November 3, 2024 • 22 mins
Unlock the secrets to running faster and more efficiently with insights from Lauren Sok, a skilled physical therapist and the visionary behind Functionize Health and Physical Therapy. This episode promises to transform your running game with Lauren's expert advice on adopting a faster cadence through shorter, quicker steps. Delve into the world of biomechanics as Lauren shares how engaging your posterior chain and avoiding overstriding can lead to a more efficient and less impactful run. Whether you're a seasoned marathoner or just lacing up your running shoes, her practical tips are designed to enhance your performance and reduce the risk of injury.
As a key advocate for active living, Lauren also talks about her role in the Active Dunwoody group, which brings the community together through engaging activities like group runs and yoga. This initiative is all about fostering a supportive environment for everyone, from fitness newcomers to seasoned athletes. If retraining your running form feels daunting, fear not—Functionize Health offers personalized running assessments to help you hone your technique and alleviate any discomfort. Tune in to discover how you can join in, meet fellow residents, and embark on a journey toward a healthier lifestyle.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta,
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Stacey Risley.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello friends and neighbors.
Welcome to North Atlanta's GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Today we're here with LaurenStock.
She is a physical therapist andthe owner of Functionize Health
and Physical Therapy.
She has a location here inDunwoody and also one in Decatur
, so welcome back, lauren.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm doing great.
Thanks for having me again.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, we are pleased to have you back.
Lauren is our expertcontributor for her industry for
the Dunwoody Neighborspublication and she has recently
submitted an article that wasjust fantastic and really
relevant to the Dunwoodycommunity because there are so
many runners, so the article wastitled the Biggest Mistake
(00:54):
Runners Make when Trying to RunFaster.
And Lauren's here to share herknowledge with us today and let
us in on this little secret forthose of you who don't receive
the magazine, so we're reallyglad you're here.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well, we're talking about running, which is one of
my favorite things to talk about.
I am a runner and, as youmentioned, there's so many
people in Dunwoody running allover the place, whether it's at
Brook Run Park or up and downChamblee, dunwoody, mount Vernon
, just through any trails thatwe have.
So I love to talk about this,and even at my business, my
practice, we see so many runnerswho come in and say you know,
(01:29):
I'm training for something,whether it's their first 5k or
they're a experienced runnerwho's doing the 10 miler, which
was just recently at AtlanticStation, or a half marathon or
full marathon.
So everybody's trying toimprove their efficiency and
their time, and that's what wedo.
We love helping people becomebetter runners.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, and you mentioned that there are so many
runners here in Dunwoody andthat you are an active member of
that running community and thatjust kind of reminded me that
you also are.
Are you kind of the founder ofthe group Active Dunwoody?
Yeah, that is a running groupthose of you who are listening
(02:14):
that don't know if you are arunner there's a Lauren has a
great group here in Dunwoodythat's called Active Dunwoody.
It's on Facebook.
You can find that and they youguys play in all kinds of things
.
If I was an active runner, I'ma member of that group.
I am active in Dunwoody.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's all about just keeping people active and
healthy in their lifestyle, soit's not even just running.
Most of the things that we haveon Thursday, the second and
fourth Thursday of the month, wedo a group run or walk, so we
actually have more walkers thanwe do runners.
We meet at one of thebusinesses in the Dunwoody
Village and then walk or runfrom there and come back.
(02:51):
It's usually about a 30 minuterun or you know walk.
We come back and we eat and wehang out and that's really fun.
But we do like really coolthings, like last week we did a
scavenger hunt.
Really cool things Like.
Last week we did a scavengerhunt.
So the scavenger hunt is atdifferent businesses.
The last one was at Velvet Tacoand you have an hour to find
(03:11):
clues that are all throughoutDunwoody.
So you can walk, you can run,you get prizes for finding more
clues.
We probably have anywhere from50 to 100 people show up and
that is one of the most funthings you can do and done.
What do you learn about history,about all the cemeteries,
businesses, um, so definitelylook for that.
(03:33):
That's twice a year that we dodo that.
We have laughter yoga thatwe've done outside of my office,
so that's really cool.
Um, we've done yoga in the park.
We have a workout at the end ofOctober with Alloy.
That's like a pumpkin workout.
So we try to make it really funand it's for anybody of any
(03:53):
level, and pets can come to ourevents, kids can come.
So, yeah, you don't have to bea runner.
If you want to run, you can run, but you don't have to be.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, I am very glad you cleared that up.
I may be more likely to comebecause I know laughter.
You know laughter, yoga andyoga in the park.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I can do those things and I know, I know exactly
Fantastic Low barrier to entryactivities that bring people
together, because I mean, whatyou know is you know, as adults,
it's really hard to meet people, right, and so if you can come
together just because you wantto stay active and meet people
along the way, then that'sreally what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely, and I love that you do this.
