Chapter 5 – Biomechanics Walking Form
Walking Fitness
Walking Form
1. Stay Upright
Good walking posture is simply good body posture. When the head, shoulders, and hips are all lined up over the feet, you can move forward as a unit, with a minimum amount of effort.
2. Chest Forward
Many walkers let their chest sag into a slouch. In such a position, the lungs won't maximize their efficiency. Before starting your walk, relax and take a deep breath, which moves the lungs into an efficient position. After you exhale, maintain the chest in this beneficial alignment. The most efficient way to walk is to have your head, neck and shoulders erect. When you walk leaning forward, you're always fighting gravity.
3. Hips Forward
One of the most common form of errors is letting the hips shift back and the butt stick out behind you. Taking a deep breath often pulls the hips forward also, into an alignment which allows easier walking.
4. The Foot Plant
There is a difference between what should happen and what you may be able to control. First, let your shoe professional fit you with a couple of pairs of shoes which are right for you. Then just start walking!
In a "normal" stride, the sequence of actions is as follows. The walker lands with the heel marginally before the rest of the sole, rolling naturally forward before giving a final push with the ball of the foot. The first part of the stride tends to be slightly on the outside of the foot, with a roll inwards (pronation) towards the end of the stride.
Your personal stride is the result of your shape, your physique and the strength and balance of your muscles at least all the way up to your waist! Please don't try to change your foot plant as you train: you will not be running naturally and you are very likely to cause more problems than you solve. Changes to your gait only happen as a result of longer term changes elsewhere. As you gain fitness and strength, you may well notice that many irregularities resolve themselves. Modern training shoes are designed to accommodate biomechanically different feet. Maybe the problem you thought you had will turn out to be not so much of a problem after all. But if you really do have a problem which continues to affect your activity, you may have to seek the advice of a therapist or coach to assess and deal with your particular situation.
5. Arms
The starting position for arms in all walking is to have them hanging vertically and loosely from the shoulders. From this starting position, arm carriage varies depending on what form of walking you're doing. But you shoulders should always be low and relaxed.
In active walking and in "long arm" power walking, the full length of the arm will swing. The swing will be gentle in active walking, more dynamic and march-like in power walking.
In "short arm" power walking and Race Walking, the arms are bent at the elbow. Usually, sources mention a 90 degree angle. In the starting position, this is correct. If you are power walking, you can keep it at 90 degrees if you like. If you do, you will notice that your hand tends to go upwards when the arm is in front of you and your elbow goes upwards when the arm is behind you. That's a strong, dynamic action which will work your upper body well.
In Race Walking, we need our upper body to be a little "quieter" and to work "forward and back" rather than "up and down". Take a look at the section on Race Walking Technique to see how we achieve this efficiency.
6. Stride Rate - Not Stride Length
Studies have shown that when walkers get faster, the stride length actually decreases, but the stride rate ('turnover' in athletes' jargon) increases. Too long a stride results in three problems. First, the Big Secret of an athletically efficient gait is that the foot is already moving backwards when it hits the ground. When our foot is stuck out in front of us, that's not happening. Second, with too long a stride, we land at a point which coaches call 'ahead of the body's centre of mass.' It's like putting on a brake; we have to wait until our foot is directly under the body before we start pushing forward again. Shorten the stride and we land more or less under the body already. Third, extra time in the air is largely wasted: when our feet aren't on the ground, they're not driving us forward.
The results of all this biomechanics is that when you 'overstride,' the muscles work harder than they need to. They will tighten up and tire before your run is done. The fatigue will make you soon revert to your natural stride length anyway.
Lengthening your stride naturally is a long-term process of increased fitness and muscle strengthening. For much of your walking, short quick strides contribute to your speed and efficiency way more than long slow ones.
7. Head and Neck
Your torso will normally do what your head is doing. So if you are dropping your head right down, your torso will probably follow and lean too far forward. Keep the neck and shoulders relaxed. Try not to hunch your shoulders. This will cause undue fatigue to that area. Your eyes should be looking somewhere about 20-30 metres ahead of you.
8. Practice Your Technique
Once or twice a week, a little technique work is really helpful. After your warm-up, walk some accelerations of 50-150m. Pick one of the elements of good form and feel yourself executing it well during the acceleration. Rehearse each element at least four times, and keep to one or two elements at most in each session. A change in technique may feel a little awkward at first, but you'll know when you've got it right - it feels so good! You can also entertain yourself during a longer walk by building in short periods of technique work.
