How To Grow A Runner: The Stable Arm Drill
This drill gives you a better idea of how your upper and lower body work together when you run.
Have you ever thought about why your arms swing the way they do and how your arm swing seems to fall in sync with your legs? Further, how would your running be affected if you didn’t have this innate coordination?
The Stable Arm Drill connects all the strength work we’ve done in the last four videos directly with your running.
When we talk about strength, we’re really talking about running strength, i.e. the PR-breaking, summit-topping, marathon-finishing, beat-your-friend-around-the-block kind of running strength. This type of strength doesn’t develop on its own—it comes from thinking about doing the right stuff and applying what we learn to our running technique.
And this is where the fifth and final video in the How to Grow a Runner series, The Stable Arm Drill, comes into play. It will allow to see just how different running feels with and without your arm swing.
Spoiler alert! You’ll learn quickly that running without arms gets tricky. It shows how crucial the role the upper body plays in relation to what’s happening with our lower body. Our counter swinging arms help us to naturally resist rotation in the lower body. This allows for greater hip extension, a more relaxed foot fall and better breathing mechanics all for better sense of flow, i.e. increased mechanical and physiological efficiency.
Being a good runner is not just about running. Being a good runner is about understanding the big picture—all the athletic skills expected and required so that you can run a lot, run fast, and run consistently without breaking down. The combination of those three things will help make us into the runner we want to become.
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About The Author:
Nate Helming coaches strength and mobility for national and international-level road cyclists, mountain bikers, triathletes and ultrarunners at San Francisco CrossFit, as well as elite-level amateur runners and triathletes outside the gym. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter and check out his videos on The Run Experience YouTube channel.