You're really embedded into theDunwoody community in so many
ways you know beyond justthrough FunctionEyes, you know.
So I love it, I love that youdo that and you are so plugged
in and and you know offering allof this for residents for free.
You know to be a part of that.
(04:48):
So absolutely so.
Okay, we just got way detouredwe went down a rabbit hole but
it was a very good rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
It was a good rebel, but yes we got to go back to the
original question, which is thebiggest myth that runners make
when trying to run faster.
Yeah, so what is the biggestmistake?
The biggest myth is that peoplethink that in order to run or
even walk faster, that they haveto take bigger steps.
You'll hear people say, oh youknow, my husband's really tall
(05:17):
and he takes these really bigsteps, so I take big steps to
keep up with them, when actuallythe most efficient runners take
shorter steps and many more.
So we call that cadence.
Cadence is the number of stepsyou take in a minute, and a
faster cadence makes you moreefficient.
And so what we teach people andthat's the lowest hanging fruit
when you're a runner isteaching people to understand
(05:40):
their cadence and how they canimpact that through form drills
and through different coachingtechniques and strength training
that we offer to help peopleget there.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
That it cause that it's a logical assumption you
know, or misconception to cometo.
You know that that longer stepsmean you know, you assume that
if you're struggling to keep upwith someone you can think of.
When you're a kid and you'retrying to keep up with your mom,
you know she's got such longlegs.
How am I ever going to keep up?
How am I going to do it?
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So you know, once you show people that it's really
about their steps, then they'relike oh my gosh, this is so much
easier.
Why didn't somebody tell me so?
So a lot of times we havepeople that come in that are
they're a runner or a walker, ormaybe they haven't exercised in
a while, with nagging back pain, knee pain, hip pain, and we
and they're walkers and theywant to resume walking and we'll
(06:34):
put them on the treadmill andfilm them, and simply getting
them to shorten their stride canclear up a lot of problems that
they have in their in theirbody.
So it's it's super cool to seepeople like relearn how to walk
or run, because they're like whyshould I have to relearn this?
And we, just by coaching them,they're like holy cow, like I'm
(06:55):
doing so much better, I feelbetter, I'm going faster and
getting my heart rate up, whichis what we all should be doing
for cardiovascular purposes.
And you know, the interestingthing that happens, especially
in women, is this changes whenwe, after we have kids, because
when we're pregnant, we tend todo the side to side waddle and
if you think, nine months, youcreate a habit in nine months
(07:17):
that if somebody doesn't teachyou how to retrain that.
You're still going to waddleside to side and create a lot of
problems.
So we have to teach you how toroll over your foot and move
forward.
Walking and running is aforward movement.
We have to teach you how tomove forward rather than moving
side to side.
And they laugh.
People laugh and they're likeoh my gosh, I never thought this
(07:38):
was a thing.
But like, just like, if youhave an injury to your knee and
you have to give rehab to learnhow to like walk without a stiff
leg, why wouldn't you do thatafter having kids?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Um, you know, I never wouldhave associated a shorter step
with.
You know, with a faster pace Imean I just would not have.
Um, would never have made cometo that conclusion on my own.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So I'm like, for example, like the novice runner
might be running at a cadence oflike 150 steps per minute right
, which is slow compared to likewe tell people they really have
to get up to 160 to 180 stepsper minute, and elite athletes
are well over 200 steps in aminute.
And the reason that's importantis that if you're going really
(08:24):
slow and you're you're takingthese like big steps and you're
the it, what it creates is yourfoot's in contact with the
ground for a longer period oftime, and when your foot's in
contact with the ground for along period of time, you there's
room for injury, and what wewant is to have your contact
time on the ground shorter,because there's less time to
create an injury.
(08:45):
So if you just tap your footdown and pull it back off,
there's no time to have aninjury because it's just tapping
and going.
But if you're putting your footdown and keeping it there, then
you have all these things.
You could waddle side to side,you can have weird arm swing
that creates something.
Um, it's really about, yeah,like, how quickly do you pull
your foot off the ground ratherthan landing and putting a lot
(09:08):
of weight into your leg, whichcreates the injury?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well, I can definitely hear your expertise
in the fact that you I know thatyou don't have the article even
in front of you right nowYou're winging it because you
are so good at this.
You just hit the second bullet.
The first bullet was cadencereduction, so it would kind of
hit that.
And then now the second one wasincreased ground contact time.
(09:33):
I didn't think about that.
You know less opportunity towork for that, you know.
If less, less opportunity towork for injury, you know with
that, is there anything elseabout that?
Increased, you know, groundcontact time that you want to
touch on.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Well, so you know, what can happen is if you're, if
if you're taking these bigsteps, you also tend to do
what's called over striding.
Over striding is means that yourfoot is reaching far out in
front of your body and when wedo that we tend to reach with a
straight knee.
So our knee becomes straight,our heel makes contact in front
of us and that actually createsa breaking force.
