So far we have explored getting our posture upright and proud, leading with out hips and counterbalancing the forward hip motion with the arm swing going further to the back. Now this week I want to talk about what the feet are doing.
When we walk more efficiently our feet are going to be landing in a straight line in front of us, as someone mentioned like the drunk test that the police give you. When you bring that hip forward the leg and foot are going to be there anyway when your doing it properly, but this week it's time to concentrate on that. Your front stride will seem short to you but it is NOT as short as it seems. It's just a perception.
It helps to practice the straight line foot steps when you have a line in the road to follow or on a track that has lane lines. If you go to a track try going down the stadium steps a few times or just walk thinking about going down steps like that. You walk down steps automatically in a straight line because it's the most stable and balanced way to walk down those steps.
As you walk this week, with straight up posture, being pulled forward by your hips, with good arm swing, getting that elbow back and concentrating on your feet landing in a straight line, the whole motion should begin to smooth out for you.
Your foot plant should be more of a heel first plant, on the forward foot, then the foot rolling forward to the toe when your foot is back and then the toe push off to bring the rear foot forward. We will discuss this part more next week but for this week a good exercise to do is to walk on just your heels for about 25 yards, alternate back to normal walking and then 25 more yards on just your heels. This is a good warmup exercise also for before a race or training walk.
Thanks for reading and good walking this week.
Dave
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