In the comments to one of my posts, one of the commentators said that only not quite normal people run. Why? And why?! After all, now technological progress has fully provided a person with means of transportation and there is no need to run anymore. That is, running became an atavism not as a result of evolution (we didn't grow wings, did we?), but as a result of the fact that man invented cars. As a result, once one of the best runners on Earth simply forgot how to run.
Not even just to run, but to run properly! You can learn from this from the Indians who live far from civilization and remember how to do such simple things. They are able to run 100 miles barefoot through the canyon and not get a single injury. And it's not because the soles of their feet are the same as Hobbits. But because they know a secret that is known even to children who are just starting to walk, but immediately forget about it when they grow up. If this is inherent in a person on the same level as the sucking and swallowing reflexes, then we will run for a long time. The main thing is to remember how to do it correctly.
Previously, according to the laws of nature, the strongest survived and the one who could run fast and for a long time, fleeing from the enemy or catching up with prey. And now you really don't need to run for all this. Now there is nothing to do at all. You can just sit in one place and get everything at once, and not only all the benefits of civilization, but also the health problems accompanying a sedentary lifestyle. Evolution does not happen so fast and it will take quite a long time to leave a person with only the most necessary things (head and stomach). In the meantime, we have legs, arms and a body that, at the call of our ancestors, requires normal care and development. And running is not in the last place here.
Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run (Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.»), shares his thoughts on this in an article on the NewYork Times.
In it, he describes the research of Peter Larson, an evolutionary biologist at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, who has been observing barefoot runners for several years, and other scientists and writers, trainers, marathon runners and many others.
To be very brief, no super fancy sneakers created according to the templates of the latest research, or running shoes with individual insoles, will save you from injury if you do not know how to run properly.
When children are just starting to walk, for an adult they step over very funny, as if they hang in the air for a moment: one leg is already raised, while the other has not yet had time to fall to the ground. This is the correct running technique, laid down by nature from birth, while our genes still remember how our ancestors hunted and covered huge distances by running.
The figure shows the step of such a runner (the picture is clickable).
This style of running is called the Pose Method and if you enter this search phrase on Youtube, you will find a lot of videos with a detailed description of the technique and exercises.
If you are really interested in the Pose Method, go to NY Times and read the article in full. There are 5 pages of text in English, but it is easy and understandable to read :)
In no case do I urge you to run barefoot. Just don't rely entirely on your shoes — they don't guarantee you 100% protection from injury. Train your legs and rely on them — they won't let you down.
