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How to Increase Stride Length and Run Faster



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By : Ronald Pedactor    29 or more times read
Submitted 2010-07-26 13:20:21
To achieve better strength and stride you must increase your stride length. Stride length is biomechanical in nature.

Since running speed is equal to your stride length x your stride frequency, it is necessary to improve both if you wish to run faster. Stride length is the distance between your right and left foot as move forward in your run.

If you have longer legs, naturally, your stride length would be greater than someone with shorter legs. One of the best ways to improve the length of each stride is by stretching the muscles of your hips, specifically your hamstrings, hip flexors, glutes, and quadriceps.

If these muscles are naturally short or stiff due to genetics and training, respectively, then they will lessen your range of motion, and thus limit your ability to increase your running stride. Another method of improving your stride length is to run uphill.

Doing so strengthens important muscles deep into your pelvic region, especially the upper hamstrings and glutes, which are true "powerhouse" muscles for running and vital for helping reach farther and longer with each step forward. The other helpful element of hill running is that it forces you to run with running form that closely resembles sprinting.

For instance, you are more likely to land on the balls of your feet, instead of your heels, and drive your knees - both very important elements of sprinting. As a result, you inherently train your body to run more like a sprinter, which will obviously help you run faster.

The second part of improving your treadmill workouts is to improve your stride frequency, or in other words, your speed. The other part of the running speed equation, from a biomechanical stand point, is the turnover rate, or stride frequency, of strides over a given distance.

If two people have the same stride length, the one who can cycle their legs quicker will be a faster runner. Stride frequency can also be viewed as RPMs, or revolutions per minute. Although we don't use RPM for running, it can be helpful to think of your legs as bicycle, wherein the faster the pedals (ie. your legs) move, the faster you will move.

One technique for bettering your stride frequency is to run downhill. Although, doing this on a regular basis may not be such a good idea for the health of your knees, it can prove to be helpful in learning proper form.

The neat thing about running downhill is that it forces your legs to cycle faster to keep up with the pull of gravity and prevent falling forward. To get the most out of this type of running, try to avoid excessively lengthening your strides and instead focus on cycling your legs quicker.

To help you do so, focus on kicking your heels towards your butt after each foot strike. Doing so will help you create more angular momentum about your hips and enable your legs to move more quickly.

Kicking your heels towards your bum should also be considered when running on a flat surface for the same reason. It's one of the best ways to get your legs moving faster.

Next, you should try to improve your lactate threshold. Most of the ATP (energy) production used to provide energy during the early stages of exercise come from aerobic sources.

However, as exercise intensity increases blood levels of lactic acid begin to rise exponentially. This sudden rise in blood lactate is known as the lactate threshold, or anaerobic threshold.

In untrained people, this appears around 50%-60% of maximum aerobic capacity, while it occurs at higher work rates in aerobically trained individuals (ie. 65 to 80 percent). Basically, what this means is that the fitter you are, the higher the intensity you can sustain before lactic acid is produced.

This means that you won't fatigue as quickly and will be able to run longer and faster before you do. As you can see, there are things you can actively do to become a better runner-try applying these tips today and you may begin to revolutionize your workout capacity!
Author Resource:- Ronald Pedactor has worked in the exercise and health industry for 31 years. When searching for a good deal on exercise equipment he suggests getting someone knowledgeable to tell you about the Sole f63, and tell you its qualities.

Contact Info:
Rondald Pedactor
ronaldpedactor@gmail.com http://www.treadmillcomparison.com
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