How And Why Do Elite Runners Kick Their Feet So High


For most of my life as a distance runner, I have dragged my feet underneath me, barely an inch or two off the ground. It is not something I paid much attention to when I was running on smooth trails and paved roads. However, continued tripping and falling on rocky trails taught me that something needed to change.

Elite runners use a high foot kick to run faster with a longer stride. The movement is created by the elastic recoil of the hip flexors and connected tendons that cause the foot to whiplash upward as it leaves the ground. A high foot kick is a product of running fast and not a conscious movement.

Let’s take a look at why elite runners kick their feet so high, and how we can bring aspects of that into our trail running.

Why Elite Runners Kick Their Feet High

When you watch elite runners while they are running you will no doubt have noticed that their feet kick up really high on each stride almost touching their butt as they bring their legs through to begin the next stride.

Picking their feet up this high is a direct product of the speed that they are running because they need to bring their legs through so quickly because of their high cadence (steps per minute). Having a foot lagging near the ground is near impossible to pull through fast enough. So kicking their feet up to their butt means that it is a bent leg that they move more quickly and with less energy expenditure.

Top elite runners cover a massive distance on each and every one of their fast strides and the high foot kick enables them to bring their foot forward quickly and place it down to land under the center of balance.

So in essence a high foot kick the elite runners use is directly a product of the speed they’re running and is necessary to continue running at the same high speed.

How Elite Runners Kick Their Feet High On Each Stride

The way in which elite runners kick their feet up really high on each stride is through a process known as elastic recoil. The tissue that the tendons are made out of is what is known as visco-elastic in other words they operate to a certain extent like a really stiff elastic band.

Through training Elite runners have developed a really good range of motion in the hips so that they can have a full hip extension when they do a strong push off the end of each stride. 

This over-flexing of the hip stores a lot of energy through the visco-elastic properties of the tendons as well as the hip flexor muscles. This means that as the foot leaves the ground the stretched hip flexors and tendons recoil back to the normal positions pulling the knee forward. The foot lifts high as the knee comes forward in a whiplash effect. None of this is conscious movement on the part of the runner.

Should A Slower Runner Also Kick Their Feet As High

Even though we can’t kick our feet up nearly as high when we are running simply because we’re not running fast enough to be able to do the exact same effect that the elite runners do bio-mechanically it doesn’t mean that we can’t benefit from at least lifting our feet to a certain extent as we are running. I know that I have tried lifting my feet really high while running at my way slower speed but it just doesn’t seem to work.

The ability to be able to lift our feet higher while we are running is especially important when we go out trail running as the consequences of not lifting our feet will be tripping over tree roots and rocks. I know this from experience as tripping over rocks has landed me with a fractured rib and more than a couple of weeks away from running. 

The one thing that I have noticed that allows me to kick my feet up higher and bring my feet through higher while running on trails is that if I bring some degree of attention to using my hamstrings as the final part of the food drive as I’m running. If I activate my hamstrings consciously I seem to be able to pull my foot up closer to my butt with my hamstrings as a follow through on each stride.

The Benefits Of Kicking Your Feet Higher

There are two distinct benefits to kicking your feet higher while you are running. The first of these is really important and it is the one that we have already covered. Lifting your feet prevents you from tripping over all the things on the trail so you don’t end your run with grazed knees and hands. 

The second benefit of kicking your feet higher mimics the benefit that the elite runners have and that is kicking your feet higher will biomechanically increase your stride length. This means that you will be able to run faster for the same amount of energy output. Although this won’t make a massive amount of difference out on the trails simply because it is the terrain of the trails that will be determining the speed that you can run.

Being able to run faster for the same energy output really comes into its own if you were running along smooth fire trails or happened to be running along a section of paved road.

Running Drills That Help You Kick Your Feet Higher

There is one particular running drill that does help you to kick your feet up higher. It is the running drill that I refer to often as butt kicks.

You will see in the video that I have embedded below what the butt-kicks drill looks like. Effectively it is running slowly in a straight line but each time your foot leaves the ground, you attempt to kick your butt with the heel of that foot.

In other words, you are over exaggerating the heel lift using your hamstrings on each stride as you’re doing this drill.

The more often you perform the drill the more ingrained the movement will become within your muscle memory. This will enable you to start lifting your feet higher without consciously thinking about it when you are out on your next run. 

When To Do The Running Drills That Help You Kick Your Feet Higher

I find that the best times to do this running drill are both during my warm-up before a run as well as my warm-down after a run.

It feels as if the warm-up part of the running drill wakes my hamstring muscles up to what I want them to do while I’m running. The warm down part of the running drill is a way of ingraining the movement into my muscle memory and helps over the longer term.

Eduardo

Eduardo is a writer, YouTuber, trail runner, mountain biker, rock climber and internet entrepreneur.

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