That's really great to hear! Although my main goal with my channel is to shatter all the myths about running technique that are floating around everywhere on the internet, it's a nice bonus if those who watch my videos learn something and actually experience what you describe. Smoother, more run and more relaxation is exactly what many runners need more of. Good luck with the continued race season!

Superb Keith! 🏆

I tried the spring method during the latest run and found myself out of breath faster due to increased cadence, but at the same time felt less fatigued. I do see the benefit though and will keep going at it.

The fact that you got longer strides with a higher cadence may be because you landed more under your body, which often reduces braking forces and increases your elastic recoil, which helped you take as long or longer strides. You must then also have run at a higher pace. If the cadence is higher and the steps as long or longer than before, the pace must be higher, anything else is impossible. While I want to commend you for experimenting with your running technique as much as you do (how else can you find better technique?), I strongly advise against actively thinking that you should push your landing foot backwards when running. There are lots of reasons why this is usually very bad. Your Achilles tendons have already told you one of them. There is also a very high risk that your hip gets an anterior tilt, that you lose your knee lift and that you land further forward in relation to your centre of gravity. In fact, I think I'll make a film about what some runners call "paw back", i.e. trying to pull your foot backwards just before landing and then continuing to push backwards at midstance. Hope you come back to my channel to see it.

@@SpringSnabbare I'll certainly keep an eye out for a film about paw back. As I continued to experiment with shortened stride while maintaining at least 180 spm, I've found I don't get heavy legs in the latter kms of a 15+ km easy run even as my pace slows to as slow as 6:45/km. Previously, when I slowed my cadence around the 10km mark (to try to keep my heart in Z2--it's hot here in Singapore, so cardiac drift is always a feature of long easy runs), my legs would get heavy very quickly. Many thanks for your simple demonstration of higher cadence feeling lighter.

You're not alone. My first recommendation is always to just pretend to hold a rope. It's easy to spend a lot more time trying to untangle yourself from the rope than actually jumping. Jumping around the kitchen also sounds really entertaining to those watching 😃

As an M60 runner I did see another video today that we need to work on calf muscles to help with elasticity 👍🏼

Well it's 4 months later. You did say you would get back to us?

OMG I’m here asking the same question lmao. We want an update!!!

​@@joe1071he is probably fucked his Achilles tendon with jumping

The run was just that good.. never came back to give us the low-down 😂

Pliometric can totaly f up you Achilles tendons.

@Odisej1 totally agree. And I have recurring Achilles tendinitis issues over years now unresolved. Doing plyometrics will make me a crippled for real. So I stay away from plyometrics even though I know their goodness. KZfaqrs need to add that in to avoid people getting injured by listening blindly.

Indeed. Most KZfaq content is just regurgitated garbage that happens to be in fashion at the time.

I think Fredrik's main point is that to run with higher cadence, you need to have stiff achilles tendons. The jumping exercises help to stiffen the tendons, which allows you to maintain your "Rock Lobster" (see the book "Born to Run 2) cadence with greater efficiency. I don't have a problem dialing in 180 spm, but I'm always looking for ways to improve running efficiency.

Care to share the songs in your playlist? Or link to playlist?

I would be interested to know also!

Just run, you'll feel better after it's over.

Check out knees over toes guy 👌

I’ve just started running after years of knee pain and for me, higher cadence and landing on mid-fore foot has been the secret. Took a few weeks of very short runs and very sore calves, but I can easily run 5-10k now

@@jamesb8510 Thanks so much.

I can't make any promises, of course, but I would be very surprised if you get knee problems from jumping as described in this video. Although many runners get injured because they run longer, more often and faster than their bodies can handle, knee problems are almost always very much about poor running technique. Most recreational runners put a lot of stress on the knees and overuse the quads while not finding the power from the core/hip. Glad that you have found rowing that gives a really good workout. But try to start bouncing in 10-second intervals as described here and then try running again. After all, it's much nicer to run outside than to sit in a garage on a rowing machine and stare at the wall 😃.

Of course I can do that. Until then, a teaser: it's much more about the midsole material than the carbon fibre plate.

They do. Trust me.

For me they are worth 10-20 seconds per km at the same heart rate. It’s more fun too. Super foam without the plate doesn’t do it (Nike invincible etc)

@@jay_motocombat I'd almost give it 15-25 seconds free speed but overall point is they work without a doubt.

@@jay_motocombat incredible!

I also run faster than you might think from my Vo2max. Probably because I have a very efficient running technique. Another good example is from the first time Nike tried to get runners to run a marathon under two hours. They rounded up the 16 runners they thought might have a chance and did extensive testing on them before selecting three to try to do sub 2 on the Monza track in Italy. The 16 runners had Vo2max of 62-84. To be one of the 16 most fit runners in the world to run sub2 and have a test value of 62 is truly remarkable. But if you are efficient, you are. However, there seems to be a contradiction between high efficiency and high Vo2max. Those with high Vo2max almost never have super high efficiency, and vice versa. Why this is the case, science, as far as I know, is not sure.

