Dr. Yessis Sports Training Blog

I continue to see and read about the need to land on the heel for long-distance and to an increasing extent, for athletes who must run in their sport such as baseball and football players as well as track sprinters . But is this an efficient method for effective running?

Although not as often, you can also find many coaches saying that the heel hit is natural in running. Can these comments however, be substantiated? The answer here is no and there is no scientific or even logical explanation for landing on the heel first. Read more… »

In the off-season it is typically recommended that you work on your sports weaknesses. This is a great suggestion but how it is implemented often leaves much to be desired.

For example some experts have stated that working on weaknesses are much tougher on you than when you work on your strengths. Because of this they recommend working on weaknesses in small doses with several days rest in between. Read more… »

In an article dealing with ways to improve your running it was brought out that a significant amount of time should be given to learning how to improve running mechanics. If you have been reading my blogs on running you will know that I am in full support with such a recommendation.

It was brought out that one of the primary ways to learning to run better is by doing form drills that encourage optimal running form that ultimately improve running economy. This is where I strongly disagree even though this can happen in some cases. Read more… »

It has been well established for many years now, that landing heel first in running is very inefficient and can lead to serious injury. But yet, we can still find many articles extolling the virtues of landing heel first. In addition, you are sure to see many pictures of runners landing heel first in running magazines.

Just out of curiosity, I recently counted the number of pictures that depicted the heel hit in running and triathlete magazines. I did this several months in a row and found that on average, there were at least six to seven pictures in every issue that showed a distinct heel hit, some with the foot making contact at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal. Read more… »