Fix Poor Running Technique?

Question

During the support phase of running I have noticed my athlete has significant hip drop, bent support leg at knee and appears very weak and unable to support their own mass. How can i fix the problem?

Answer 1

make an appointment with a chiroprator, to see if all the joints and limbs are lined up like they should be.

if there is nothing wrong, then its just bad running posture and technique.

hips should be positioned forward ( butt tucked in) this allows you to get better knee lift.

if they are too weak it is putting them at risk of injury.

without strengthening using weights and other strengthening tools, they will not get much faster, and they will get injured alot easier.

weight training is just as important, need to balance it with running. If your doing alot of running everyday, do not try to fit in weight training in the same day, cut down on the running days.

run one day, weight train the next day. rest the following day. then repeat

so basically they should only be running 2 days a week, and  weight lift 2 days a week.

run, lift, rest, run, lift, rest, rest again.   (then start the cycle again.

it might seem like not much running, but thats what it is.

the body needs rest, not just a night's sleep.

those coaches that train there athletes 5-6 days straight in a week, they learned from professional coaches that developed those kind of programs with athletes who were under the influence of illegal enhancing drugs, and blood transfusions.

if a regular person trained like that, they would burn out, get injured or both.

Answer 2

Agree with Anthony L that strength training needs to be emphasized (but thumbs down to the radically-lessened volume!).

Find him/her a physical therapist who's trained in performing Functional Movement Screens:

http://www.functionalmovement.com/

and follow their rehab prescription.

For some more specific recommendations regarding exercises, see my earlier Yahoo! Answer:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Encourage your athlete to "stay the course." With the right work, every obstacle can be overcome. Remedial strengthening (after proper evaluation) can turn things around completely. I have dozens of examples of this in my coaching practice.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

Check the showers after gym class. That may be the source of his limp.

Answer 4

The most important thing for running speed is support force so there is no collapse at the ankle/knee/hip at ground contact. Try isometric leg press where you lift the weight with both legs but hold with one leg, on ball of foot, knee slightly bent. Hold as much weight as you can for 10-30 seconds. Do 3-5 holds once or twice a week. Also run short top speed sprints to coordinate the elastic portion of the strength increase.