Shane Benzie on fascia, fast running and fewer injuries
We had the pleasure of speaking with biomechanics expert, running coach and best-selling author Shane Benzie on the 33Fuel podcast. Listen for insight into how to utilise the power of fascia for faster and more natural running while reducing injury occurrence
Listen to Shane Benzie from Running Reborn on the 33Fuel Podcast
Over multiple trips to Kenya and Ethiopia, Shane has accumulated more time than most observing the running form of the world’s best. These trips – alongside his extensive coaching experience – make him one of the most qualified run technique experts on the planet.
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We explore the fascinating role of fascia in running economy, performance and injury-prevention. Amazingly, fascia renews every 7 months, proving that regardless of age we can still strengthen it to improve run performance. If you want to run further and faster and reduce your injury rate, this conversation is for you.
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Show snippets – Shane Benzie on forefoot vs heel strike
“How we move over the ground is absolutely fundamental for runners of every distance. We’ve got to learn to love the contact with the ground, because what we put in, we get out.
While we shouldn’t run around trying to put extra energy into the ground, don’t be scared of the ground. Allow that natural contact to happen. The foot is obviously pretty fundamental to this interaction.
The foot is the interface between you and the ground. I advocate a tripod landing. I think it’s well-known that heel-striking is not good, but nor is landing too much on the forefoot. A lot of people are trying to land solely on the forefoot without the hell coming down. I’d say that’s even worse than heel-striking.
The tripod I coach refers to three points under the foot: one under the heel, one on the ball of the foot and another under the little toe. Landing with a full-foot tripod landing, with this tripod landing ‘flat’, we create instant stability. If we’re stable when we plant our foot, it means that we limit our ground contact time, thus improving running economy”.
These lessons from Shane Benzie of Running Reborn remind us of the Tarahumara ultrarunning legends - perfect natural runners. The Tarahumara fuel their runs on chia seeds, which was the inspiration behind our chia energy gels
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