Run Form for Beginners: Assessing Strength

You need the right starting line to assess and improve your run form.

As a Physical Therapist for the past 12 years, I’ve found that most runners focus on flashy buzz words like cadence, stride length, lean, and foot strike.

While each piece has a part to play, it returns to one spot: anatomy.

Without strength, flexibility, and balance, runners lack the foundation to make meaningful change that is sustained mile after mile.

Through years of running, imbalances develop in muscle groups that impair a runner’s ability to run efficiently and remain injury-free. Luckily, it’s easier than ever to assess your strength through video analysis.

Unlike my early years of analyzing run form, there’s no need for big cameras and fancy software. Using your phone and the slow-motion feature can be enough to start.

The challenging part? Knowing what to look for — and how to fix the issues you uncover.

To help, I’ll point you in the right direction. The back view is the best starting point for any run analysis. Assessing from behind allows runners to uncover weaknesses or mobility issues that waste energy, slow them down, and increase the risk for injury.

Watch this to learn more:

The list points back to compensations due to lacking strength, mobility, and balance. The next step, pun intended, is to address the compensations.

Doing so, you lay the foundation for improving your stride and can transition to more flashy pieces like foot strike, stride length, and others.