Running technique improvement: Rapid technique correction case study
Running coaching: Professional runner improves starting technique with Old Way New Way®
Pat, a professional runner, improved his starting technique.
Pat Henderson, a professional runner in his early twenties, had just completed his 20 minute warm up and stretching routine and was ready to set up his starting blocks.
A teacher by trade, Pat had heard of a new method for quickly overcoming technique faults and agreed to take part in a demonstration of the power of Old Way New Way® to change what for him had been a major obstacle to improving his competitive performance, his starting technique.
Bob Spencer, a top South Australian running coach had been trying for 7 years to get Pat to change his starting technique, without success.
Pat knew what the problem was, alright. Instead of pushing off the blocks hard with both legs, he was supposed to push off with only the left leg and simultaneously lift his right knee up into his middle. The required action was similar to the karate exponent who pulls his left fist back while executing a standing forward punch with his right fist, in an equal and opposite reaction.
No amount of encouragement from his coach nor the fact that he was a highly motivated professional runner had enabled Pat to break what for him had become an ingrained habit.
The PBS facilitator in Adelaide, Harry Lyndon, spent 20 minutes with Pat, improving his awareness of his technique problem and then overcoming the learning block caused by the interference from the old habit.
By the end of this brief session Pat was amazed to report that after only 20 minutes his new technique now felt so much more comfortable than his old method. "If this new method feels so right for me now, why has it been so difficult for me to change over during the last seven years?" he pondered.
