Natural Running: The Simple Path to Stronger, Healthier Running

by Danny Abshire, Brian Metzler

Overview

Natural Running is the middle ground runners have been looking for. By learning to run the barefoot way, while wearing shoes, runners will become more efficient, stronger, and healthier runners. Backed by studies at MIT and Harvard, running form and injury expert Danny Abshire presents the natural running technique, form drills, and an 8-week transition plan that will put runners on the path to faster, more efficient, and healthier running.In Natural Running, Abshire explains how modern running shoes distort the efficient running technique that humans evolved over thousands of years. He reviews the history of running shoes and injuries, making the case for barefoot running but also warning about its dangers. By learning the natural running technique, runners can enjoy both worlds: comfortable feet, knees, and legs and an efficient running form that reduces impact and injuries.Natural Running teaches runners to think about injuries as symptoms of poor running form. Abshire specifies the overuse injuries that are most commonly associated with particular body alignment problems, foot types, and form flaws. Runners will learn how to analyze and identify their own characteristics so they can start down the path to natural running.Abshire explains the natural running technique, describing the posture, arm carriage, cadence, and land-lever-lift foot positioning that mimic the barefoot running style. Using Abshire’s 8-week transition plan and a tool kit of strength and form drills, runners will move from heel striking to a midfoot or forefoot strike.Natural Running is the newest way to run and also the oldest. By discovering how they were meant to run, runners will become more efficient, stronger, and healthier runners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937716066
Publisher:	Ulysses Press
Publication date:	01/11/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	198
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Danny Abshire is a veteran running coach and injury expert. He is the cofounder of Newton Running, a startup running shoe manufacturer specializing in shoes that promote an efficient midfoot/forefoot running gait. He has been making advanced footwear for runners and triathletes for more than 20 years.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Paula Newby-Fraser

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Evolution to a Running Revolution

1 What Is Natural Running?

2 Evolution of a Sport and a Shoe

3 Into the Lab: Examining Your Running Form

4 The Science of Motion: Three Gaits

5 Foot Biomechanics: A Close Examination

6 The Physics of Running: Whole-Body Kinematics

7 A New Way to Look at Common Running Injuries

8 Natural Running, Unnatural World

9 Dynamic Strength and Form Drills

10 Natural Running

An Eight-Week Transition Plan

Resources

Index

About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

"Danny Abshire has an innate knowledge of running biomechanics and an ability to translate his knowledge into a fix for running injuries."

Paul Huddle

"Abshire has long been a go-to-guy for elite runners and triathletes struggling with injury, and in Natural Running he dives deep into the surrounding subjects ignited by Born to Run."

Competitor magazine

"Danny Abshire has devoted his professional life to studying and teaching proper and efficient running technique. He has worked with some of the best runners and triathletes in the history of endurance sports and just speaking to him will make you a better runner."

Craig Alexander

"Natural Running by Newton Running founder Danny Abshire takes the reader back to the basics. The tools, tips, and 8-week transition plan are designed to get runners to run as efficiently and healthily as possiblethe way nature intended."

Triathlete magazine

"One of the virtues of Natural Running is the education on running biomechanics that it provides. A comprehensive, understandable overview of this topic has been badly needed since the barefoot running trend began with Born to Run. Abshire covers everything from the structure of the foot to individual gait assessment."

Running.Competitor.com

"For two decades Danny Abshire has been a lone voice in the wilderness, patiently showing the fortunate few the correct way to run. Now the rest of the running world gets the chance to learn from Abshire's running-form wisdom in Natural Running. With the pendulum finally swinging towards proper running shoes and technique, I expect Natural Running to be the standard reference source for years to come."

Mike Sandrock

"Danny Abshire's approach gives hope to those who have struggled with injuries and uncomfortable running. He brings a simple, sensible, and usable approach to transforming your running so you can reach your potential. Danny's knowledge of running form and biomechanics can help all runners become more efficient."

Mark Allen

"Danny Abshire is the leading authority on natural running form, period."

Ian Adamson

"Danny is one of the lead voices in the current natural running revolution."

Danny Dreyer

"Running efficiently is a precursor to running any distance fast and exuberantly. No one knows this better than Danny Abshire, whose lifelong study of the body in motion has helped many champions reach their goals, me included. Natural Running is the definitive guide for anyone who craves the joy of effortless and timeless runs."

