I noticed a few things that I thought I would share and talk about here. I was running a few weeks ago, nothing new since I've been running for YEARS. What I noticed was interesting. When my left foot hit the ground the noise it made was very different from the right. So I started to pay attention to my stride. On the right my heel always lands first nice and smooth - On my left my toes hit first. To most people this may not sound like much but if you know anything about movement mechanics it's a pretty big deal. Long story short, I've spent the last couple weeks working on my stride. It has taken tons of focus but it's paying off in so many ways. My stride is more efficient, may pace is faster and my heart rate is lower.
On the topic of holding on while running/walking on a treadmill. I was in the gym a few days ago because sometimes I like to get out of my studio and see what's going on out there. I was next to a man on the treadmill who was holding on for dear life at a pace he could never keep up without holding on. I kept thinking "oh man I want to talk to this guy so bad!" but I'm usually very respectful of people's space and never want to butt in and assert my expert opinion (especially with guys, they don't like it much when some lady tells them what to do if they haven't asked). Why did I want to talk to him you might be wondering? Well for starters if you can't keep up a pace without holding on you have no business being at that pace. We are seeing RSI's (repetitive stress injury) more and more due to the fact that holding on while walking/running on a treadmill does not allow the upper body its natural ROM (range of motion). Your upper body should never be in a "fixed" state while the lower body is in motion. Another reason is he could be burning WAY more calories if he took the pace down and let go. Some people claim anywhere from 35-65% more calories are burned with a "hands-free" workout. Who doesn't want to save themselves from injury while burning more calories? It's a no-brainer.
