 Feb 2013
4,461 posts
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jonp
Chris, re. elasticity exercises. You can just do some very simple hopping exercises. Hop forward, backward, sidewards: small "bunny hops", not jumping. Just a few at a time, then do a small run up and down and repeat over. The light rhythm of the hops is similar to the cadence you will be looking for when running. Use them as warm up and cool down exercises. Also, when you do them, keep the knee slightly bent and don't extend (straighten) the knee joint at all, that way you develop the muscle/tendon elasticity and recoil. |
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Feb 2013
5:35pm, 18 Feb 2013
499 posts
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Canute
Chris On re-reading your earlier message I note you asked how I assess countermovement jump height. I stand beside a wall, and note how high I can reach (relative to horizontal mortar lines) with my fingers atop an upward extended arm while standing with both feet flat on the ground. Then I squat by flexing hips and knees until my thighs are horizontal (hands hanging to brush the ground) and immediately propel myself upwards by extending both knees and hips while raising an arm above my head, noting how high I reach with my fingers. I take the difference between peak height achieved and height reached while standing on flat feet. This is not as accurate as professional measurement based on recording light reflected from markers placed on joints, but it is re-producible to within about 1-2 cm. My current counter-movement jump height is 33 cm. Although I do not have an accurate record of height achieved in the past, when I used to play basketball in my 20’s (not really an ideal sport for me as I am only 170cm tall), it was around 50 cm. I noticed a really serious decline in elasticity and also in my stride length since my mid 60’s. In Feb 2010, my stride length when sprinting was 1.98 m while the distance covered in 5 one-leg hops was approx 9.5 m for each leg. Now, stride length is around 1.45m and 5 hop distance is 7.63m. So there has been a decrease in stride length of around 25% and a decrease in hopping distance of around 20% in three years. Most of that decrease occurred over a 2 year period. In the past year, weight training and skipping drills appear to have arrested the decline but there is little evidence of actual recovery yet. On the other hand, the weight training has led to a substantial increase in strength. My 5 repetition max for deep squats is now 232 Lbs which is not bad for a scrawny old timer. I hope that now I am stronger, I will be able to benefit more from hopping, and might recover some of my former stride length. Nonetheless, I strongly agree with JonP that you should start with very gentle hopping. |
Feb 2013
7:35pm, 18 Feb 2013
988 posts
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Mitch
Hi Chris, I believe the best way to work on stride length is as I said in my earlier post to do some speed work but with particular Chi Running focuses in mind (lean (in alignment), pelvic rotation, constant cadence). You may feel sluggish right now and even when you attempt that workout for the first time or even first few times. It's important to warm up at a very slow pace for a mile or so before you start it as I'm sure you know but if this workout is done well, as you move through the repetitions you will feel looser. In fact, you should feel like you have just had the best yoga workout. Week on week, you should feel improvement. I would like to see you so that I can ensure you attempt it with good form! Likewise as others have said be very careful with any jumping/hopping exercises that you do as these should also be done with good form. I assume you still do the body looseners? Kieren, Rather than trawl through this thread. I would suggest you start with the Chi Running book, it's fairly inexpensive on Amazon and you can then decide if Chi Running is for you. There is also an extensive library of articles on the Chi Running website. Please feel free to ask any questions or fmail if you need any information. |
Feb 2013
10:03pm, 18 Feb 2013
3,608 posts
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Kieren
Thanks ChrisHB, I checked out some videos but something CT said way back made things slot into place. I did dable wit barefoot / pose back in 2006/7 and after running in H.Streets I settled on neutral racers. Pose similar threads were over complicated with talk of COG etc. CT mentioned just falling forward. I tried this tonight on my 6KM run and wow! I have to say I'm really impressed. I'm a lot stronger in my hips these days so lifting my knees was easier than years ago. I felt like I was being pulled forward and by effort was more focused on pushing up to resist gravity that pushing forward. I had just cycled 10KM home and coming off the bike I could feel this pushing up in the tear drop part of the quad near the knee. I have no idea what my cadence was except that it was faster than normal and I felt more tired than normal at the same heart rate. I didn't feel anything in my abs and found it a little difficult to stop accelerating. I had to slow / walk a couple of times. So far so good. I've decided I'm going to skim through the thread as it is making for interesting reading so far, even down to ChrisHB's first post having come from RW. More interesting for me is reading about injuries, stumbling points, recovery and having all of this time stamped with the comment. |
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Feb 2013
6:47pm, 20 Feb 2013
3,615 posts
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Kieren
How do you guys measure cadence? I used to have a polar with footpod & looking at my logs I would hit 89rpm at tempo pace, drop down to 82 on slow / recovery runs and usually be around 86rpm. I replaced the polar for a garmin so don't have a footpod any more so not sure how I can tell if I am getting 90rpm / 180 steps a minute |
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Feb 2013
8:25pm, 20 Feb 2013
503 posts
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Canute
I have a Polar footpod though I do not use it regularly as I have developed a fairly good ability to sense my cadence from breathing rate, in the low and mid-aerobic zones. In low aerobic zone I breathe at a rate of one breath per 6 steps (ie 3R,3L). I am subliminally aware of the breath/step ratio most of the time, and become consciously aware whenever the rhythm changes. Very occasionally I check cadence by timing 30 breaths. (In the lower aerobic zone, when breathing at 6 steps per breath, 1 minute for 30 breaths corresponds to 180 steps/min; 54 sec corresponds to 200 steps/min).
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