So we're actually creating abreak when we hit the ground
(10:08):
that we have to roll over.
But if we take short steps, wetend to land more on a flat foot
rather than a heavy heel strikeand we'll tend to land
underneath our body, which iskind of then allows us to roll
over our foot because our foot'sunderneath us and we just keep
moving our body weight over ourfoot rather than our foot
reaching way out in front of usand us having to overcome the
(10:29):
leg being stiff and then rollingover the leg.
So it's kind of a weird idea,but you want to land underneath
your body and not overstride,and that's what shortening up
that the stride, but increasingthe cadence will help you do.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
That makes sense and I, you know, I will definitely
never call myself a runner,Definitely currently no longer a
runner, but you know, I did,you know, run track in high
school and even just like backway back in those days, I wish
someone had shared thisinformation with me you know
(11:05):
cause I was, I was fast, butthat's uh and and, but I really
did always associate speed with,you know, height and you know
having the long legs and beingable to make those long strides,
and so I would have to.
if I was still running, I wouldreally be having to relearn some
things in order to be effective.
(11:28):
Well, the next thing, lauren,that you said in your article.
You talked about high, higherimpact forces.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah.
So I mean it's.
It's kind of the same as thisoverstriding.
So if you overstride and youtake this big step out in front
of you, you're landing with amuch higher like impact or into
the ground.
And if we take shorter strides,we tend to be more on the front
of our foot, on our forefoot,and so we're creating more
springiness to then come off ofthat.
Instead of trying to reachagain and kind of slam our heel
(12:03):
into the ground.
What we want is to land alittle bit more on our midfoot
or forefoot.
So we're landing and thenpulling our foot off and it's
just this very quick springinessthat happens, and so there's
less impact in the ground andless stress on our bodies.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, when you really think about it, it makes a lot
of sense.
I mean, if you are like youknow, when you're talking about
reaching way out in front of youand you're having, you know,
your heel first and then you'rekind of pulling your body
forward then with your, your legand your foot and your knee and
your everything else, so itreally does make a whole lot of
sense.
I just wish someone hadexplained it to me sooner.
(12:38):
The next, the next thing youtalked about was inefficient
energy use, you know, with thelonger strides.
So do you want to touch on thatnow?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah.
So the comparison I like tomake is, if we take these big
strides and we reach way out infront of us with a straight knee
, you compare it to like agrandfather clock and think of
that big arm of grandfatherclock.
It's very slow and laborious,right, it's trying to go side to
side, but if you take theseshort steps it becomes a cuckoo
clock.
That's very quick.
(13:08):
You're going very, very fast.
No-transcript.
Like you hit the ground withyour forefoot, you pull your
(13:30):
heel off, bend your knee andthen come back around, bend your
knee and then come back around.
It creates this like wheelthat's going very fast, like
this cuckoo clock of like fastpulling versus this very long
moment arm or um or lever arm toget your foot off the ground.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, and I love that analogy.
That's very, yeah, easy tounderstand.
I mean, the plots are keepingthe same speed and whether that
you're doing all the hard workor not, I mean I know running is
still hard work, but well, thelast thing was talking about
muscle engagement and that wasthe last major point of your,
your article.
Do you want to talk about thatone?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, yeah.
So you know when we're.
When we're taking these youknow big strides, or our cadence
is low our muscles, like wetalked about, are on your foot's
, in contact with the ground fora longer time, so the muscles
are working really, really hardbecause they're keeping you
upright, and so if we takeshorter steps and our foot
striking the ground very quicklyand pulling off, then we're
(14:33):
more efficient in using ourmuscles, and it actually
requires us to use more of ourbigger muscles, like our glutes
and our hamstrings.
If we take these big steps andoverstride, we tend to use our
quads more and a lot of musclesthat aren't necessarily as
important for running.
I mean they are, but like to bequick with running.
You really want your glutes andyour hamstrings to work.
So that's what we're talkingabout is like let's work all the
(14:57):
muscles on what we call ourposterior chain.
So all the muscles on thebackside of our body, from the
crown of our head all the waydown to the bottom of our feet,
is our posterior chain.
We want all of that to turn on,because that's what's going to
propel us forward.
If we're taking these, you knowthese, these steps that are
very big and our cadence is verylow, then we're just using our
muscles so inefficiently andthey are going to get fatigued
(15:19):
more quickly.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense too, and this is
just really an eye openingepisode for me and your article
is eye opening.
It really is a simple conceptoverall you know, there's a lot
to it, but it's really once.
I mean, I think that the biggestchallenge would be, like you
mentioned earlier in the episode, just retraining.
(15:42):
You know how to, to relearnsome of this, this stuff, if
you've been doing it incorrectlyor with with, you know, bad
form all these years and andyou're now wanting to set it
because a lot of times peoplebecome runners later in life you
know that they didn't, theywere never properly trained, and
then they, you know, want tostart being able to be a part of
(16:06):
active Dunwoody and do thesedifferent things, and to start
off doing it correctly would be,you know, equally as important
as relearning.
