Unlocking Peak Performance: Exploring the Five Skills Framework for Efficient Running

I use these two guiding principles when implementing the five skills framework for efficient running with my runners.

1 - You are not fragile!

While yes, there are times that we may need to focus on minimizing ground reactive forces in running - when coming back from an injury, running during pregnancy, or returning to running postpartum. I believe the ultimate goal of athletic training for running is to train your body to accept, store, and use the ground's reactive forces to your advantage. The first step to all of this is understanding that you are not fragile! It’s all about training and adaptation. The less we train for impact out of fear the more likely we are to respond to those forces poorly.

But ground reaction forces and gravity are not the enemy with running. We can actually use them to our advantage! We can use intentional strength training (including plyometrics) to fine-tune your body to capitalize on instead of fear those ground reaction forces! That is exactly what I teach you to do in The Runner’s Lab!

2 - I don’t want you to have to think about your running mechanics while you are running!

You can’t think that fast. Ground contact time is less than proprioceptive processing time (your body's conscious awareness of itself in space). Most of the time when someone tries to consciously “fix” their stride while running it just creates more problems. AND it sucks to be in your head about your running while you are running! I want you to be able to run freely and with joy.

Ok, so what, now what?

Below I’ll share some of my philosophy on running economy, why I very rarely would recommend actively trying to change your gait by trying to cue and think about it while you are running, and the approach I use with my athletes instead.

Running Economy/Basic Running Biomechanics

I see the goal when it comes to optimizing your running economy from a biomechanics standpoint to be minimizing the energy lost with each step (a very engineer way of looking at it, my former careers both playing a role here!). The “energy” I’m talking about comes from our bodies working AND from efficient storage and release of ground reaction forces. 

The energy lost is the energy we can’t use to move forward and usually means the force is poorly distributed across your joints, likely contributing to pain and other symptoms. Pain and performance are very much connected and often inversely proportional in this way.

Because most of the energy expenditure (80%) with running is the stance phase (when one foot is on the ground), I tend to spend more effort focusing on the mechanics of that part. If you are interested, about 7% comes from the leg swing in the flight phase (which I think we can optimize through stance too for the most part), and then the rest is respiratory and cardiac output related. (1)

I break the stance phase into 3 main pieces or actions - load, stabilize, propel - and they are all connected!

We need good loading so that we can accept and store those ground reaction forces (energy) and get into a solid midstance We need to stay strong and stable through mid-stance so that we can transfer that energy and use it for propulsion. We need good propulsion to efficiently move forward and swing that leg through for good landing/loading.

Why Cuing Run Form Ain’t It

1 - Again, we can’t think that fast. Ground contact time is less than our brain's processing time.

2 - It is more about how your body does those 3 pieces - load, stabilize, and propel. The body is smart, it will figure out a way to run. It will do something with those ground reaction forces. Trying to force it to do it a different or “better” way while running without getting at the heart of why your body is doing what it’s doing usually ends up creating other compensations on top.

I’ve worked with many athletes who have actively tried to change their gait based on only a gait assessment, jack it all up more and created more pain in other places in the body. We end up having to peel back even more layers to “fix” it. Occasionally, and if necessary, I’ll cue a nice forward lean from the ankles (only if I know they first can actually “stack” which is part of the 5 skills I talk about below), or to focus on cadence or rhythmic relaxing breathing and simple things like that, but rarely to actively try to change their stride.

I Do with My Athletes Instead (The 5 Skills Framework)

With my athletes we take a holistic look at the body and what strategies it uses for loading, stabilizing, and propelling and where the body might be doing it less efficiently. We look at the foot, knee, hip, pelvis, torso, rib cage, shoulders… all of it together through the lens of running biomechanics and my 5 skills framework. We practice these skills with our strength training and build them into our running warm-ups so that the patterns become engrained. From there, we let our bodies do what we were born to do… just run! 

THE STACK

Orient your ribcage over your pelvis to load effectively through your core and unlock your range of motion in all 3 planes.

In The Runner’s Lab, we’ll cover the main ways the stack gets jacked (hint: it has a lot to do with breathing and core) and how not being stacked can affect your ability to transfer force through your core and your range of motion in movements that are very important to running: hip flexion, hip extension, and of course, rotation. Then we will work on some exercises geared toward improving that stack in the practice (aka. experiment) portion.

STAND ON ONE LEG

...like really on it. That means being able to organize your center of mass over your stance leg - internally rotate into that hip, pronate your foot, load your glutes through length, and efficiently use your obliques. Ultimately this skill is all about getting really solid through midstance. This is where we put the most force into the ground! Having a strong, stable midstance is the cornerstone of an efficient running stride. Often in the name of stability in midstance, runners are prescribed clamshells, lateral band walks, and hip hikes… and to be honest it makes me want to pull my hair out.

In The Runner’s Lab, we’ll look deeper into what it really means to stand on one leg, the role of the foot, knee, hip, glutes, and ribs (yes, I said ribs). Then we will work plenty of exercises geared toward feeling what it’s like to truly stand ON one side and mastering this cornerstone skill in the practice portion.

ROTATE

Rotate and counter-rotate through the feet (aka. pronation and supination), pelvis, and torso. We need to effectively rotate up and down the chain for efficient forward motion.

At toe-off, your pelvis is rotated as far to that side as it’s going to go. Then in the float phase (both feet off the ground), the pelvis starts rotating back towards the other side. By the time the foot strikes the ground, you can ride that rotation, so to speak, which reduces the negative impact of the ground reaction forces* on the body and helps store the energy for an effective toe-off. (2) I just think this is the coolest thing! We were truly born to run!

*read that bit as ground reaction forces are good, we can use them to help move forward IF we rotate efficiently*

The rotation happens at the pelvis and the torso in opposite directions to balance the momentum and it happens all the way down to the foot!

 In The Runner’s Lab, we’ll look at the role of rotation at the feet, pelvis, and torso. Then we will work on exercises geared toward getting each of those pieces moving through their necessary ranges of rotation.

EXTEND

You propel yourself forward in your running stride through hip extension. Mastering hip extension (with big toe extension) before knee extension will make that propulsion more efficient. When the knee extends before the hip you lose the ability to fully extend the hip (the final propulsive push), you will likely extend through your spine instead, and your knee takes on an unfair share of the load. All things that are not ideal in my book.

In The Runner’s Lab, we’ll look at how we can integrate simple exercises, called co-contractions, into your training so that you can practice this energy-saving skill. And of course, we’ll practice them too!

ENERGY STORAGE

Efficiently store and release energy through each stride by mastering the first 4 skills and building strong, healthy tendons.

In The Runner’s Lab, we’ll look at how we can purposefully integrate both isometrics and plyometrics into your training to promote strong, supple, resilient tendons. And of course, we’ll work on exercises geared toward this goal in the practice portion.

Will you join me for this fully immersive experience?

I’m not going to just lecture you; we are going to apply the concepts together. You are going to experiment with the idea in your own body.

Click here to register for The Runner’s Lab masterclass.

References:

1 - Arellano, Christopher J., and Rodger Kram. "The energetic cost of maintaining lateral balance." Integr. Comp. Biol (2014). 

2 - Saunders, Steven W., et al. "Changes in three dimensional lumbo-pelvic kinematics and trunk muscle activity with speed and mode of locomotion." Clinical biomechanics 20.8 (2005): 784-793.