Paul Mackinnon's highly effective "New way, old way" system of improving biomechanics for better running
Do you face recurring injuries? Do you want to improve your running economy for better performance? Maybe it's time to consider improving the way you move...
WEEKLY WISDOM: BECOME A BETTER MOVER
OVERVIEW
In the sport of running, there are generally two thought processes behind biomechanics, or the way you move through your stride from head to toes, which are, one, the way you naturally run is what’s optimal for your body and shouldn’t be messed with, and two, everyone can benefit from working to improve their form, both injury-prone and highly durable runners alike. If you personally agree with the first thought process, I challenge you to ask yourself, what if someone’s natural way of running is putting excess stress on certain areas of their body, causing them to have recurring injuries? Or, maybe someone has excess vertical oscillation, sideways motion, and/or rotational motion, energy that would be better directed forward (the entire objective of running)? I would argue that, in a scenario where the answer is yes to questions such as those, working on biomechanics could be transformative for you. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are; EVERYONE can benefit from working on their form.
If you’re not convinced, let’s say that we have a 150 pound competitive runner who averaged 3 hours of running per week—22.5 miles if the average pace of all runs on the week was 8:00/mile—over the course of a year with an average strides per minute of 170. That would be 3 * 60 * 170 = 30,600 strides/week * 52 weeks/year = 1,591,200 strides/year. Given the fact that, on average, one’s ground reaction force (GRF) is two to three times their bodyweight per foot strike, that means there’s, at minimum, a total of 150 * 2 * 1,591,200 = 477,360,000 pounds of GRF being exerted on this athlete’s body in a year. At the higher end of the range, it could be upwards of 150 * 3 * 1,591,200 = 716,040,000 pounds of GRF. If this athlete runs with faulty movement patterns, such as swinging their right arm well beyond the chest’s midline, they are then causing certain areas of the body to receive more of the GRF. Now, instead of this athlete’s body effectively absorbing and distributing the 300-450 pounds of GRF from each foot strike across their entire body, there is excess force going to specific areas. Stride after stride, run after run, week after week, month after month, and so on, this could turn into a significant injury.
All of this is to say that we put a lot of repetitive stress on our bodies as runners, and as such, any faults in our stride have the potential to compound exponentially!
PAUL MACKINNON’S SYSTEM
Although it may be overwhelming thinking about working on the way you move, something that you’ve deeply ingrained over possibly millions of steps annually, you’d be surprised at how quickly you can make significant improvements in your form. My eyes were opened to this reality by Paul Mackinnon, otherwise known as “The Balanced Runner,” a professional running form coach that has worked with many top-level athletes including Bowerman Track Club’s Vanessa Fraser, Galen Rupp, and even Drew Bosley (as I recently discovered on Instagram)! I may or may not have been stalking Paul’s Instagram to find some big names to drop… So YEAH, he’s legit!!! His top-down system for improving form is wonderful and something I’d highly recommend you all take a look into via his website. Let’s run it down real quick…
NEW WAY, OLD WAY
“New way, old way” is the core principle that Paul utilizes to ingrain better movement habits. Rather than explaining exactly what an athlete is doing wrong and telling them to do something else instead, Paul really works at getting the runner to understand HOW they are moving and what they need to feel and think about to become more efficient. In order to accomplish this, he follows a four-step process:
Assessment and self-awareness of current “old” form
The goal here is to assess and become self-aware of how you currently move.
Dialing in a new cue
The goal here is to practice implementing a new cue, getting accustomed to the consequent changes to your gait.
New way, old way
The goal here is to solidify the differences between the new and old way of running, making it easier to identify whether you’re correctly executing the new cue or reverting to old habits during your runs.
Repetition until automaticity
The goal here is to develop automaticity with the new way of running.
ASSESSMENT AND SELF-AWARENESS
He starts by having you run out and back about 30 to 40 meters the way you currently run, or the “old” way. He then takes you through a series of out and backs, or segments, running your old way, where each segment you’re thinking about a different region of your body. Typically, this involves three out and backs where you think about your upper body, upper legs/hips, and feet, respectively. For your upper body, he’ll ask you to think about the positioning and feel of your upper back, shoulders, chest, and arms. For your upper legs/hips, he’ll ask you to focus on how much extension you’re getting forward and backward, the pace of that extension, how your pelvis is aligned, etc. And lastly, for the feet, he’ll ask you to think about where you are landing (forefoot, midfoot, rearfoot) and your ground reaction time.