I really have been blown awayby the biking and running
community of Dunwoody.
I mean if you live in Dunwoodyand you don't run or bike, you
might need to start.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, Well, you know, if somebody comes into our
office to improve this, we dolike a running analysis and we
are offering a discount in that.
If you mentioned that, you camefrom Dunwoody Neighbors
Magazine and so you know Iforget what I put in there.
Was it $99 for runningassessment?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
$99 running assessments with our physical
therapist?
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Okay, yeah, so if you mentioned this, you can come in
and get a running assessment.
So what that is is a full hourassessment where we film you on
our treadmill, we use the iPadand we film you from behind and
we film you from the side andthen we kind of analyze that
with you and then we give youtips that you can use to improve
that and we refilm you and youwould be amazed at how much
(17:14):
better in one hour we can makesomebody run more efficiently,
you know, with less pain andthey're, and it's we put them
side by side and they're like Ican't even believe that I
thought I was a runner in thatfirst video because I they look
like, they're like, you know,shuffling their feet or like
bouncing up and down orsomething.
And then you, they see thesecond one.
They're like oh my gosh, I'mpumping my arms, I'm pulling my
(17:34):
feet off the ground, I look likeI'm actually moving forward in
space and it's.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It's phenomenal that one hour can make really change
your life, and so you're gettingthe before and the after in
within that hour.
Yeah, it doesn't take very muchto, just to change that.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So I would highly encourage people and we do this
for walkers too Like, if you'rea walker and you're like I have,
you know, some sort of naggingproblem when I walk like we film
them.
And they're like, oh mygoodness, this, I didn't even
know that I could change it.
So, um, and you know, likepeople, people hear really
interesting things when they,like providers will tell them
(18:13):
like, oh, you know, youshouldn't walk faster than 3.5
on a treadmill, and I'll say why.
And they're like, well, someyou know doctor told me that was
bad on my back.
I'm like but like you're sotall and like you, you can, like
you're, you know, healthy andfit, why wouldn't you try to
walk faster than three?
And they, somebody tells themand they think that that's like
the rule for the rest of theirlife.
(18:33):
And then I get them, you knowwalking or running faster and
like, oh my gosh, it feelsbetter to actually go faster.
So you know, some of thesethings are eyeopening to people,
that they were told and they'vejust used it as like their
Bible for health and fitness.
So you find it reallyinteresting things.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So that this 99, I'm back to the $99 assessment.
Is this really amazing?
So, whether you're a walker orrunner, you know, whether you're
an athlete or not.
You know, if you come intoFunctional Eyes Health and you
mentioned Dunwoody Neighbors orthe, I would imagine, the Good
Neighbor podcast, either waythat you can get a $99
(19:11):
assessment that you're going tofilm beforehand, you're going to
coach on the proper way to do,you know things that they need
to improve on and then you'regoing to have them implement
those things that you taughtthem.
You're going to film them andthen in an hour, they are going
to at least know what to work onand, if there's, if they never
come back to functionize, that'sokay.
(19:33):
That doesn't exclude them, orno?
I mean no, this is just a wayto help.
Hopefully they will come back tofunctionize.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Right, do what they love, and it's, you know, all
ages, like I had one.
You know we've had kids asyoung as eight come who love to
run High school and middleschool athletes, and it does
even if you're not a runner.
sometimes your sport requiresyou to run and you've had some
issues.
So people bring their kids injust to improve their, their
running, for, you know, justconditioning purposes.
(20:00):
But then I have, you know,people all the way up to
master's level runners that arein their seventies that come in
for these assessments.
So it's really all ages.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, and that brings home a point.
You know you said you've hadpeople as young as eight.
If you have, if you're a parentand you have a child who you
know is moving into sports, youknow whether you see that this
is going to be something thatthey whether it's baseball, it
doesn't.
You know they need to run thebases.
I mean, all sports pretty muchinvolve include running.
(20:29):
That would be such a great wayfor them to start their athletic
career rather than later.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, have injuries With injuries, right.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So, like I mean, that's a, if you've got kids
that are approaching those agesof figuring out what sports are
going to be for them, you know,because we definitely want all
of our kids to be as active aspossible and that's a fantastic
thing you can do for your, yourchild, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
You know Holidays, right, you could get it as a
gift, right, that's a perfectgift to give your.
Give a family member too, so.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Absolutely.
And grand grandparents tograndkids.
I'm like All the ideas, familymember too.
So, absolutely, and grandgrandparents to grandkids I'm
like that is fantastic and Iappreciate you offering that
special for our readers andlisteners.
And I might have to come in andget a running assessment
(21:27):
because I know I'm doing somestuff wrong.
Come on, Come on in.
