How to Run Faster: Stop Wasting Force Holding Your Body Up
By Eileen Durfee, inventor & Nationally Certified Spinal Fitness Specialist
Most speed programs train the legs. But how fast you run also depends on how well your body transfers force through the spine — and a collapsed, forward trunk wastes force just holding you upright.
When the spine holds its natural curves, the trunk is a stable platform: force from the ground travels through it efficiently and into movement. When the curves collapse and the trunk pitches forward, muscular effort that could drive you forward is spent instead bracing against gravity and preventing further collapse. You are literally paying an energy tax to stay upright.
How the trunk sits relative to the hips influences whether your force goes into vertical lift or forward drive. Restore the S-shaped structure and more of your effort reaches the ground — and comes back as speed — instead of leaking into compensation.
The 5-step Spinal Fitness system restores the curves that carry load.
Explore the 5-step system →Shop grooved rollers →Better spinal alignment lets more of your force transfer into movement instead of being spent bracing an unstable trunk. It complements, not replaces, sprint and strength work.
Restore the curves and trunk control, then layer speed work on a stable platform.
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