Welcome To Natural Running!

The ideal and objective of Natural Running is to reveal the design blueprint for the human running action. Over twenty years of work have established unique, reliable and practical procedures to reveal this blueprint.

Here John Woodward demonstrates a natural running barefoot stride.

Note the following points...

• The landing on the forefoot is light, quiet and full of stealth. Softness is the key to barefoot running. The natural soft cushioning fat-pads are fully developed.

• The light delicate bone-muscle-ligament complex is engaged in the whole foot. This structure optimises impact absorption, spreads the load and transmission to assist the spring recoil return. The step is light and springy.

• The shock absorbing, load spreading and spring return are fully             engaged through the Achilles tendon and calf facilitating fast turn around spinal reflexes.

• The head, and in particular the eyes, lead the whole length of the body in a head to toe sequence. In this running action, as observed in young children, the centre of gravity moves fractionally ahead of the legs, which respond and follow the trunk.

• This action allows the foot to land fractionally ahead or underneath the centre of gravity.  This provides a fast turnover stride sequence that optimises the efficiency of balance, alignment and economy of movement.

• The whole head to toe length is integrated into a light, fluent and powerful stride that is modulated through the spine and co-ordinates the rib-cage, the arms, shoulders, head and neck into the running action.

The upper pole of the body works in an open and free way to stabilise and drive the swing of the legs.