What's the difference?

I have had several people ask me to explain the basic differences of Chi runners (CR) compared to conventional runners. Since CR is still new to folks, I thought it would make a good subject to review.

First let's look at how most people propel themselves forward when running. You have to push off with the back foot, more specifically the toes. Then land with your foot out in front of your body most likely with a heel strike and a straight knee. When landing this way, you momentarily stop your forward motion and absorb the impact of the road coming at you. The push off is known as bounce or vertical oscillation and the landing is called braking.  Both can be measured by some watches and other devices.

These types of motion are considered ineffective and potentially can lead to injuries. A way to look at it is the smallest muscles in the body are doing all the work of pushing your body forward. The forward leg is absorbing approximately four times your body weight upon contact with the road. Not calculating in the miles per hour which you are traveling at. This energy must be absorbed by the leg, if there is weakness or misalignment the odds of a repetitive injury increase substantially. The next motion that has to happen is the leg must now be pulled back also known as pawback to continue moving. This leads to pendular stride. Quad and hamstring muscles injuries usually occur during this phase of the stride. So, an average runner must push-brake-pull-repeat to move forward and this is all achieved with leg muscles doing all the work.

Now let's look at CR and how they move. They use external propulsion by moving out of gravity's vertical influence and into a horizontal pull. When in proper posture, the shoulders, hip, and ankles align as they fall forward, slightly maintaining a lean from their relaxed ankles and simply pick up their heels to keep up with their fall.  There is no push off or pulling happening just relaxed legs lifting the heels and bending the knees. The CR lands with a soft, bent knee. The only muscles assuming the workload are the lower core muscles that help hold the posture alignment. The stride takes on a circular shape. The oncoming road moves the legs rearward and the relaxed legs are returned by the automatic recoil of the tendons in the upper legs and pelvis. The feet usually land directly underneath or slightly behind the hips. If you can remember back to when you were a child running, we all use to run falling forward.  Only problem is that we did not control our balance. Most of the time if we started going faster we would get too far out in front and wipe out. A CR learns to balance their fall, leaning a little more to go faster and less to slow down.

The relaxed arm swing of the CR is used as a counter balance and the emphasis is to the rear again, allowing for tendon recoil to return them to the side. On flat ground, the 90 degree elbows never swing in front of the body. An average runner will swing their arms forward and it is common for the elbows to be in front of the body. This forward swing increases the odds of heel striking.

Head placement is another key to being relaxed. The CR will lift from the crown of their head lengthening the back of their neck. Shoulders stay relaxed and forward. These movement helps keep their alignment. The chin is down but the eyes look up 30 to 40 yards ahead. Subtle adjustments to the head position can increase or decrease the speed or adjust one's balance.

The regular runner's head is usually up and their shoulders are pulled back. This head position also increases the likelihood of bending at the waist and heel striking. Sometimes it also will cause lower back pain.

To sum up, an average runner in order to move must use their legs with a series of push-brake-pull to move forward and their foot strike is happening in front of the body. This type of motion has a great deal of impact and muscle usage. The type stride pattern you will observe will be a pendular pattern.

Whereas a CR uses gravity to move them forward while relaxing and allowing the road to move their legs. Due to the lifting of the heels and bending of the knees you will observe a short circular stride pattern with little to no impact happening to the body.

Now the only thing left to decide is which style of running you would prefer to do if going for any distance?