Well, thank you so much againfor that.
Well, thank you so much, Laurenagain for being here.
It has been a pleasure and Ilook forward to your next
article to see what I'm going toget to learn next time.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Well, that's all for today's episode, Atlanta.
I'm Stacey Risley with the GoodNeighbor podcast.
Thanks for listening and forsupporting the local businesses
and nonprofits of our greatcommunity.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast
North Atlanta.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses, visit
GNPNorthAtlantacom.
That's GNPNorthorthatlantacom.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast North Atlanta,
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Stacey Risley.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello friends and neighbors.
Welcome to North Atlanta's GoodNeighbor Podcast.
Today we're here with LaurenStock.
She is a physical therapist andthe owner of Functionize Health
and Physical Therapy.
She has a location here inDunwoody and also one in Decatur
, so welcome back, lauren.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm doing great.
Thanks for having me again.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, we are pleased to have you back.
Lauren is our expertcontributor for her industry for
the Dunwoody Neighborspublication and she has recently
submitted an article that wasjust fantastic and really
relevant to the Dunwoodycommunity because there are so
many runners, so the article wastitled the Biggest Mistake
(00:54):
Runners Make when Trying to RunFaster.
And Lauren's here to share herknowledge with us today and let
us in on this little secret forthose of you who don't receive
the magazine, so we're reallyglad you're here.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Well, we're talking about running, which is one of
my favorite things to talk about.
I am a runner and, as youmentioned, there's so many
people in Dunwoody running allover the place, whether it's at
Brook Run Park or up and downChamblee, dunwoody, mount Vernon
, just through any trails thatwe have.
So I love to talk about this,and even at my business, my
practice, we see so many runnerswho come in and say you know,
(01:29):
I'm training for something,whether it's their first 5k or
they're a experienced runnerwho's doing the 10 miler, which
was just recently at AtlanticStation, or a half marathon or
full marathon.
So everybody's trying toimprove their efficiency and
their time, and that's what wedo.
We love helping people becomebetter runners.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, and you mentioned that there are so many
runners here in Dunwoody andthat you are an active member of
that running community and thatjust kind of reminded me that
you also are.
Are you kind of the founder ofthe group Active Dunwoody?
Yeah, that is a running groupthose of you who are listening
(02:14):
that don't know if you are arunner there's a Lauren has a
great group here in Dunwoodythat's called Active Dunwoody.
It's on Facebook.
You can find that and they youguys play in all kinds of things
.
If I was an active runner, I'ma member of that group.
I am active in Dunwoody.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
It's all about just keeping people active and
healthy in their lifestyle, soit's not even just running.
Most of the things that we haveon Thursday, the second and
fourth Thursday of the month, wedo a group run or walk, so we
actually have more walkers thanwe do runners.
We meet at one of thebusinesses in the Dunwoody
Village and then walk or runfrom there and come back.
(02:51):
It's usually about a 30 minuterun or you know walk.
We come back and we eat and wehang out and that's really fun.
But we do like really coolthings, like last week we did a
scavenger hunt.
Really cool things Like.
Last week we did a scavengerhunt.
So the scavenger hunt is atdifferent businesses.
The last one was at Velvet Tacoand you have an hour to find
(03:11):
clues that are all throughoutDunwoody.
So you can walk, you can run,you get prizes for finding more
clues.
We probably have anywhere from50 to 100 people show up and
that is one of the most funthings you can do and done.
What do you learn about history,about all the cemeteries,
businesses, um, so definitelylook for that.
(03:33):
That's twice a year that we dodo that.
We have laughter yoga thatwe've done outside of my office,
so that's really cool.
Um, we've done yoga in the park.
We have a workout at the end ofOctober with Alloy.
That's like a pumpkin workout.
So we try to make it really funand it's for anybody of any
(03:53):
level, and pets can come to ourevents, kids can come.
So, yeah, you don't have to bea runner.
If you want to run, you can run, but you don't have to be.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, I am very glad you cleared that up.
I may be more likely to comebecause I know laughter.
You know laughter, yoga andyoga in the park.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I can do those things and I know, I know exactly
Fantastic Low barrier to entryactivities that bring people
together, because I mean, whatyou know is you know, as adults,
it's really hard to meet people, right, and so if you can come
together just because you wantto stay active and meet people
along the way, then that'sreally what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely, and I love that you do this.
You're really embedded into theDunwoody community in so many
ways you know beyond justthrough FunctionEyes, you know.
So I love it, I love that youdo that and you are so plugged
in and and you know offering allof this for residents for free.
You know to be a part of that.
(04:48):
So absolutely so.
Okay, we just got way detouredwe went down a rabbit hole but
it was a very good rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
It was a good rebel, but yes we got to go back to the
original question, which is thebiggest myth that runners make
when trying to run faster.
Yeah, so what is the biggestmistake?