In technique work, the short periods are the key. When you're moving your body in a new way, your brain literally gets tired, and quite quickly too! You'll feel when in happens; there will be a noticeable loss in your "coordination". It's temporary; the short break between accelerations will give you the recovery you need.
If you take up Race Walking, there will be a little more emphasis on technique. Efficient technique gains precious speed and resists the effects of fatigue.
Basics of Race Walking Technique
Race Walking is the Ferrari of walking: everything is designed for speed. There is a clear transition from regular walking to race walking which replaces the leisurely, low effort aspects of walking are replaced with dynamic, highly efficient actions. These result in trained athletes being able to reach speed of over 15 kph while still observing the rules.
Feet, Ankles, and Knees
Feet are placed directly in front of each other in an attempt to progress in as straight a line as possible. Any slight outward turn of the foot loses a couple of centimetres on each stride. The ankle and knee flexion of regular walking which replaces the jaunty bounce of a purposeful stroll with a much greater degree of control provided by the strong contractions of the leg muscles.
Hip
Perhaps the most unique and recognizable action of Race Walking, the hips move forward and down (not side to side. They are driven, not wiggled!). The motions accomplish the following:
(1) The forward motion increases the length of each stride without the disadvantages we mentioned in the paragraph on Stride Rate. Race Walkers use the hip to carry the whole body into an advantageous position to begin the next drive. The advancing foot strikes the ground almost directly below the centre of mass. More importantly, the foot is already moving backwards. Without the hip action, the foot lands ahead of the centre of mass resulting in the braking action which has to be overcome before the next drive phase.
(2) The dropping of each hip provides the action which is often misinterpreted as the lateral wiggle. The hip opposite to the locked supporting leg drops. This allows the body's centre of mass to move forward without the need to rise up over the straight supporting leg. The whole body therefore moves forward more smoothly and wasted motion is avoided.
Although the hip action is a distinctive feature of Race Walking, it does not define it. Even the best walkers vary greatly in hip mobility and use. Effective hip action certainly lengthens and flattens the stride. But if attempting a "classic" hip movement slows your rhythm, don't worry. You are dealing with one of the many compromises of track and field. Fast, efficient rhythm is more important than a slower technique, however classic. In any event, the modification of hip action will be a longer term project.
Arms
The arms are bent at the elbow ("a shorter lever moves faster"). The action is dynamic , as for middle distance running, and helps to provide a "turnover rate" very similar to that of a top 800/1500m runners and walkers.
The arm swing should be forward and back, with lateral motion reduced as much as possible. Upward movement at the end of the forward arm swing should also be avoided, as the effect is to lift the body (a high jumper's arm drive on take off looks very similar!)
So the Race Walking action is the exception to the "elbow at 90 degrees" rule discussed in the paragraph on Arms. Race Walkers want to go in the shortest and straightest line possible from start to finish. The key is to keep the forearm as parallel to the ground as reasonably possible. This will mean that the elbow angle opens a little when the arm is in front of the body and closes a little when it is behind. Imagine that your arms work like a piston to drive you forward.
Fatigue, or an overzealous attempt to be dynamic, may result in hunched shoulders, pulling the arm carriage up high. Apart from being inefficient, this also has the effect of raising the centre of mass and contributing to "lifting". The hands should be low enough to almost brush the shorts on each swing. This low arm carriage is achieved by keeping the shoulders relaxed.
Overall Body Position
The body should be upright. The tendency to lean forward has three significant effects. First, there is a considerable loss of the power generated by the arms. Second, stride length is reduced. Third, "lifting" may occur as the rear foot is pulled prematurely off the ground.
Forward lean is a often caused by fatigue. A backward lean is less commonly observable and is likely caused by a weakness or imbalance in the postural muscles. Correction is therefore longer term, but attention is warranted because of the undoubted loss of a portion of the drive phase.
Rhythm
The ability to maintain rhythm is the key to Race Walking success. Muscular endurance through regular training at a target rhythm is a theme which runs through a training program. The other components of stamina, strength, and speed are all linked together and defined by the ability to maintain rhythm for the appropriate race distance. We'll deal with this important idea in the sections for more advanced walkers.
Walking Form Checklist
Posture:
Erect Work On
Arm Action and Position:
Good Work On
Chest and Hips:
Forward Work On
Drive (if race walking) Work On
Foot Stride and Push-off:
Heavy On Heels Heavy on Toes
Stride Rate Work On
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