Pose Method of Running (Dr. Romanov's Sport Education) Paperback – May 1, 2004

PoseThe carbs and protein of this book begin at page 111. By page 125 you can see the most important concepts and drills to take advantage of them.1 You do not push yourself along.2 You lean forward so the action is somewhat like hopping downhill, contact is always on the ball of the foot.3 Forward leg is simple dropped to the ground rear leg is simply unweighted and lifted vertically. Much is made of taking advantage of free energy from the elasticity of the tendons etc... Foot bounces off the ground like a ball and you like the ball just keep going...Concepts to me (and most) are not intuitive at all but once revealed are simple, but revolutionary.. this should be taught in second grade... and we all would be running like and as healthy as Kenyans. This was interesting as I was partly motivated to buy this book by having just read: The First Twenty Minutes, which was quite revealing in the importance of running like exercise for health and cognitive function even in the elderly. The rest of the book is interesting, but to me, only after understanding the concepts that begin at page 111... perhaps starting at page 99 is a good place to start... surviving 12 pages of warm up before getting to the good stuff.

I have run (pun not intended) through the Chi book and watched the evolution of running DVD but I found this book very helpful in describing the Pose method in detail and in particular the diagrams do a great job demonstrating the correct posture versus the wrong. There are difference in the explanations and in Pose I had a greater impression that the lean did not have to as significant as I thought under Chi. And in Pose, the author discusses lifting the ankles under the center of the hips and letting gravity allow the legs to fall without as much need to push off. Chi emphasizes kicking the feet back, which may be the same but sounds more difficult but also discusses allowing gravity to have its effect. Both books are well worth reading particularly as they emphasize reducing impact on the joints and running more efficiently. Writer Matt Fitzgerald indicates that studies show form changes don't often help runners run faster based on bio mechanical differences and needs, but he does admit that efficiency can be improved and all agree that barefoot running, when and where you can do it, is essential in learning how to run more efficiently. In the book, the author takes a long run up to give a biographical revelation on how he discovered the Pose method in 90 plus pages but it is a quick read. Quite a lot of the book is composed of exercises that assist you in learning and training for the method as well as numerous exercises to strengthen your core muscles allowing greater ability to sustain balance and the lean. The latter part of the book has excellent examples of the right and wrong way, the simply graphic showing the right lean versus the wrong was very helpful since I found myself doing too much of a forward lean. I also have/am guilty of concentrating more on leg turn over versus the right way to land. A clinic course would be helpful but from doing the drills and practicing the components one or two at a time (doing everything right all at once is a lot to concentrate on) it appears to be doable even possibly for an old heel striker like me. The book is a little pricey (5 stars if more compact) and I think a more compact version would have been just as good but it is worth the read but consider buying on Amazon used.

I'm surprised that this book is no longer sold directly by Amazon. Has it gone out of print? Odd, considering the popularity of the barefoot-minimal shoe-proper form running movement, which this book helped start. The book teaches the mechanics of running to reduce the impact on the body. The keys are landing on the balls of the feet, not the heels, using gravity by leaning forward from the ankle, and keeping the stride short so your foot lands under your center of mass instead of way out in front of you. Sounds simple enough, but there's a lot to think about until it becomes a habit. This book lays out the method, offers drills, and explanations that are informative and inspiring. I bought this book after I read Chi Running, and the two are very similar in their approach, with one key difference being that Pose teaches a ball of the foot landing, Chi uses a midfoot landing. Whether one is better than the other will likely depend on who's running. Enough people, myself included, have used the principles to enjoy running and eliminate or reduce injury. The theory is that the human body is suited to running long distances but that we've learned bad habits partially because the shoe companies have created running shoes that damage the body by trying to imprison the foot in a heavily padded pronation/supination control device. Like Chi Running, the Pose recommends racing flats or other running shoes without bells and whistles. A minimal shoe that lets the foot function as nature intended, along with a running form suited to the way our bodies were designed to run are the two pieces of the safe running puzzle. If you want to try an approach that might well make running fun and help you avoid injury, this book is required reading.