The biggest myth is that peoplethink that in order to run or
even walk faster, that they haveto take bigger steps.
You'll hear people say, oh youknow, my husband's really tall
(05:17):
and he takes these really bigsteps, so I take big steps to
keep up with them, when actuallythe most efficient runners take
shorter steps and many more.
So we call that cadence.
Cadence is the number of stepsyou take in a minute, and a
faster cadence makes you moreefficient.
And so what we teach people andthat's the lowest hanging fruit
when you're a runner isteaching people to understand
(05:40):
their cadence and how they canimpact that through form drills
and through different coachingtechniques and strength training
that we offer to help peopleget there.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
That it cause that it's a logical assumption you
know, or misconception to cometo.
You know that that longer stepsmean you know, you assume that
if you're struggling to keep upwith someone you can think of.
When you're a kid and you'retrying to keep up with your mom,
you know she's got such longlegs.
How am I ever going to keep up?
How am I going to do it?
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So you know, once you show people that it's really
about their steps, then they'relike oh my gosh, this is so much
easier.
Why didn't somebody tell me so?
So a lot of times we havepeople that come in that are
they're a runner or a walker, ormaybe they haven't exercised in
a while, with nagging back pain, knee pain, hip pain, and we
and they're walkers and theywant to resume walking and we'll
(06:34):
put them on the treadmill andfilm them, and simply getting
them to shorten their stride canclear up a lot of problems that
they have in their in theirbody.
So it's it's super cool to seepeople like relearn how to walk
or run, because they're like whyshould I have to relearn this?
And we, just by coaching them,they're like holy cow, like I'm
(06:55):
doing so much better, I feelbetter, I'm going faster and
getting my heart rate up, whichis what we all should be doing
for cardiovascular purposes.
And you know, the interestingthing that happens, especially
in women, is this changes whenwe, after we have kids, because
when we're pregnant, we tend todo the side to side waddle and
if you think, nine months, youcreate a habit in nine months
(07:17):
that if somebody doesn't teachyou how to retrain that.
You're still going to waddleside to side and create a lot of
problems.
So we have to teach you how toroll over your foot and move
forward.
Walking and running is aforward movement.
We have to teach you how tomove forward rather than moving
side to side.
And they laugh.
People laugh and they're likeoh my gosh, I never thought this
(07:38):
was a thing.
But like, just like, if youhave an injury to your knee and
you have to give rehab to learnhow to like walk without a stiff
leg, why wouldn't you do thatafter having kids?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Um, you know, I never wouldhave associated a shorter step
with.
You know, with a faster pace Imean I just would not have.
Um, would never have made cometo that conclusion on my own.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So I'm like, for example, like the novice runner
might be running at a cadence oflike 150 steps per minute right
, which is slow compared to likewe tell people they really have
to get up to 160 to 180 stepsper minute, and elite athletes
are well over 200 steps in aminute.
And the reason that's importantis that if you're going really
(08:24):
slow and you're you're takingthese like big steps and you're
the it, what it creates is yourfoot's in contact with the
ground for a longer period oftime, and when your foot's in
contact with the ground for along period of time, you there's
room for injury, and what wewant is to have your contact
time on the ground shorter,because there's less time to
create an injury.
(08:45):
So if you just tap your footdown and pull it back off,
there's no time to have aninjury because it's just tapping
and going.
But if you're putting your footdown and keeping it there, then
you have all these things.
You could waddle side to side,you can have weird arm swing
that creates something.
Um, it's really about, yeah,like, how quickly do you pull
your foot off the ground ratherthan landing and putting a lot
(09:08):
of weight into your leg, whichcreates the injury?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well, I can definitely hear your expertise
in the fact that you I know thatyou don't have the article even
in front of you right nowYou're winging it because you
are so good at this.
You just hit the second bullet.
The first bullet was cadencereduction, so it would kind of
hit that.
And then now the second one wasincreased ground contact time.
(09:33):
I didn't think about that.
You know less opportunity towork for that, you know.
If less, less opportunity towork for injury, you know with
that, is there anything elseabout that?
Increased, you know, groundcontact time that you want to
touch on.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Well, so you know, what can happen is if you're, if
if you're taking these bigsteps, you also tend to do
what's called over striding.
Over striding is means that yourfoot is reaching far out in
front of your body and when wedo that we tend to reach with a
straight knee.
So our knee becomes straight,our heel makes contact in front
of us and that actually createsa breaking force.
So we're actually creating abreak when we hit the ground
(10:08):
that we have to roll over.
But if we take short steps, wetend to land more on a flat foot
rather than a heavy heel strikeand we'll tend to land
underneath our body, which iskind of then allows us to roll
over our foot because our foot'sunderneath us and we just keep
moving our body weight over ourfoot rather than our foot
reaching way out in front of usand us having to overcome the
(10:29):
leg being stiff and then rollingover the leg.