Lorraine Moller

"Danny is one of the lead voices in the current natural running revolution." — Danny Dreyer, author of ChiRunning

"Abshire has long been a go-to-guy for elite runners and triathletes struggling with injury, and in Natural Running he dives deep into the surrounding subjects ignited by Born to Run." — Competitor magazine

"Natural Running by Newton Running founder Danny Abshire takes the reader back to the basics. The tools, tips, and 8-week transition plan are designed to get runners to run as efficiently and healthily as possible—the way nature intended." — Triathlete magazine

"Danny Abshire's approach gives hope to those who have struggled with injuries and uncomfortable running. He brings a simple, sensible, and usable approach to transforming your running so you can reach your potential. Danny's knowledge of running form and biomechanics can help all runners become more efficient." — Mark Allen, six-time Ironman(r) World Champion, co-founder of MarkAllenOnline.com coaching, and co-author of Fit Soul, Fit Body: 9 Keys to a Healthier, Happier You

"Danny Abshire has devoted his professional life to studying and teaching proper and efficient running technique. He has worked with some of the best runners and triathletes in the history of endurance sports and just speaking to him will make you a better runner." — Craig Alexander, three-time Ironman(r) World Champion

"One of the virtues of Natural Running is the education on running biomechanics that it provides. A comprehensive, understandable overview of this topic has been badly needed since the barefoot running trend began with Born to Run. Abshire covers everything from the structure of the foot to individual gait assessment." — Running.Competitor.com

"Running efficiently is a precursor to running any distance fast and exuberantly. No one knows this better than Danny Abshire, whose lifelong study of the body in motion has helped many champions reach their goals, me included. Natural Running is the definitive guide for anyone who craves the joy of effortless and timeless runs." — Lorraine Moller, four-time Olympian and Olympic bronze medalist and co-founder of Lydiard Online Training Systems

"For two decades Danny Abshire has been a lone voice in the wilderness, patiently showing the fortunate few the correct way to run. Now the rest of the running world gets the chance to learn from Abshire's running-form wisdom in Natural Running. With the pendulum finally swinging towards proper running shoes and technique, I expect Natural Running to be the standard reference source for years to come." — Mike Sandrock, author of Running with the Legends

"Danny Abshire has an innate knowledge of running biomechanics and an ability to translate his knowledge into a fix for running injuries." — Paul Huddle, triathlon coach, contributor to Triathlete magazine and author of Start to Finish Ironman Training 24 Weeks to an Endurance Triathlon

"Danny Abshire is the leading authority on natural running form, period." — Ian Adamson, 7-time Adventure Race World Champion

"Danny Abshire is the true leader of the re-evolution back to more natural running." — Mark Cucuzzella MD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine

"Danny Abshire's gifted instruction has excited my students at MIT for several years. His running clinics have inspired us to think about how we run and how to do so without pain. Danny can look at someone's running style, tweak it, and make them a more efficient, faster running machine." — Dr. Patti Christie, MIT

"Danny Abshire has a passion for helping people to run the way nature intended humans to run." — Alex Slocum, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT

"Natural Running is an invaluable resources for all runners and coaches. Accurate, well explained, enlightening." — Pose Coach blog

"Natural Running is interesting and informative... Abshire is scientific and sensible in his approach. I highly recommend the book as a guide if you are looking to transition to barefoot-style running form and want to keep your shoes." — Run Blogger

"Natural Running is an instruction manual for how to give up your heel-striking habit. If Born to Run was the battle cry for running naturally, consider Abshire's book the field manual. In addition to detailed explanations, the book is filled with multiple photos and diagrams that make the concepts of natural running form very easy to understand." — Running and Rambling

"Natural Running deserves a place on your bookshelf if you are someone willing to try something new, need a refresher course on proper running biomechanics, or simply want to know how to become a more efficient runner. And as a runner, you just might feel reborn." — Zero Drop

"The first few chapters [of Natural Running] give a great primer on the evolution of running, the development of shoes, the marketing machine, and what technology didn't deliver. If you read Born to Run, these sections cover the same material, but in a quicker, more organized fashion. What jumped out in the book, for me, is the degree to which Danny has focused on individual biomechanics and how minor adjustments can have major impact on performance." — TriEssential.com

"Danny Abshire did not create the natural running movement. But he deserves a lot of the credit for it. As the co-founder of Newton Running shoes, he's been at the forefront - or forestep - of the movement to get runners back to their natural, original stride." — The Fitness Buff Show

From the Publisher