Running

Where's My Free Energy?

Harness the power of your fall to access "free energy" and feel effortless in your run.

By

Dr. Ryan Peeters

on

January 8, 2025

Whether squatting with a bar on your back, jumping, or running we are under a constant pull of a gravitational force.

Every time we push against gravity we gamble a little bit.

We gamble that our body will be able to handle the demands and keep up with the output. And we also gamble that it’s the right and necessary training stimulus to help us adapt, become stronger, and more resilient to movements across this 3D world. 

Every day I have conversations with runners in pain, looking to get back to a level of performance they once had but are plagued with injuries, nagging pains and limited satisfaction with their training. 

Sometimes it can be hard to communicate every factor of the scenario at play. But if we take a step back to put these thoughts into a bigger perspective it is very helpful. 

If you’re struggling to get that feeling of speed, comfort and power in your stride consider this: you’re likely thinking about your problem wrong. 

It’s easy to visualize pushing off the ground to get speed and efficiency. Or, even pulling the knees upward with a higher drive. But when it comes to running, your speed and efficiency is recycled through a controlled fall. This is where we must manage gravity and be able to absorb the impact or shock as we hit the ground. Our bodily tissues are put to the ultimate test to determine how we can utilize this “free energy”. 

I write “free energy” in quotes because it’s not necessarily free as you need to exert and move your body to acquire it in the first place. But as you maintain a controlled fall you will be capable of moving with very little effort. 

Let’s first point out that the glute and posterior chain muscles have their HIGHEST activity or energetic output at the time of initial contact to mid stance (when your foot first hits the ground to when it is directly underneath you). This is known as the “Loading Response” when we refer to the beginning part of the gait cycle. 

This phase is so important because the muscles on the backside of your leg are going from a lengthened-to-shortened position very fast. This contraction is at the peak of it’s lengthening phase as it fires under tension to a shortened position. And since the tissues of our muscles and tendons are so great at absorbing and transmitting forces we need to receive this “free energy” from the process of a quick stretch cycle - as if you pulled a rubber band back quickly to fling it across the room. 

*Take note of these EMG graphs as it’s easy to see the max force or spike in the curve early when the foot is coming in contact with the ground.

So this brings up an important consideration for the individual who feels issues on push off or when looking to gain speed either on flat ground and especially when attacking uphill. The real importance is in how you acquired that energy in the first place. This phenomenon is especially important in those managing calf, hamstring, glute and anterior knee pain or tightness. 

I should note that some of us will lose this energy through rotational movements through our core, trunk and arm swing. Stiffness in the trunk does not allow for good energy transfer, and too much arm swing can be a strategy for poor stability in the lower half. But a majority of us can mitigate this shock absorption primarily through our legs. 

Since visuals are so helpful, imagine if you will, that you had a super bouncy ball. Now bounce that ball close to the ground at about knee height and you will easily get it 50ft away from you. But take that same ball and slam it downward from above your head and that ball will take a lot longer to go 50ft. 

All that free kinetic energy has been stored and transmitted into an upward trajectory and not a forward one. 

In this scenario it would not make sense to try and run fast or far bouncing too high upwards- we call this vertical oscillation in the running gait cycle. 

Because it’s easy to visualize this, we want our center of mass (the ball) to bounce effortlessly down the road where the absorption and transfer of free energy can fall into our next step and so on. 

 

The spring-like (bouncing ball) mechanism of the gait cycle

As a side note, I believe this is where the minimalist shoe trend, the book Born to Run & the story of the Tarahumara, and the Pose method have come into such mainstream significance because of this ability to feel the earth and manage better shock absorption. I do not think minimalist shoe wear is necessary for every runner but it can be a very helpful tool for developing better proprioception or spatial awareness as your foot comes in contact with the ground. 

So the next time you go out for a run or jog try this perception drill. 

*Perception drills are so important because as runners we are too often in our thinking brains, when we should really be in our feeling brains. 

Make sure you’ve warmed up for at least 10 minutes and start to consider, where is my free energy?

Ideally you should get this free energy from your interaction with the earth. As we land on the ground the earth pushes back, with equal amounts of force that we land, to transfer kinetic energy through our body and into the next step. Always falling forward. 

But stride too far and you’ll sink into the ground unable to convert that forward propulsion without the speed you want. Pop off the ground with a high upward trajectory and you’ll remain the upright bouncing ball struggling to gain distance while inevitably decreasing your speed over time due to muscular fatigue.  

During this exercise pay attention to how you hit the ground and how easily you can land from one foot fall to the next. Leaning forward or running downhill will give you more free energy. While leaning backwards or running uphill will take this energy away. 

If you’ve suddenly felt an ease with running then you’ve identified how to capture this free energy through your forward momentum. Understanding these subtle shifts in your posture and foot strike can give you an outlet to change form when you need it the most. 

This is the basis of perceptive drills that allow us to really harness the power of our entire body moving as one holistic system. 

Now you can take this one step further…

Increase your speed to a level that would be considered threshold or comfortably hard. This should require a greater level of breath to maintain this pace but your abdomen will now be the center of your attention. The canister of your abdomen is a perfect focus point to feel how your gradual rise and fall in breath can actually assist you in this process of expressing free energy that goes ever so slightly up and down. 

The core "canister"

 

Tune in to how you breathe and how it inevitably causes you to slightly rise up and fall down. Added tension will restrict this motion and stiffen your canister ultimately reducing your flow of energy. 

Synchronizing your inhale and exhale with every 2-4 steps will give you a very easy and rhythmic motion to understand how your center of mass travels upwards and downwards as you aim to express your free energy forward. 

Again, perception drills are so important for runners. No run is ever the same and no person is ever the same runner day to day. If you’re willing to focus some attention to your skill maybe, just maybe you can find subtle ways to adapt your training and run for the long game.

Still stuck, and unable to find any way towards effortless running?

Schedule a Discovery Call with us now.

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