Lifting your feet higher costs LESS energy when running
Published 2023-04-13
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Fredrik Zillén has over the years helped thousands of runners to a more efficient running technique - from the slowest beginners to members of the Swedish national team in running and triathlon who have participated in the World Championships and the Olympics. Fredrik also writes articles on effective running technique for Runner's World magazine.
Following the success of Fredrik Zilléns online course in Swedish, he has now produced an updated and improved version in English. You can find it here: www.fredrikzillen.com/
You find the Swedish version at: www.fredrikzillenonline.se/
"Fantastic running course. Fredrik is an excellent teacher with a unique approach. I highly recommend this course to runners of all levels."
Kevin, UK
"The best money I have ever spent. Great mix of humour, practical technique and theory. It’s brilliant and I have been telling all my friends about it. I’ve knocked 30 secs off my average pace to 4:30 and at 53 I’m absolutely astonished how relaxed I feel running. It’s also really helped my cycling my adapting similar techniques and visualisation. Thanks so much.
Paul, UK
Read more testimonials here: fredrikzillenonline.newzenler.com/testimonials
The course in English: fredrikzillenonline.newzenler.com/
The course in Swedish: www.fredrikzillenonline.se/
All Comments (21)
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Another advantage. I recently caught my foot on a small reflector in the road and did a spectacular and public faceplant. Definitely takes more energy to faceplant than to lift your feet.
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Whoa! This actually seems useful! In an age of tepid, and at the same time, noisy running advice videos I am quite surprised to find a video with some REAL INFORMATION 👍
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A really good runner knows how to feel their muscles getting tired and adjust to different types of strides to distribute the load better and make you able to run further.
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Yes you are Correct you actually save energy picking your feet up when u run. I noticed my feet and glutes getting tired when i didnt pick my feet up enough while running then when I started picking them up the pain went away. Thanks for the Video 👍🏻 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
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Solid gold, this video has made a significant instant improvement in my running. Thanks FZ!!
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I was one of those who was unconsciously stopping his legs. I knew my form is not good but always thought that I will eventually get faster and move my legs. I watched this video yesterday. Tried to ‘relax’ and just let my legs flow. My easy run was much faster and I felt that my effort was much less. I cannot explain how just relaxing could cause such a huge difference that too on first try! 😮
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Great video and excellent analysis with a concise explanation! You just changed my mind. Subscribed.
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Great video! I did try and it worked well. I did knee drive forward and my feet naturally lifted up, I ran faster with less effort. Thank you so much for what you are coaching!
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Finally somebody who explains the body mechanics for running! I love the Metronome example, that one works beautifully. When playing with high kick towards the back I find that the front landing has quite a bit more impact on the knees. Have you measured the front landing in your experiments?
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I knew it! Thank you for confirming what I felt intuitively. I've had so many casual self-proclaimed "experts" tell me how I should run, and when I took their advice, it just felt so forced and bogged down. I've been running the way that feels good for years, and I have yet to encounter the injuries these weekend warriors claim I will if I don't follow their preferred method. Funny thing is that I run way more often than they do, yet they seem to think they know my body better than I know myself haha. The confidence is admirable!
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Excellent description of the force characteristics of the gait cycle in running (at various speeds, even!). I've been coaching for a long time and have never quite thought about it in that way.
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Fantastic! The moment I read the title, I understood the mechanism.
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I litteraly did this this week for the last six miles of a marathon! You litterally just relax after ground contact and it just happens! It was the fastest final 6 of a marathon and my 5th fastest 10k? Bonus* also my hips and anterior tibs not being total garbage the next day! Take away* running form is actually a thing! Great vid, sub too! Tq
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This video is life-changing. Thank you very much coach Fredrik Zillen.
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Thanks for this! Nice to have it explained so well. Great video!
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First time I watch this man. I love your attitude, Fredrik!
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Excellent video as always. I also find if I relax and let me knees naturally drive up, your back kick will increase as well, as your pace increases, effortlessly. It’s like magic….watch the elites, as they effortlessly run at 4 min/mile, with negative splits toward the end of a marathon.
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Frederik- you blew my mind. Thanks!
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This seems to explain why it's so tiring to run with together someone who is slower than me! I chalked it up to having longer legs and it being more tiring to run in smaller strides, as well as having to hit the ground more frequently, but this explains a lot! I might have been using energy to resist my legs going higher in order to maintain the slower pace, which may just have caused more fatigue
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This misses to most important reason why lifting your feet higher is more efficient. Lifting your feet is just a tiny fraction of the work you do when you-re running, the majority of work is done lifting the body when the feet is in contact with the ground. That's the part of the step you need to optimize, you do that by swinging your leg in a larger circle so you can activate large muscles in the contact phase, and direct the forces in a more optimal direction.
