Pose Running – Introduction and Visual Demonstration

Pose Running Creator: Nicholas Romanov

Pose running's creator, Dr. Nicholas S. Romanov who is a two-time Olympic Coach, author, educator and a sports scientist with over 30 years of experience and hands on work with athletes at all levels as well as non-athletes, began to develop the pose running method in the mid-70s and successfully implemented the concept with athletes at the Chuvash Pedagogical University where he was a teacher of Track and Field and a coach for the University track and field team. And just so you know, this was way before he moved to the United States in the 1990s.

In going against conventional wisdom, while applying long-discovered concepts such as gravity (identical to chi running) to his method of ‘pose running’ as well as analyzing the physics and mechanics of the movement of running, he encountered criticism from all quarters until America opened its doors to him.

Since then, he has published a book and an educational video both titled “The Pose Method of Running” and has worked with four National Athletic teams namely Britain, Mexico, United States and Russia. He is considered by many to have single-handedly brought drastic changes to the discipline of running as well as other events in Track and Field.

Pose Running – Visual Demonstration

So now that we’ve cleared his credentials, let’s review the technique of ‘pose running’ in a nutshell with a diagram:

Pose Running Technique

Both chi running and Pose Running encourage the technique of maintaining the posture of the body slightly forward, yet while the chi running technique requires you land mid-foot, the pose running method insists that you land on the ball of the foot after every stride. Another similarity between the two techniques is that they both suggest (if not verify) that in taking shorter strides, one can most definitely avoid injury. The final but very interesting part of the technique requires you to raise your leg (while in stride) under your hips and not behind. So, the pose (in the diagram) while in motion forms an ‘S’ form.

Very simply, pose running (much like chi running) is designed to take ergonomics (so that you prevent injury) into consideration as well as help you run in an aerodynamic manner i.e. work with the forces of nature rather than against it. Hence, this increases the efficiency of the runner combined with the little or no risk of an injury making it popular for athletes in competition or for those who like running.

Have you tried pose running and/or chi running? Which do you prefer?

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