@@SpringSnabbare Wonder if high efficiency, low VO2 max, runners could improve the latter by getting on a bike, stair master or elliptical. Some may run so energy efficient that other properties than VO2 max limits their pace to such an extent they have a hard time challenging their cardiovascular system via running. Although you would think AYONE at that level, should be able to challenge their VO2 max by running middle distance, 800-5000, repeats at increasing speeds. Maybe they're just lazy, and don't want to deal with the pain of such repeats; being content to coast on their freakishly high innate efficiency instead :)

@@SpringSnabbare Indeed. My 16 year old son has a Garmin estimated VO2 of 66 and a predicted 5k time of just over 17 minutes, yet a couple of weeks ago he ran 16:00 dead. My estimated VO2 is 54 (as a 57 year old) with a predicted 5k time of 21:42, yet I've actually ran 20:48 recently. I don't consider myself to have particularly good running economy, but it must be better than 'average', which is what I assume Garmin's estimates are based on. It's true that biomechanics is equally important to running performance, which is somewhat annoying because at lower speeds your running form can never be optimal. I don't know about you, but I 'feel' that my most efficient running pace is around 5min/km, at which point I feel that I'm putting in the least effort for the amount of ground covered. For my son, he feels that it's around 4min/km, at which point his form is approaching optimal. It's annoying because unless you have the necessary aerobic capacity then lactate threshold dictates that you can never actually achieve a truly efficient running form for very long. It's almost like a vicious downward spiral, the slower you are the less efficient your form, so the harder it becomes. For the average untrained recreational runner, I would make a guess that they are operating close to lactate threshold before they are actually 'running' in the true sense. I think that's what separates natural born runners from the rest of us.

That may be the case. Or you have a low VO2max😃. Why not try to improve both? Bounce as I describe in the video and add really hard intervals that improve VO2max, i.e. your oxygen uptake. A good workout for that is 4 x 4 minutes when you are in zone 5, red zone (i.e. it almost feels like you are having a heart attack) with 3 minutes at 70 per cent of your max heart rate. As always when adding more and/or harder training, it's important to listen to your body so you don't suffer an injury from overload.

@@SpringSnabbare .. thankyou, i will do vo2 stuff as my lungs feel too small. Bouncing too as i feel stiff and non elastic. Listening to my body doesnt work because my body is always screaming at me saying ,stop, you old fool, why,?! is that pain a heart attack?, it hurts, and on and on. Retired and do 3 or more hours of cycling and running most days.

It is skipping rope. How many ways can you do it? Well, you can double jump and complicate it in a variety of ways. But this is about doing it in the simplest way possible. You jump up so that the rope doesn't get caught on your feet/lower legs. One jump per round with the rope. I think you're overthinking it. The important thing is not that you do it EXACTLY right or that you jump the "right" number of minutes or the "right" number of reps or sets. The important thing is that you jump.

Just a thought. I have had severe inflammation in both achilles tendons. They only improved after increasing activity. For example running more, or doing more calf raises. I think the achilles pain will in some cases get better if you train through it. If I get achilles pain again I usually start doing more calf raises. After this I will try jumps as described for warm up.

No. I am a specialist in running efficiency and biomechanics for middle and long distance runners. I obviously know a lot about sprinting, but it's quite a difference compared to the runners I work with so I'll let the real sprint experts handle it.

​@@SpringSnabbareHumble answer. I like that.🙏

I find it odd that some would prefer a dull and ‘serious’ intonation? The credibility is already there. It comes from logic (clear thinking), data and experience. A monotonous delivery would greatly decrease the appeal, for me.

I believe him, and enjoy the video AS well.

Not necessarily if you lose to much muscle

And I keep misspelling your name, apologies Fredrik.

Thanks for the link! And thank you for highlighting the importance of strength training to everyone who sees this. I absolutely know the benefits of really heavy weight training. There are also studies that have shown that heavy strength training can be better for mobility than pure mobility training. But just because it might be a little more efficient, that's no reason not to do plyometrics. The biggest advantage of plyometric training is that it is so much more accessible to bounce up and down for a couple of minutes at home in the kitchen than heavy strength training with a barbell. Then it's a bit like choosing between intervals and long runs. Interval training has a better effect if you also run long sessions at a slower pace. And as they state in the study you link to: "...running economy appears to be improved better when training is performed for a longer period in both heavy resistance and plyometric training". So: feel free to do both. Or choose one way. But do something!

Good point, and interesting link. But do they show a 3.9% improvement in running economy after investing 5 minutes a day for 8 weeks. (I doubt it.)

@@Surfsailwaves True 4% is pretty good in 8 weeks. Though, I have looked at the study from García-Pinillos et al (10.1123/ijspp.2019-0529) I think this is the study Fredrik is talking about and they were runners which were averaging around 40 km per week. So if you are running a lot more than that the benefit might not be so high. Because it is super interesting, I had a look into the literature and Saunders et al., 2006 (10.1519/R-18235.1) did his study on elites (100 km / week with 3 km times of less than 9 min) and here they were doing 3x30 min plyometric sessions, with more complex stuff including weight lifting and single leg hops. At 18 km/h they saw a 4% benefit in terms of RE as they needed less oxygen uptake for the same speed as before the intervention. Interestingly they saw no benefit at lower speeds (14km/h). Which for them is probably their long-slow-pace (lucky bastards :) ) . So yeah for an experienced runner you need to do more to get the same bang for buck. I am by no means elite so for me 5 min jumping sounds like a good start.