So it's kind of a weird idea,but you want to land underneath
your body and not overstride,and that's what shortening up
that the stride, but increasingthe cadence will help you do.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
That makes sense and I, you know, I will definitely
never call myself a runner,Definitely currently no longer a
runner, but you know, I did,you know, run track in high
school and even just like backway back in those days, I wish
someone had shared thisinformation with me you know
(11:05):
cause I was, I was fast, butthat's uh and and, but I really
did always associate speed with,you know, height and you know
having the long legs and beingable to make those long strides,
and so I would have to.
if I was still running, I wouldreally be having to relearn some
things in order to be effective.
(11:28):
Well, the next thing, lauren,that you said in your article.
You talked about high, higherimpact forces.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah.
So I mean it's.
It's kind of the same as thisoverstriding.
So if you overstride and youtake this big step out in front
of you, you're landing with amuch higher like impact or into
the ground.
And if we take shorter strides,we tend to be more on the front
of our foot, on our forefoot,and so we're creating more
springiness to then come off ofthat.
Instead of trying to reachagain and kind of slam our heel
(12:03):
into the ground.
What we want is to land alittle bit more on our midfoot
or forefoot.
So we're landing and thenpulling our foot off and it's
just this very quick springinessthat happens, and so there's
less impact in the ground andless stress on our bodies.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, when you really think about it, it makes a lot
of sense.
I mean, if you are like youknow, when you're talking about
reaching way out in front of youand you're having, you know,
your heel first and then you'rekind of pulling your body
forward then with your, your legand your foot and your knee and
your everything else, so itreally does make a whole lot of
sense.
I just wish someone hadexplained it to me sooner.
(12:38):
The next, the next thing youtalked about was inefficient
energy use, you know, with thelonger strides.
So do you want to touch on thatnow?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah.
So the comparison I like tomake is, if we take these big
strides and we reach way out infront of us with a straight knee
, you compare it to like agrandfather clock and think of
that big arm of grandfatherclock.
It's very slow and laborious,right, it's trying to go side to
side, but if you take theseshort steps it becomes a cuckoo
clock.
That's very quick.
(13:08):
You're going very, very fast.
No-transcript.
Like you hit the ground withyour forefoot, you pull your
(13:30):
heel off, bend your knee andthen come back around, bend your
knee and then come back around.
It creates this like wheelthat's going very fast, like
this cuckoo clock of like fastpulling versus this very long
moment arm or um or lever arm toget your foot off the ground.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, and I love that analogy.
That's very, yeah, easy tounderstand.
I mean, the plots are keepingthe same speed and whether that
you're doing all the hard workor not, I mean I know running is
still hard work, but well, thelast thing was talking about
muscle engagement and that wasthe last major point of your,
your article.
Do you want to talk about thatone?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, yeah.
So you know when we're.
When we're taking these youknow big strides, or our cadence
is low our muscles, like wetalked about, are on your foot's
, in contact with the ground fora longer time, so the muscles
are working really, really hardbecause they're keeping you
upright, and so if we takeshorter steps and our foot
striking the ground very quicklyand pulling off, then we're
(14:33):
more efficient in using ourmuscles, and it actually
requires us to use more of ourbigger muscles, like our glutes
and our hamstrings.
If we take these big steps andoverstride, we tend to use our
quads more and a lot of musclesthat aren't necessarily as
important for running.
I mean they are, but like to bequick with running.
You really want your glutes andyour hamstrings to work.
So that's what we're talkingabout is like let's work all the
(14:57):
muscles on what we call ourposterior chain.
So all the muscles on thebackside of our body, from the
crown of our head all the waydown to the bottom of our feet,
is our posterior chain.
We want all of that to turn on,because that's what's going to
propel us forward.
If we're taking these, you knowthese, these steps that are
very big and our cadence is verylow, then we're just using our
muscles so inefficiently andthey are going to get fatigued
(15:19):
more quickly.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense too, and this is
just really an eye openingepisode for me and your article
is eye opening.
It really is a simple conceptoverall you know, there's a lot
to it, but it's really once.
I mean, I think that the biggestchallenge would be, like you
mentioned earlier in the episode, just retraining.
(15:42):
You know how to, to relearnsome of this, this stuff, if
you've been doing it incorrectlyor with with, you know, bad
form all these years and andyou're now wanting to set it
because a lot of times peoplebecome runners later in life you
know that they didn't, theywere never properly trained, and
then they, you know, want tostart being able to be a part of
(16:06):
active Dunwoody and do thesedifferent things, and to start
off doing it correctly would be,you know, equally as important
as relearning.
I really have been blown awayby the biking and running
community of Dunwoody.
I mean if you live in Dunwoodyand you don't run or bike, you
might need to start.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, Well, you know, if somebody comes into our
office to improve this, we dolike a running analysis and we
are offering a discount in that.
