Top Tips and Drills To Improve Your Running Form

Are you looking to improve your 5k or 10k performance? Or do you feel that you don't have enough pop in your ankles or kick in your hips? Well take a look at this video from Mark Buckingham, a member of the British Triathlon Team and TriGold squad to kick start some good quality movement patterns and improve your running form. 

Here are some additional tips for the drills:

Posture and the pelvis cues - "Hold your head high and your hips high". This stacks them nicely over each other. To prevent your pelvis tilting and overarching your lower back, imagine you're wearing a belt and focus on the cue "keep your belt buckle up" to keep your pelvis and spine neutral. 

Arms - With all of the drills make sure you're getting the most from your arms. Drive one arm forward whilst the other drives back making sure you combine this with the opposite leg movements to create more power. Keep the elbows bent to around 90degrees, trying not to let them cross over your body as you swing.

High Knees Drill (10 reps, 3-5 sets) - don't just focus on the knee lift but on the downward push of the foot to the ground. Land with a fore-mid foot strike and immediately drive the other foot down. This creates an increased hip extension torque. 

Heel Flicks Drill (10 reps, 3-5 sets) - as you can see in the video, there is a small knee lift so the heel comes from below and up to the buttock. This shouldn't be like a hamstring curl where the heel strikes from behind. 

High Skips Drill (10 reps, 3-5 sets) - focus on good spring through the push off. Combine with a strong opposite knee lift and arm swing. 

Side Skips Drill (5 reps each side, 3-5sets) - start slowly so you don't fall over!

On the hurdle drills it's fine to use mini-hurdles, or even no hurdles, just make sure you achieve good height with your knees. 

These drills are designed to help you develop efficient and effective movement patterns for running and are perfect near the beginning of your training session. If these are new movements to you, make sure you leave a day in between each session to allow adaptation and recovery from fatigue. They can have an effect on your neuromuscular system relatively quickly so aim for 8-10 sessions over 3 weeks and you should get some really positive gains.

I hope you enjoy running through these drills, and that they help you as much as the many other athletes I've had working on them. It would be great to hear how you get on via Twitter @SportsMedOsteo  

Tom Lowes B.Ost MSc (Sports Med)
Registered Osteopath - Sports Injury Rehabilitation

Twitter @SportsMedOsteo