At times, we receive questions from people who have bought a treadmill we reviewed, asking us how we could say the treadmill was comfortable and cushioned. However, when we ask them in return about their foot striking, it is inevitable that the problem isn’t with the treadmill but their striking pattern.
If you are not using the correct foot strike when running on a treadmill, there isn’t a treadmill out there that will be comfortable enough. To help people overcome this issue, we wanted to share how you can use your treadmill to train yourself on the correct foot strike methods.
How To Start Correcting Your Improper Strike
There can be a variety of factors which can affect your stride and cause you to strike the ground incorrectly with your foot. To begin correcting this, determine which of these factors apply to your circumstances and follow our suggestions to start correcting the issue.
- Overstriding – When you overstride, it is more likely that you will not only heel-strike but you will also make contact with your treadmill more forcefully. Practice using a shorter stride to help you correct this issues.
- Over-pronation – There is a certain amount of pronation you can expect when exercising on your treadmill as it is important for your ankle to flex. However, many runners suffer from over-pronation, where the ankle rolls inward and downward as your foot strikes. Shoes with supportive arches can help this issue as can correct foot placement. Aim to strike on your mid- or forefoot to help with over-pronation.
- Over-supination – Opposite of over-pronation, over-supination is when your ankle rolls outward and upward too much. Stability shoes and practicing a forefoot strike helps this issues.
- Fatigue – When a person becomes fatigued, their striking form deteriorates. Many runners know where their endurance limits are, so try to be more mindful of how your feet are striking as you become more tired.
- Shoes – While we aren’t recommending that you throw out your running shoes and workout barefoot, some shoes can cause you to change your stride. Changing to zero drop shoes or at least ones with a low heel profile can help you naturally change your foot strike.
Practice Correct Foot Striking While Walking
As you make these changes, give yourself time on your treadmill to simply walk. It can be hard to implement changes in your running form when you are training at full speed. Your body will want to follow the natural path it had before and you will find it difficult to stick to proper striking.
If you have a training schedule, then work an extra 10-15 minutes of walking a week into it. Should you have no training schedule, work in the correct striking treadmill walking training at least 3 times a week.
Incline Treadmill Training Can Help Change Foot Strike
An incline trainer treadmill like the NordicTrack X11i Incline Trainer can help you more quickly train yourself to strike properly. When you set your treadmill on an incline, your body automatically adapts and causes you to strike on your forefoot.
As this incline trainer has an incline range which extends up to 40% incline, you can do both your walking and incline training at the same time. However, you don’t need to use the highest incline settings to improve your striking. Even a 5% incline can help you retrain your foot strike.
The exception to this is decline training. While it is important to train for decline running, it is natural and safer to heel-strike while going downhill. So, if you are training away from a heel-strike, do not add in decline workouts.
So, when you use your treadmill, be sure to try out our training advice. We promise it can help you change your foot strike for better and more comfortable future workouts.