Generating movement from a stable platform.

A friend recently sent me a link to a video showing perfect swim technique.  My first observation was how smooth and relaxed the swimmer appeared with each stroke and how his head rotated on a horizontal axis.  He swam as if his torso was fixed to a pole directly from center of his forehead to the bottom of his spine.  The only movement visible in his torso was rotation on this axis.  He extended his arms during each stroke with no pause in the water, maintaining continuous forward movement of his entire body.  The video is taken from a world-class swimmer who perfected his stroke after many years of practice. We can learn from watching videos of others that perform at the elite level and improve our own proprioception when we spend time performing a specific discipline in triathlon.

This led me to think further about reducing movement in the spine while running or cycling.  If we reduce movement in the spine providing a stable platform, we reduce wasted energy originating in the core muscles and become more efficient in that activity, transferring power from the core, to legs, to feet and then pedals. If we are fit correctly, we can work on a smooth pedaling stroke at all cadences.  I suspect, on a steep climb, lateral movement in the upper body would increase with a lower cadence as we lean forward to gain more leverage and power and rock the bike back and forth. Bobbing the head is wasteful as is hip movement when rocking in the saddle.  These habits can be worked out through focus or simply proper seat height and fore-aft adjustment.  If we watch videos of elite cyclists carefully we can see the head and spine remain steady while the legs spin rapidly at cadences of 90+ for hours on end.

On the run, the legs flex and then extend as we make contact with the ground propelling us forward while the spine remains relatively still. There is some movement in the hips on the horizontal axis (top of the head down the spine) as one pushes off the ground but the head should remain relatively still and level.  We can observe a variety of movement patterns when observing new runners. Some may be very strong or fit coming from other sports but may lack running technique and may be losing valuable energy. It could be due to arm swing coming across the body or bounding up the road, head moving in a number of planes due to over striding or not feeling what actually propels them forward with each step. Typically, a more efficient stride improves simply from running more miles. Yet we can progress more rapidly if we head out for a run with a few things in mind.  By standing tall, straight and leaning forward at the ankles we will allow our lungs to expand and compress more easily. Proper posture reduces compression of the diaphragm commonly brought on by slouching when we fatigue. Focus on being tight in the core and stable in the spine, but relaxed with arm swing close to the body and moving forward (the arm angle may depend on the distance and speed of the run) while the calves and feet are loose and able to adjust to the variety of terrain. Also keep the facial muscles relaxed even during hard efforts.  Breathe deeply to clear CO2 from the lungs.  Breathing rapidly and shallow will lead to hypoxia over time due to reduction in CO2 clearance.  Keep this in mind at the start of a race when feeling nervous or anxious. Take deep breaths to absorb more oxygen, particularly in those first few accelerating steps or during the first 30 seconds of a race where it is easy to run fast without much oxygen.