If you mentioned that, you camefrom Dunwoody Neighbors
Magazine and so you know Iforget what I put in there.
Was it $99 for runningassessment?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
$99 running assessments with our physical
therapist?
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Okay, yeah, so if you mentioned this, you can come in
and get a running assessment.
So what that is is a full hourassessment where we film you on
our treadmill, we use the iPadand we film you from behind and
we film you from the side andthen we kind of analyze that
with you and then we give youtips that you can use to improve
that and we refilm you and youwould be amazed at how much
(17:14):
better in one hour we can makesomebody run more efficiently,
you know, with less pain andthey're, and it's we put them
side by side and they're like Ican't even believe that I
thought I was a runner in thatfirst video because I they look
like, they're like, you know,shuffling their feet or like
bouncing up and down orsomething.
And then you, they see thesecond one.
They're like oh my gosh, I'mpumping my arms, I'm pulling my
(17:34):
feet off the ground, I look likeI'm actually moving forward in
space and it's.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It's phenomenal that one hour can make really change
your life, and so you're gettingthe before and the after in
within that hour.
Yeah, it doesn't take very muchto, just to change that.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So I would highly encourage people and we do this
for walkers too Like, if you'rea walker and you're like I have,
you know, some sort of naggingproblem when I walk like we film
them.
And they're like, oh mygoodness, this, I didn't even
know that I could change it.
So, um, and you know, likepeople, people hear really
interesting things when they,like providers will tell them
(18:13):
like, oh, you know, youshouldn't walk faster than 3.5
on a treadmill, and I'll say why.
And they're like, well, someyou know doctor told me that was
bad on my back.
I'm like but like you're sotall and like you, you can, like
you're, you know, healthy andfit, why wouldn't you try to
walk faster than three?
And they, somebody tells themand they think that that's like
the rule for the rest of theirlife.
(18:33):
And then I get them, you knowwalking or running faster and
like, oh my gosh, it feelsbetter to actually go faster.
So you know, some of thesethings are eyeopening to people,
that they were told and they'vejust used it as like their
Bible for health and fitness.
So you find it reallyinteresting things.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So that this 99, I'm back to the $99 assessment.
Is this really amazing?
So, whether you're a walker orrunner, you know, whether you're
an athlete or not.
You know, if you come intoFunctional Eyes Health and you
mentioned Dunwoody Neighbors orthe, I would imagine, the Good
Neighbor podcast, either waythat you can get a $99
(19:11):
assessment that you're going tofilm beforehand, you're going to
coach on the proper way to do,you know things that they need
to improve on and then you'regoing to have them implement
those things that you taughtthem.
You're going to film them andthen in an hour, they are going
to at least know what to work onand, if there's, if they never
come back to functionize, that'sokay.
(19:33):
That doesn't exclude them, orno?
I mean no, this is just a wayto help.
Hopefully they will come back tofunctionize.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Right, do what they love, and it's, you know, all
ages, like I had one.
You know we've had kids asyoung as eight come who love to
run High school and middleschool athletes, and it does
even if you're not a runner.
sometimes your sport requiresyou to run and you've had some
issues.
So people bring their kids injust to improve their, their
running, for, you know, justconditioning purposes.
(20:00):
But then I have, you know,people all the way up to
master's level runners that arein their seventies that come in
for these assessments.
So it's really all ages.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, and that brings home a point.
You know you said you've hadpeople as young as eight.
If you have, if you're a parentand you have a child who you
know is moving into sports, youknow whether you see that this
is going to be something thatthey whether it's baseball, it
doesn't.
You know they need to run thebases.
I mean, all sports pretty muchinvolve include running.
(20:29):
That would be such a great wayfor them to start their athletic
career rather than later.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, have injuries With injuries, right.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
So, like I mean, that's a, if you've got kids
that are approaching those agesof figuring out what sports are
going to be for them, you know,because we definitely want all
of our kids to be as active aspossible and that's a fantastic
thing you can do for your, yourchild, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
You know Holidays, right, you could get it as a
gift, right, that's a perfectgift to give your.
Give a family member too, so.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Absolutely.
And grand grandparents tograndkids.
I'm like All the ideas, familymember too.
So, absolutely, and grandgrandparents to grandkids I'm
like that is fantastic and Iappreciate you offering that
special for our readers andlisteners.
And I might have to come in andget a running assessment
(21:27):
because I know I'm doing somestuff wrong.
Come on, Come on in.
Well, thank you so much againfor that.
Well, thank you so much, Laurenagain for being here.
It has been a pleasure and Ilook forward to your next
article to see what I'm going toget to learn next time.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Well, that's all for today's episode, Atlanta.
I'm Stacey Risley with the GoodNeighbor podcast.
Thanks for listening and forsupporting the local businesses
and nonprofits of our greatcommunity.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast
North Atlanta.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses, visit
GNPNorthAtlantacom.
That's GNPNorthorthatlantacom.
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