Don’t Run Tall (and what you should do instead)

“Run tall” is a recommendation you see often in guidelines for good running form. It probably seems pretty uncontroversial to you – what could be bad about good posture when you run? We should all avoid slouching, right?

But actually trying to run tall can cause:

• overstriding
• heelstriking
• sore calves
• foot injuries, including stress fractures
• poor performance

There are three main reasons why. Let’s dig into them.

1. It’s a Vague Instruction

Vague running form recommendations are likely to do as much harm as good as runners try to figure out how to apply them. They’re frustrating and it’s impossible to evaluate whether you’re doing them correctly. Good running form instructions are specific about anatomy and motion.

2. It May Cause You to Run Upright

The phrase “run tall” seems to suggest that you should run upright, meaning that your spine would be perpendicular to the ground. If you do quite literally try to do this, you’ll probably lengthen yourself up vertically, lowering your chin towards your throat and lifting your chest. Maybe you’ll pull your belly in as well.

There are consequences to running this way.

Best case scenario: you might not be happy with your performance, and you’ll believe you’re “losing your form” as you tire, feeling yourself lean forward, your shoulders roll forward a little, and your chin start to stick out. (This is the point when your form is actually getting better!)

Worst case scenario: you’ll overstride (with a prancing-like action if you’re barefoot), suffer terrible calf soreness, and find yourself with a second metatarsal stress fracture in due time. This is particularly likely if you’re trying to transition into barefoot running or very minimalist shoes like Vibram Fivefingers.

3. You May Excessively Lengthen Your Spine

Excessively lengthening your spine reduces the important curves in your neck, thorax (or upper and middle back), and lower back.

When you try too hard to lengthen yourself in running, whether by running truly upright or trying to get a feeling of a string pulling your head upwards, you become less able to absorb the impact of your running through your spine, store it as elastic energy, and use it to propel you forward.

It’s not just the feet and legs that store and return elastic energy, your torso participates too if you let it. It also makes important shifts of weight to maximize support and power from each leg and release your weight from your foot at toe-off. Overly lengthening your spine cuts into all of this, making your spine less like a spring or a gyroscope and more like a stick, increasing the amount of work your legs need to do and the stress they bear.

I have many ways of evaluating the runners who come to me for help with their form, and one of the most important is to feel the mobility of their head on their neck – can it slide forward or is it stuck in a retracted position, with the chin tucked? And when they stand and I put my hand on their head and press it down and forward, does the head slide forward, all the curves of the spine increase, and does the runner get altogether shorter for a moment and start to lean forward. A runner who does that is generally healthy and powerful, with a spine like a spring.

How Running Tall Hurts Your Performance

By running upright you miss out on the benefits of a forward lean for generating speed and efficiently directing force through your skeleton. Here’s a lot more about that:

How Running Tall Hurts Your Body

The reason why you might get sore and even injured is that, as you move towards toe-off, your whole body needs to cooperate to release your weight from your foot. Leaning forward and keeping your torso mobile are crucial to that process.

So by running upright and stiffening your torso, you press your weight back on your foot at the moment it should be moving forward off your foot, and the result is stress to your calves and feet, including shearing stress at your second metatarsals, where you push off.

What to Do Instead of Running Tall

Your spine is part of your engine, part of your suspension… don’t stretch it out into rigidity! Instead, imagine your face is leading the way forward as you run and the rest of you is flowing along behind. You’ll feel your spine lengthen forward, you won’t be slouching at all, but you’ll still have the mobility needed to run well.

If you have trouble letting your chin move away from your throat, pucker up your lips and reach them forward to give the air a kiss, and you’ll feel how your head can slide forward.

You’ll feel when you get it right, it’ll feel smooth and a little bit faster than you’re used to. You can choose to run faster or slower by moving your face forward more or less.

You can see all of this in action in this short video:

If you feel like it makes you stick your butt out to do this, your calves may be too tight to allow you to really lean. Try my free mini-course called Free Your Feet and see if it’s easier immediately afterwards to let your pelvis pass your feet and lean without sticking your butt out.

When you get this right, and your trunk also performs its beautiful counterrotation the way it should, you’ll feel your running is much smoother and more flowing.

So the next time someone tells you to run tall, tell them that actually you’re going to lean forward and run supple! You can get better at doing it with this free mini-course:

I discussed this issue with Xero Shoes co-founder Steven Sashen on his podcast a few years back as well: