When we think about running and running techniques, we mostly think about how the legs move, how they land, how long the steps are etc. But we don’t often think about our arms. Interestingly, our leg movements are linked to our arm movements, and they collaborate with each other during running. By adjusting our arm movements we can influence how our legs move, and help create a more economic running style. In this blog post I will share some tips on how to move your arms while running, so your running becomes smooth and efficient.
Here are some tips for your arm movements, that can help you create a smooth and efficient running style:
1. With a straight upper body and stable shoulders, try to only move the arms from your shoulder joint, without rotating the shoulders. If your shoulders rotate, your legs need to balance out the rotation of your upper body by swinging to the side, which will affect your knee and hip joints on the long run.
2. Your elbows should be at about a 90° angle or a bit less and stay with that angle while moving back and forth. This angle influences your stride. Having a more open angle will create very long strides, and a closed angle will promote very short steps. To create a comfortable pace and rhythm an angle at 90° or a bit less is recommendable.
3. Your arms should move back until you can a see a triangle between your elbow and your back. This helps to counter-balance your leg movements and with that keeping your body stable.
4. When your arms move forward, your hands should stop around your chest level. This promotes a forward focused running style. If your hands go up higher, your body automatically wants to move upwards, going into a jumping direction. This will lead to you feeling exhausted a lot faster, as it needs more energy to run.
5. Make sure your arms don’t cross over into each other’s space. If they cross over, your legs need to balance that turning movement out and your legs will swing outwards, which can have a negative impact on your knees and hip joints.
You can always test out all these different movements and angles for yourself to see how different movements affect your running.
To practice these recommended arm movements you can always start practicing them while standing, only moving your arms back and forth. At first try it out slowly, if it goes well you can increase the speed and try it out at faster speeds, and also start trying it out while running. Always keep in mind that changing movements that we’ve done all our life might take a bit of practice and time, but it is definitely worth giving it a try.