Quiz 2 Flashcards
What is the main purpose for leaning?
To engage gravity for propulsion.
• Manual: Leaning allows gravity to pull your forward. This takes an immense amount of the
workload off your legs and creates highly efficient running. You either move from point A to point B by pushing yourself or by allowing gravity to pull your forward. (p.25)
What are the three steps to engaging activity/lean?
- ) Check in with your posture
- ) Feel your dantien and the tripods under your feet
- ) Let your dantien fall ahead of your feet
Gravity is a downward pull, so how can it help propel us forward?
The body at rest has gravity pulling down on its center of mass. As you fall forward, your center of mass moves in front of your point of contact with the earth and your column (or moment arm, in the laws of physics) takes on a horizontal component. You’ll move forward more efficiently by cooperating with this horizontal pull.
When your heels come off the ground during the leaning exercise, you should _______.
Readjust your posture and relax the foot, ankle, and lower leg.
Define the “Window of Balance” (Also “Window of Lean”)
As you run, there is a window of balance that you will feel. This “sweet spot” in your lean is at the balance point where you’re not so upright that you have to push yourself with your legs… and not so far forward that you’re holding your lean angle by tensing your lower legs. The true test of balance is when you can lean without bending at the waist and without holding any tension in your lower legs. There is a very fine coordination between your lean, your stride length and your speed.
T/F When your foot lands correctly, your foot is moving toward the rear as it lands.
True
When your foot lands correctly—just behind your center of mass, your impact with the road is reduced significantly because your foot is moving toward the rear as it lands, creating less impact, less muscle usage, and you cooperate with the pull of gravity.
What is the main muscle group responsible for holding your lean?
Lower abdominal muscles
Running upright can lead to?
A.) Excessive impact to your knees, B.) Shin splints, C.) Plantar fasciitis, D.) Achilles tendon pulls
If you run with your body upright, you have to push off with your toes which engage the shin and calf muscles. When you run this way, you are using the smallest muscle group in your legs to propel your entire body weight forward. This will overload the calf and shin muscles and can lead to shin splints, plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendon pulls.
Define the psoas muscle and describe the origin and insertion points.
• Answer: The psoas muscles attach from the front of the spine (T-12 to L-5) to the lesser trochanter of the femur. When you bend at the waist, these strong core muscles no longer lift the legs and other muscles, especially your quads, lower back, and neck muscles, take over the job of lifting the muscles. Your psoas muscles run vertically through your pelvis and join your legs to your spine.
With Chi Walking, as you walk faster, your (1.)_____________ stays the same and your (2.)
_____________ increases.
Stride length, cadence
Describe three differences most people can body sense as they compare Chi Walking to their current walking habits.
Chi Walking has: Shorter stride length. Landing on front of the heel rather than the back of the heel. Significantly less pressure under the ball of the foot. Shoulders are over the hips (rather than behind). Front leg doesn’t go straight, but rather the back leg goes straight with pelvic rotation.
At what angle should your elbows be bent when running on a flat surface?
90 Degrees
The most efficient arm swing is to swing your arms with your elbows bent at a right angle (90º) while running on level, flat ground. Since your arm is a pendulum, the 90º will create a shorter pendulum which swings faster and easier.
16.) Pretend you’re holding a ________ with your hands in front of your body. This will give you the correct angle of your arm swing.
Volleyball
Pretend you’re holding a volleyball with your hands in front of your body. This will give you the correct angle of your arm swing.
What happens to the legs if you swing your elbows and upper arms forward past your torso?
It will throw your legs too far forward, creating a heel strike.
Don’t swing your arms forward. Elbows and upper arm should not swing in front of your ribs. If you swing your arms forward past your torso, it will throw your legs too far forward, creating more heel strike. Focus on the tips of your elbows swinging to the rear. A phrase to remember is “Elbow to Wrist”.
Why is it helpful to think of your arms as pendulums?
The shorter the pendulum, the faster it swings. With arms at 90 degrees, when comparing to a pendulum, they move shorter distances and swing easily and quicker. This expends less energy. The faster your arms swing, the faster your legs can work.
