ChiRunning Lecture at the 2007 China Camp by Danny Dreyer

Danny Dreyer, ultra marathon runner, coach, author and founder of ChiRunning discusses how the internal focuses of tai chi can be applied to the sport of running. In this lecture he discusses how to turn running into an internal practice and how to run by directing ones energy instead of relying solely on the legs for propulsion.Danny has incorporated taijiquan principles with the physics of long distance running in his ChiRunning and ChiWalking instruction, which is quite popular nationally …

Every Day Fitness | Chi Running

Exercies tip for running. Chi Running is a technique to help you start running pain free and injury free. Learn some quick tips to run smarter, not harder.

Five Tips From Chirunning

 

 

Danny Dreyer, a marathon runner Ultra America and the Tai Chi practitioner, created a method of execution called ChiRunning, which combines the inner focus and flow of Tai Chi with the power and energy of operation. Here are five tips that ChiRunning has helped many runners begin to learn to run without injury:

 

1. Danny explains that Master Zhu – his Tai Chi teacher in Boulder, Colorado – said to keep your spine straight, but for the rest of the body relax and let the chi flow "like water through a pipe. In Chinese philosophy, "chi" is the vital energy or life force. This principle applies not only to Tai Chi, but to run too.

2. An efficient operation is not leg strength and leg speed. You have to let your body be removed from the center and allow the legs to simply go for walks. Let your speed is a function of their ability to relax more deeply, not their ability to push harder.

3. Let go of the pain, "No, no gain" attitude that many Westerners have toward the sport. Instead, the clear objective of establishing a communication link between mind and body. If you pay close attention to your body will learn what can and can not do. This is called "Body Sensing. By developing a good system of communication with your body can teach new skills and habits, without exaggeration and therefore hurting.

4. Lean slightly forward when running, about a quarter of an inch, and let gravity do some work for you.

5. The land at the foot instead of mid-heel, thus preventing the movement of breaking the heel, which is common in most of the runners.

 

You don’t need to go to the gym to get fit

By: Carol Bardelli

Home gyms are nice but not necessary to get fit.

The CTV.ca News Staff (article link) and other news sources including Reuters reported that new research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine suggests that a predisposition to obesity may be as easy to overcome as spending a few hours a week at the gym. This study found that study subjects performing a high level of physical activity basically counteract effects of gene mutations that predisposes them to obesity. The findings were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Did they really need to go to a gym to accomplish this? Probably not.

When we exercise – be it aerobic activity or anaerobic resistance training – our bodies don't care how or where we get it done. After you stimulate a muscle it doesn't second guess whether it should grow based on whether you used top of the line dumbbells, an expensive space age machine, or you simply used your own body for resistance and did push ups or pull ups.

Your cardiovascular system doesn't give a hoot whether you got your running done on a $5000 treadmill or a free track at a public park. And your fat cells will not refuse to release fat for fuel based on whether your caloric deficit was achieved at a high end gym or in your own garage.

I'd like to point you to some free workout sources in this segment. Our budgets and saving money are on most of our minds these days. Even in better economic times I've heard people use lack of money as an excuse not to work out.

It's time to debunk the myth you must spend a lot of dough to keep from looking like the Pillsbury dough boy. Free workout resources are out there and available to nearly all of us. When my son was a preschooler, he and I got in the habit of listening to the radio in the morning and dancing to the music. Most forms of dance are great aerobics workouts. And if you dance in your kitchen like we do you don't even have to be good at it. You can also dance to television shows like VH1 Jump Start and MTV You Rock The Deuce.

Other free workout opportunities are available in many community parks. Check out walking trails, bike paths, free fitness courses like Tai Chi, and guided workout stations in your city. Guided workout stations generally have instructions posted on signs for each exercise. These exercises typically include resistance training like push ups and pull ups.

If you subscribe to cable or satellite services many carry FitTV network which broadcasts a wide variety of guided workout programs for up to four hours a day. We absolutely love Gilad Bodies In Motion, Total Body Sculpt With Gilad, and all their other exercise programs which include aerobics, yoga, stretching, resistance training and more. ESPN Classic has exercise programs including Kiana's Flex Appeal and Denise Austin's Getting Fit. If you're already paying for it why not make use of it.

Online workout resources include websites with free exercise videos and demonstrations including one I plan to review for you soon. You can also find guides online for learning isometrics and calisthenics. These two forms of resistance training require only your body and another surface like a wall or floor as a piece of exercise equipment. Check out the Bodybuilding.com Article 'New Age Isometric Training’ by Kelly Baggett on two types of isometric exercises, yielding and overcoming isometrics, including sample exercises.

