Running Form 101

Proper running form can help improve your overall efficiency and reduce your risk for injury. Try these tips to keep you injury free as you train to reach peak performance.

See caption for alt text.

Published on: April 10, 2019

Running form 101

Improve efficiency and reduce your risk for injury

Head

  • Keep your head upright and in line with shoulders.
  • Look slightly down and ahead.
  • Relax your jaw.

Arms/Hands

  • Bend your arms at about 90 degrees.
  • Don’t cross or swing arms in front of your chest.
  • Relax your hands (imagine holding a penny between your thumb and forefinger).

Torso

  • Lean (fall) slightly forward; don’t slouch!
  • Keep your chest up and shoulders straight.

Feet

  • Don’t over stride; your foot should land under or slightly in front of hips.
  • Land on your mid-foot to forefoot, that is, from the arch to the ball of your foot.
  • Keep your cadence at about 170 to 190 steps per minute.

USU (Uniformed Services University)  and CHAMP (Consortium for Health and Military Performance) logos. Human Performance Resources by CHAMP | HPRC-online.org

CHAMP wants to know:
How useful was the information in this article?