The Runner’s World Guide to Running Form: FAQ

Your stride, cadence, and movement patterns that make up your unique running form set you apart from other runners. And because there’s no one “perfect” form that you should adopt for powering your miles, you likely have some specific curiosities about how you should best fine-tune, fix, and evaluate your individual technique. Should you do a self-check of your running form every day? Can injuries hamper your stride? How does your strength, mobility, and even gear impact your running economy and efficiency?

Let The Runner’s World Guide to Running Form answer all your questions for stronger, faster, and healthier running. Clinical exercise physiologist Heather Milton dives deeper into the intricacies of running form, providing you with detailed insights on how mechanics, efficiency, shoes, aging, strength, and more impact your technique. You’ll gain practical advice for better understanding your running form—and improving your stride for supporting a sustainable running routine.

In The Runner’s World Guide to Running Form: FAQ, Heather Milton addresses your questions on:

• Why runners of all experience levels and backgrounds should dial in their running form
• Common form mistakes, and how you can correct them
• When, and how often, you should check your running form
• How your form may change as you age
• How strength, mobility, and injuries may impact your economy, efficiency, and technique

Q: Is there such thing as perfect running form?

Heather Milton: There is no such thing as perfect running form, but there is running form that works best for you. Everyone’s different. We have different anatomy, joint angles, limb lengths, and injury history or health history, and all of this plays into what form is best for you.

Q: Do only high-achieving runners benefit from fixing their form?

HM: Most everyone can benefit from form tweaks. It’s almost like strength training. Can you do a deadlift? Yes, but if you have a trainer and that trainer’s optimizing your form and maximizing the muscle activation, you benefit. The same for running. Taking a look at your running can open the doors to running improvements, whether it be improving your longevity as a runner or improving your pace for a race.

Q: What’s the difference between good form and efficient form?

HM: Good form is the idea of having form that feels good and does not lend towards injury. Efficient form is an overlap of this with the addition of having body positions that reduce the energy needed to maintain your pace.

Q: Some people are faster than me with odd form. Why do they have fewer issues?

HM: We are all different, and form is different for each person based on how their body moves, their size, joint alignment, and other musculature. In fact, no one has the same percentage of fast-twitch or slow-twitch muscle fibers or lung or heart size. That means one person may tolerate inefficient form with less effort than someone who is smaller.

Q: What are the most common form mistakes runners make?

HM: The most common running form mistakes we see are overstriding, low cadence, and inefficient arm swing.

Q: Is heel striking bad or does it depend on the runner?

HM: Heel striking is not independently bad. However, often, heel striking is happening at the same time as overstriding, which can increase impact forces and stress on the joints and soft tissues like tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

Q: I’ve heard 180 steps per minute is the gold standard for cadence. How important is that number?

HM: A step count of a 180 has become popular in part due to research on large numbers of successful, healthy runners that show the average step count is about 180. That does not mean that every runner should be running at 180. It means if your cadence is much lower than that and you have some trouble with your pacing or maybe have had some injuries or pain in running, it’s something to think about increasing. But just a little bit at a time. About 10 percent higher than your current step count.

Q: Can running form change naturally over time or with age?

HM: Running form does evolve as you practice running, so your form as a beginner runner may look very different than when you've had some years under your belt. And typically, efficiency improves over time. With age, form may change due to prior injuries, changes in body habitus like body fat and lean mass changes, as well as joint changes. Many of these can be thwarted off by consistently supporting your runs with good recovery strategies, strength training, and mobility work.

Q: How does strength or mobility issues affect my running form?

HM: Decreases in mobility of your feet, ankles, hips, or spine, and even shoulders can impact your form. Increasing strength can help optimize your push-off and reduce excess motion, which improves running economy and efficiency. Strength also helps decrease injury in general.

Q: How long does it take to make meaningful change in your running form and how often should I get it checked?

HM: Running form can change real-time when working on a cue. That doesn’t mean that doing it one time can just flip the switch for you. Cues help retrain neural patterns, and it may take weeks to months to practice until new running form comes with ease. This means you don’t need to recheck your running form very often. Checking it about every two to three months will give you an idea of your progress.

Q: Should I focus on my form during every run or only sometimes?

HM: Focusing on form during each run helps, but not at every moment of every run. Check-ins with your form periodically throughout your run can help you keep running at your best.

Q: Is treadmill running form different from outdoor running form?

HM: The gross mechanics of running are similar, if not the same when on a treadmill versus outside. However, most of us feel there’s a difference. This is due to differences in terrain, environment, or our own mental comfort with each. The treadmill is a bit more forgiving and stable, so less muscles are stabilizing, and there’s a bit lower need for propulsion due to the treadmill moving, so there’s more physiologic changes with energy use rather than true mechanical changes.

Q: What role do shoes play in how I run?

HM: Shoes can have an impact on comfort, pronation, and foot strike patterns. If a shoe is uncomfortable, you may change your stride to reduce that discomfort. If you have flat feet or less strength in your feet, a neutral shoe may lead to more pronation and can actually lead to lower leg pain or even knee valgus, an inward motion of the knee that can lead to knee or hip pain. A high-cushioned shoe can lead to greater heel striking, especially in runners that already may overstride or have slow cadence.

Q: I'm not injured and running great. Should I consider looking at my form? Should I have gait analysis to make sure that prior surgery or injury isn’t causing poor mechanics?

HM: Just like anyone can benefit from a personal trainer maximizing their lifting form, any runner can benefit from an expert looking at their running form. In fact, a previous injury can change the way your joints move and muscles activate, so finding these subtle changes and addressing them can help reduce risk for further injury.

Ashley Tysiac

Editor, Content Hype

Ashley is Editor of Content Hype at Hearst’s Enthusiast & Wellness Group. She is a former collegiate runner at UNC Asheville where she studied mass communication. Ashley loves all things running; she has raced two marathons, plus has covered some of the sport’s top events in her career, including the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials and multiple World Marathon Majors.