YouTube has many well executed exercise demonstrations. If you don't know how to perform certain exercises (ie. bicep curls, squats, push ups) and can't afford sessions with a personal trainer these videos can be just as educational.

You really can get fit without ever stepping foot in a gym. Any of the examples above are a great place to start.

Always consult you physician before starting any exercise program.

ChiRunning and ChiWalking Tips to Tackle a 50K

Keith McConnell
PhD Certified ChiRunning and ChiWalking Instructor
ChiRunning

In the "ultra" running community, The McDonald Forest 50K is considered to be one of the most challenging 50K’s anywhere. Located outside of Corvallis, Oregon, this trail run includes 6,700 ft of uphill, windy and perilous downhill, lots of mud and streams and logs to navigate. For me, this was the perfect venue to test my theory that a collaboration of ChiRunning and ChiWalking would be the most powerful, efficient, effortless, safe and enjoyable way to complete hilly, long distance runs.

Although I had run a number of marathons in recent years and even ChiWalked one marathon, it had been almost 30 years since I ran my only other ultra, a 50K in The Bay Area of California, so I was not at all sure how this current undertaking would go. What I did know was that I would have an athletic adventure and that I would be called upon to use all of my knowledge of both ChiRunning and ChiWalking (see footnote) to make this adventure a positive experience and a personal success.

I awoke on race day to sunny skies, a good sign given the history of rain and mud in this race’s past. A short while later, I waited, one of 200 men and women of all ages, a fit looking group surrounded by a welcoming forest on an old logging road. Then we were off–the first steps of a very long journey with the whoops and yells of excitement masking any anxiety I may have been feeling — "only 31 miles to go" someone shouted!

The initial terrain of level roads and trails soon was transformed into steep uphills and, in response, my ChiRunning form shifted smoothly to ChiWalking and my personal project had begun. With increased lean, small steps, quick turnover, strong and high arm swing, and lateral strides when needed, I moved forcefully up the trail, passing those runners who tried to keep running or who walked with arms at their sides while exhibiting no particular form and no recognition of the changing angle of gravity as it almost pulled them back down the hill with each step.

What goes up must come down and there were certainly plenty of "downs" during this run. Returning to my ChiRunning form on the downhills, I felt very confident darting down the hills as I varied my form between the usual lower body focus on gradual hills and, more often, the steep hills form in which I lowered my center of mass, increased my cadence while landing under my column with very short steps keeping my weight line on the backside of my feet and legs.

Staying on the upper edge of my maximum speed zone, it was essential that I keep good balance and the capacity to respond to the unexpected — such as slippery surfaces, roots, rocks, etc.–as more than once I almost slid off the trail and had to grab a passing branch to help control my momentum. At times, I felt like I was dancing down the hills, a downhill version of T’ai Chi perhaps, keeping core strength, good alignment and lightness afoot as I worked with, not against, the force of gravity and the force of the trail coming at me.

Whenever possible, I used the speed and balance of this downhill form to pass runners who moved less adeptly, braking and pounding as they seemed led by their feet out in front with upper body vertical or even leaning back toward the hill. Overall, whether gradual or steep, I found that ChiRunning downhill was the place I most frequently caught up to and passed other runners.

The back and forth dance between ChiRunning and ChiWalking proved to be especially useful in the latter parts of the 50K run when, on both level and slightly downhill terrain, I sensed that a leg muscle was on the verge of cramping. In spite of good ChiRunning form, those times when I had had to catch myself from "slipping out" on steep downhills had over stressed my hamstrings. Resting my "hams" with ChiWalking, while re-focusing and totally relaxing my legs overall, allowed me to keep moving forward at a steady, albeit slower pace. Once recovered, off I went again, ChiRunning with renewed lean, pelvic rotation, relaxed legs and all around zip.

And soon I was there, the finish line banner drawing me forward for the final strides. Six hours and forty nine minutes after I began, I had completed an incredibly challenging and hilly 50K trail run and I had done surprisingly well. As I caught my breath and released tears of joy and relief, I heard the Race Director say to me, "You’ve just won your age group", (FYI: 60 — 69) and he handed me a classy mug as a memento of my accomplishment. As I broke out in a big smile, I realized that I had done it. The "marriage" of ChiRunning and ChiWalking had been a success.

Postscript:

1. In terms of "recovery", an important aspect of distance running and typically a key benefit of the ChiRunning and ChiWalking approaches, my experience was as hoped. A dinner and dancing outing on race night was followed the next day by a walk and playing in my usual Sunday ice hockey game. My recovery was quick with no noticeable negative after effects.

2. My observations of other runners and the inefficiencies they showed on both uphills and downhills has led me to develop a new specialty in my ChiRunning/ChiWalking practice; offering workshops geared to ultra trail runners, including and emphasizing hill running.