DIY Gait Videos

Okay, I made some running gait videos at work today--Bill and I hit the fitness center instead of the road and I set up my video camera. That's the easy part. I won't even attempt to do the kind of analysisis a sports medicine person would do. My video was pretty depressing. First, I am much heavier than I realized. Second, there are some major problems with my form that even I can see--they are just obvious. Among them:

• Looking down
• Shoulder rocking
• Severe heel strike
• Major duck/splay foot

I could post a video here, but I don't want to. I suppose I've always known that male professional dress hides extra weight pretty well. I also know that I don't see the extra weight like others must. And finally, if you're heavy, it's bound to show more when you're running (especially if you're wearing technical running clothes).

For these videos, we set the treadmill to a 9:00/M pace, which is about 6.6 miles per hour. We did quick shots from the rear and the side. Shawn was real cool and let us move the treadmill around to get the shots. It took about 15 minutes.

Major Takeaways

The rear and side stills below really show what I consider to be my greatest problem. Both are captured from almost the exact same part of my gait cycle. Left foot is very far forward and splayed outward; right foot is off the ground and twisted outward; I am about to land with all my weight on the far outside edge of my heel. Ugh! That's where I am getting hurt.




Bill's Gait

Bill has what looks to me to be a very good running stride. I made videos for him and I'll show them tomorrow. Each video has 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 speed. They were really easy to make:

• Capture 15 seconds of full-speed running
• Copy it and slow it down to half speed
• Copy the half-speed clip and slow it down by half (1/4)
• Copy the quarter-speed clip and slow it down by half (1/8)

I think I got the math right there. Anyway, the slowest speed clips let you really see what is going on. Kind of like the photographer who proved that horses had all four legs off the ground at the same time.

What you get with my method is a 4 minute video that shows the basic parts of the stride. I need to be careful to remember that this isn't a professional gait analysis. It just shows you some stuff.