Correct posture for aerobic exercise and jogging

There is no uniformly correct posture that suits everyone. The most correct posture for you is to have a stable core, no obvious hitting feeling when landing, no extra force on the joints, smooth breathing without being suffocated, and a natural state of exertion without continuous soreness in the knees, ankles, or lower back after running.

I have been running for almost four years. I initially believed in the standard set on the Internet, which is "keep your chest up, your head up, your abdomen in, your thighs raised to the level, and your forefoot on the ground." After half a month, the pain on the inside of my knees made me tremble when I walked down the stairs. I went to the sports rehabilitation clinic to see a doctor. The first thing he said was, "Who taught you to run like this?" You weigh 140 pounds and have poor core strength. If you lift your thighs and land on the front of your legs, it’s strange that your knees don’t hurt.”

Nowadays, the most controversial issue in running circles is the footing posture. One group of people say that the correct way is to land on the forefoot, which can use the arch of the foot to cushion and not hurt the knees. You see, all Kenyan elite runners land on the forefoot.； The other group says that ordinary people should land on the back of their hands and then roll to the forefoot, which has enough cushioning and requires little ankle strength. In fact, both groups are right, but they are applicable to different groups of people. My friend who runs the 330 marathon has been practicing core and ankle strength for three years, and he has no problem running the whole distance with his forefoot on the ground. ； My mother is 62 years old. She jogs three kilometers in the park every day. She wears ordinary senior sports shoes with the back of the foot on the ground. After five years of running, she has no problems with her knees. And the posture is also related to the shoes you wear. When I wear carbon plate racing shoes, my feet will naturally fall towards the forefoot. When I wear thick-soled cushioning shoes, the midfoot basically touches the ground first. There is no need to deliberately break it. The design of the shoe itself will guide the way you exert force.

Someone taught me before that my arm swing must be strictly 90 degrees, and that it cannot swing back and forth. I deliberately ran at an angle, and my shoulders were so sore that I couldn't lift them up after less than two kilometers. Later, I asked a retired middle-distance runner from the provincial team, and they said there are so many rigid rules. As long as you don't run with your shoulders up, don't swing your arms from side to side and swing your entire upper body, the amplitude of your arm swing should follow the pace. Small swings when you are slow, and bigger swings naturally when you are fast, there is no problem at all. There’s also the issue of holding your chest up. Don’t hold your chest in so hard that your chest is pressed down and you can’t breathe. If you deliberately hold your chest up as if standing in a military position, your waist will hurt after running for a long time. I have made this problem before. Every time I run, I deliberately draw in my stomach and hold my chest up. After running for two days, my back and back were sore. Then I relaxed. As long as the upper body does not slouch, leaning forward a little will save more energy.

Last week, a young girl who had just graduated came to me and asked me if her breath was broken every time she ran two kilometers. Is her posture wrong? I saw that she kept clenching her fists while running, and her shoulders almost reached the base of her ears. I asked her to release her hands, lower her shoulders, and take a breath after running for two steps. Within five minutes, she said she was much better. You see, many times the so-called "postural errors" are not at all because you did not follow the standards, but because you were too nervous and stiffed your movements.

By the way, there is another pitfall that is easy to step on, which is stride length. Many people think that long strides make them run faster. In fact, for ordinary people, small strides at a fast pace are the least likely to hurt the joints. I used to have a stride length of 110, and my knees hurt after running for a long time. Later, I adjusted it to about 90, and the cadence increased from 160 to 180. Running is like taking small steps, but it is much easier. The half-marathon pace has been increased by half a minute. Of course, it doesn’t mean that the smaller the stride length, the better. If you are 185cm tall, you can’t compare the stride length with someone who is 155cm tall. Just make it comfortable for yourself.

To be honest, jogging is the lowest-cost aerobic exercise. There is no need to be obsessed with the details of the movements like participating in a competition. Warm up before running and don’t make weird movements while running. The whole body should be comfortable and pain-free after running. If you can do it three or four times a week, it will be more effective than any "standard posture". If a certain joint continues to hurt while running, don't force yourself to do it. It's much more reliable to find a rehabilitation practitioner than to search for posture adjustments online.