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Running technique improvement. Running coaching case studies in technique correction using the Old Way New Way^® method of coaching running.

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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 warmup 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.

Improving too slowly?

Sports coaches and players try to get it right the first time but invariably end up spending a lot of time trying to correct technique faults and bad habits that somehow develop.

Once established, habit pattern errors like technique faults are notoriously hard to correct because they actually disable learning of correct technique and slow down or completely block improvement. This makes an athlete uncompetitive and can lead to a career-threatening performance slump.

The typical advice to practice skill drills and train hard is usually not very effective. The athlete may appear to improve during training but repeatedly falls back to old ways under pressure of competition.

Transfer of training from skills coaching sessions and practice drills to competition is consequently poor.

Transition training, required when the athlete has to change over to a new code, new equipment, new techniques or new rules, presents similar adjustment difficulties. Old habits die hard.

Fortunately, a coaching science discovery called Old Way New Way^® Sports Coaching offers:

1. A new perspective on the transfer of training problem.

2. A cost-effective and user-friendly method for rapid skill and technique correction, and habit correction.

3. A fast and practical method of sports transition training.

This page explains how established and habitual technique faults can interfere with skill development and learning of correct technique.

This page presents sports coaching case studies in technique correction using the Old Way New Way^® method of couching sport.