DIALING IN A NEW CUE
Once you’ve made these connections with your current movement patterns, he’ll have you implement a cue, or something to consciously think about as you run (e.g., cradle your arms), starting by going out and back the “new” way and dialing that new way in with multiple segments if needed.
NEW WAY, OLD WAY
Once the new cue is being executed correctly, he gets you to run out the new way and back the old way, getting you to think about how the new way feels different from the old in your upper body, upper legs/hips, and feet, respectively. Once you’ve ingrained those differences, he has you do each segment as halfway new, halfway old, such that you’re transitioning from new to old within a segment. After doing this a few times, the form session is complete!
REPETITION UNTIL AUTOMATICITY
The final step is to go out run after run and ingrain the new way of moving. Because of the repetitive nature of running, it can take as short as 10-12 runs, incredibly, for this new movement pattern to become automatic/natural, at which point you can move on to another cue to further improve your form (if necessary). Ultimately, you should not transition to a new cue until the current one feels automatic, as otherwise when you add a new cue you’ve got to think about two cues as opposed to one. This could be detrimental to properly executing on each cue.
FILMING YOURSELF
The first step to improving your running form is developing self-awareness around how you move. In order to accomplish this, I’d highly recommend that you all take some time to video yourselves at a variety of angles. Specifically, Paul recommends capturing three angles on a flat road with a 30 to 40 meter stretch: out (away from camera) in portrait, back (towards camera) in portrait, and sideways (ideally with the shot tracking you as you pass by) in landscape. Having a friend to film you is ideal, but you can also use a tripod or even a chair with a shoe to prop up your phone. Notably, you do not need to run any faster than your easy run pace, although there could be value to getting an additional three shots running at a faster pace, perhaps closer to 3k or mile pace. After acquiring this footage, take a moment to look at how you run in the various angles, slowing it down to get a better idea. You may be surprised by the way you run; it could look completely different than how you think you move. Developing this self-awareness through capturing these three shots is the first step you should take in the journey to better form.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I came across Paul thanks to Juris Silenieks, a friend of mine who’s been on my podcast. He recommended that I check out his “The Balanced Runner” membership program to work on my form. Although skeptical at first, I became more and more intrigued by Paul’s work, eventually deciding that with how injury-prone I’ve been the last four or more years, perhaps the way I move is a significant contributor. I opted for his premium membership program, a hefty price to be frank, which allows me to get one monthly 1-on-1 form session with Paul where he gives me cues to work on specific to my needs.1 Thus far, my experience has been eye-opening, making me realize just how much there is to be improved in my movement. After just two months with Paul, I have noticed significant improvements in my running and am excited to continue this journey with him. I will share the details of this journey in a later post where I plan to outline what exactly we’ve worked on and the progression of my form from one cue to the next.
On another note, I actually took one of the cues that Paul worked on with me and transferred it to my one athlete I coach. Within days, he told me that he already feels significantly better in his running with much less heel pain (something that’s been bugging him for a while now). So yeah, it really works!
Hopefully, I’ve convinced you of the transformative power of working on biomechanics, something that I think is heavily underlooked in this sport, yet holds great significance in many other sports like tennis, golf, and swimming. If you are convinced, I’d highly recommend that you check out Paul’s program via his website linked above.
If you have further questions, please ask me of course! See my contact information at the bottom of this post; I would love to help.
Next up on All Things Running… How They Train: Hobb Kessler’s new training approach.
AN UPDATE ON MYSELF
Running has been going pretty well. I’ve been hovering around 20-30 miles per week over the last four or so weeks with three lifts a week (counting two weekly PT sessions). Unfortunately, I am having lingering burning down my left leg that starts at my lower back which has been an issue for many months now—the reason I began PT towards the back half of last year. The hope is that with continued massage, physical therapy, chiropractic therapy, and form improvements, I will get out of this hump and be able to train competitively again with workouts, long runs, races, and all that fun stuff I miss so dearly. And yes, my bank account is most certainly NOT appreciating all of these health payments, but I’m taking this seriously because I still have big goals in this sport that I want to achieve! For now, I’ll continue grinding away one day at a time, brick by brick.
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If you want personalized coaching and/or training advice, I’d be happy to help. You can email me at jacobreesmontgomery@gmail.com or send me a direct message on Instagram.
He also has a basic $30/month membership which is also wonderful and a great starting point.