Today I bring you a guest blog post from Alexandra
Merisoiu. Alexandra, The Body
Engineer, is the Founder of The Merisoiu Technique - Institute Of Health And
Human Movement and Dracula’s Retreat. She is also a qualified Low Back Pain
Management and Prevention Exercise and REPS registered instructor.
A distance runner herself since 2007, Alexandra specializes in working
with runners, beginners and advanced, who want to run faster, further, with
less effort and fewer injuries. This is done through natural movement fitness
and running technique and mechanics.
Since 1995 she has explored how the body and mind works. She has done
this through using many different sporting techniques and working with a wide
variety of highly respected coaches. She is a 3rd Dan Black Belt in
Karate Shotokan, WMO Martial Arts British National Champion, has been ranked
1st in the WMO BRITISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, 2nd and 3rd at WORLD KARATE
CHAMPIONSHIP, 2 times NATIONAL KARATE CHAMPION, WORLD CUP CHAMPION. She still
competes at an international level. Her Martial Arts, Pose Method and natural
running practice inspires and shapes the running style she teaches.
Injury is the natural consequence of meeting
brute force with brute force – Tai Chi Philosophy
Being a lifelong practitioner of Martial
Arts, particularly Shotokan Karate, as well as a runner this phrase always
makes me wonder why do we do this to ourselves?
Why do we use strength? Why do we push,
pull and use force in almost everything we do?
This is generally how we move, run, walk,
lift and use our bodies daily in today’s society: using force and strength.
Think about it:
1) When you lift a grocery bag (heavy or not),
do you jerk it up to lift it? Or do you lift it slowly and smoothly positioning
yourself into a good squat, lifting with your legs and core muscles? Have you
actually thought about that?
2) When you run up a hill do you force
yourself to step as far forward as possible just to get those extra centimeters
and get up that hill as soon as possible?
3) When you sprint do you push against the
ground to leap forward and take big steps/strides attempting to cover as much
distance as possible? Or do you use your body weight and gravity to
effortlessly negotiate that steep hill?
4) When you stand from a sitting position is
it a smooth transition or a fast, sudden movement?
5) When you walk up a flight of stairs do you
push yourself using your back leg? Or do you transfer your body weight onto
your front leg and then just lift the back leg rather than pushing off?)
That doesn’t mean you have to monitor all
your movements from now on, although you could. What I’m trying to point is the
fact that, throughout our daily routines, most of the time, we are tensed,
closed up, using power, strength and jerky movements. Yes or no? Leave a
comment below.
Internal Martial Arts, such as Tai Chi,
focus on strong core in a soft wrapping. Much like a sword – the core strength,
wrapped in cotton – the exterior of your body which should be relaxed. Your
power doesn’t come from your arms and legs, from pushing and over striding.
Your power comes from your core....that’s why it’s called a “core”.
Another metaphor would be hitting a rock
with another rock. One of the rocks will break, or chip, if not immediately, it
will over time. If you hit the rock with a napkin, the napkin will just
smoothly wrap around the rock, it will not break. When you run and hit the
ground with a stiff, solid body, I guarantee it’s not the ground that’ll chip
and break, it’s your joints and bones!
As runners, repeating the same movement,
over and over again, this concept is critical. Why? Because injury happens when
brute force – your muscle power, pounding and jerky movements, meets brute
force – the ground, which is a solid surface. Doing that hundreds of thousands
of times over several years, if you are a regular runner, is a great recipe for
structural injury.
Furthermore, when you pound against the ground
with force the ground will respond with an equal and opposite (as in direction)
reaction - force. Newton’s 3rd law states that for every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The reverse is also true. Relax your body,
allow it to absorb the impact through your body’s natural suspensions (muscles,
joints, ligaments), meet the ground with softness and the ground will respond
with an equal reaction.
Thus by using tension and muscle power:
- You meet the solid ground with a solid body – injury
- The solid ground will respond with an equal and opposite reaction to
your action; the questions is “what type of action will YOU send out?”
- You muscles will burn out sooner – not achieving your speed or
distance goals
- Muscles are tensed and will not allow Oxygen to seep through and
feed your muscles with new energy. Danny Dreyer (Chi Running) compares this
with pouring syrup over pancakes vs a bagel. In the first case the syrup easily
seeps through the spongy pancakes. In the second case it’s more difficult as
the density of the bagel is higher and less permeable. When your body is tensed
you are a bagel, when it’s relaxed you are spongy like pancakes, and the syrup
(oxygen) can reach the deep fibres of your muscles.
- You restrict your breathing. It is very common to curl forward and
close up our chest, especially when running uphill. We somehow think that will
get us up that hill easier. It’s quite the contrary. You close up your chest,
your lungs, you tense the muscles around your chest, you restrict your breathing
and oxygen intake, then things just get more and more difficult, don’t they?
- You will slow down. Tension will slow you down.
When you relax:
- You meet the solid ground with a soft body, using your natural
suspensions to absorb the impact – reduce risk of injuries
- The ground will respond with the same level of reduced tension.
- It will take longer for your muscles to fatigue because...
....you allow the oxygen to reach the muscles fibres
- You can keep your posture and body alignment and so you can breathe
correctly and ensure a good supply of oxygen, which is the food for your
muscles. Nutrition as well of course, but without oxygen you won’t get
anywhere.
- You will speed up
- You will be able to keep your pace for longer)
If you practiced martial arts and you were
taught how to fall, you know that you never break your fall by placing your leg
under the body, or landing on your hand or elbow. Do that on hard surface and
you break your leg, wrist or elbow. Instead you allow your body to relax and
curl into a ball, smoothly rolling around without pain, even on solid pavement.
Once you understand the movement, you can roll painlessly on any surface,
that’s the point of educated falling after all.
As with a martial arts roll practice is
key. Practice relaxation throughout your daily activities and throughout your
training and, in time, you will get better and better at it.
Thus, if you want to reduce the risk of
injuries, speed up and run for longer, first you need to learn to relax. Both
Chi Running and Pose Method have this in common. So does any form of Martial
Art, although the principle of relaxation is not being taught everywhere and by
every instructor.
When you relax, your structure, with all
its elements, can do its job better because there is less restriction. I’m not
saying you will never get tired, but it will take longer to get tired.
Once I understood this concept, my running
(and my Martial Arts) performance changed, for the better. I can now run up
steep hills while relaxing my legs. Whenever running gets difficult, I look at
my posture and start to reduce tension in the muscles, starting with my
shoulders. Then I go back to a more relaxed running and make it up the hill
easier.
I’m putting together a running technique
course, based on Pose Method and Chi Running elements, with drills what’ll help
you get a better understanding and practice of relaxation, among other running
drills and elements, to improve your performance and reduce injuries. Just
email support@themtechnique.com and I will send you the link.
The ideas that Alexandra shares in her
blog post are expressed by many of the top run coaches across the world. The idea of letting your legs act like shock
absorbers can make a huge difference in your running. Please take a second to follow Alexandra on
social media and at her website if you get a chance.
