Sunday Coffee & Chat: Running Form Meets Functional Movements

Sunday, April 30, 2017 · Mike Davis

Good morning!

The chat has been a little quiet for a week now as I have been doing some school stuff as well as out of town visiting family. All good stuff and got to see parts of North Carolina that I had not seen.

Last week saw me get in a couple nice runs, with one being intervals, which always please me to have done. Still got some work to do in other parts of my running and strength training, but I will get there.

I did get the written report from my functional screening and when things settle down, I will dissect it and figure out how incorporate the exercises into an overall strength training program. A good part of the results for me, show weakness in some not so major muscles, or at least the muscles that I ever gave much thought to. My scapula area (latissimus dorsi), shoulders and my ankles are all weak or lack flexibility and will require some concentrated focus with both stretching and weights. The wonderful thing about these problem areas are, they can be greatly improved if I put the time and effort into them. The even greater thing is, if I put the effort into improving my strength and range of motion (ROM), I will improve my running efficiency, reduce my chances of injury, and improve my overall ability to function. While I am all about improving my running form and efficiency, the much bigger picture is to help myself as those candles increase each year on that cake.

I am also super excited to be getting the necessary education so that NFLR can combine our state of the art gait analysis system with functional screening to help all levels of runners, not only stay injury free and run better, but also move through life more functionally sound. When my professor and I looked at my running form analysis (gait), and then she put me through the screening assessment, it was amazing to understand the direct correlation between my running form, posture and what the assessment exposed. While it is great to learn how to identify the problem areas through the gait analysis and functional assessment, it is just as important to have the education and training to know how to address the findings. This is a continuous learning process for me and will probably never end. While I am well versed in running form analysis, I will continue to seek out education that improves my knowledge, as well as add functional movement education. Combined understanding of these functions, will let NFLR help all runners in multiple ways. Really cool stuff!

Time to head on out to church. Have a great Sunday and God Bless!

Mike