Do you speak Biomechanish???
There are many ways to describe faulty biomechanics and the measurable inefficiencies, asymmetries, energy leaks, dysfunctional movement patterns, and the resulting goofiness or bad race pics can be summed up in three words:
Wiggles, Waggles, and Wobbles
And if you think about it, these tell the story of how you can improve your training and racing for 2025!
If you take the time to address form issues and sources of your inefficient movement patterns, then perhaps you will move faster, with greater economy, and stay free of injury this next season.
Three thoughts for you:
- If moving differently feels “weird” then that’s a good thing. That’s your brain trying to form a new synapse, a new movement pattern, and trying to write you a new program. Stick with it if it’s weird and new and then make it a habit. Repeat the same old mistakes and get the same old results, right? This really applies to changing run form and swim strokes!
- If you see craziness in your race pics, it might be time to make a photo album and sit down with the brutal truth about how you move when tired. Take notes and make copies. Then sit down with a coach and make an action plan. It may include a functional evaluation, TRX training, neuromuscular training, physical therapy, drills and skill training, or video analysis to match up your kinetic with your visual learning. Do you move the way you think you move once you see it on tape?
- Vow to move smarter, cleaner, and more efficiently in your training as you enter a new season. That means no more training through pain, hold onto your form by taking walk breaks or hitting “reset” when you get sloppy, and make yourself more efficient in your economy of movement. Run like your coach is watching you! ; )
- In running terms, this can be stride length, propulsion, ground contact time, or foot-strike position.
- In swimming, this is everything from how your hand enters the water to how you hold the water in your propulsive phase, to how you finish your stroke.
- In cycling, this means a progression from simply mashing down on the pedals to developing your pedal stroke with visual images like circles, ellipses, and recruiting muscles other than quads. As your cadence rises, so too will your distribution of work to multiple muscle groups including your gastroc, soleus, and glutes. Let go of quad-only riding and discover a brand new world!
If nothing else, appeal to your own vanity and desire for better race pics this season. But do so by addressing these three W’s and the possibilities are simply endless! :)))