👨🏼‍🎓BS Exercise Science
đź’ĄInjury Recovery + Prevention for BEGINNER RUNNERS in 90 days or lessđź’Ą
Quiet feet aren’t a talent. They’re a trained pattern.
Comment “HOP” and I’ll send you where to start. 👇
Next time you run, notice: does your stomach expand on the inhale or exhale?
Shoutout to Justin Levine for the video! Has great advice on breathing technique 🙌
Your legs shouldn’t be driving your run.
Comment “I’m ready” for 2 weeks of free things to work on 🫡
Shoutout: for the video
07/14/2026
Every runner leans into one of these.
Five gait patterns that steal your energy — and cap your ceiling. Not injuries. Movements. Spot yours. Fix yours.
THE OVERSTRIDER
You’re braking with every step.
Your foot lands ahead of your knee, ahead of your hips. Every stride is a small brake. You’re not slow because you’re weak… you’re slow because you’re stopping yourself 180 times a minute. The fix isn’t more effort. It’s less reach.
THE COLLAPSER
Your energy is leaking sideways.
The knees drift in. The hip drops. The knee window closes. Force meant for the ground bleeds out through your pelvis. One degree of pelvic drop = 80% higher injury odds. Your legs can only be as stable as the hip holding them up.
THE BOUNCER
You’re jumping in place.
Look at the ponytail. Watch the head. If it bobs up and down, you’re pushing hard… but in the wrong direction. Perfect for a sprinter. Wasted energy for a jogger. Every inch you go up is a second you’re not going forward.
THE WEAVER
Every step wobbles you sideways.
Feet cross the midline. Arm swings across the chest. You’re running a tightrope instead of two rails. Small motion, huge cost. Every wobble is energy your legs pay for in the next stride.
THE GLUTE AMNESIAC
Your posterior chain is asleep.
Quads carry the run. Glutes stay quiet. Hamstrings stay quiet. You’re not “quad dominant”… your hips can’t extend. So you reach for the ground with your toes instead of pushing off with your hips. Different fault. Same silent back chain.
One quick tell for each type.
— Heel out front? Overstrider.
— Knees kiss? Collapser.
— Ponytail bob? Bouncer.
— Feet cross midline? Weaver.
— Quads always sore, glutes never? Glute Amnesiac.
You can be more than one. Most runners are.
One move. Four types fixed.
Bump your cadence +/- 5–10%. That’s it. Knee load drops 34%. Pelvic drop drops. Vertical bounce drops. Step width widens. It’s the single most-supported intervention in running science. Metronome. Playlist. Just quicker feet.
YOUR TRAINING FOCUS
Train the movement — not the injury.
Overstrider → plyos + cadence.
Collapser → gait retraining + hip abductors.
Bouncer → forward plyos + hip extension.
Weaver → step-width ret
Comment “do better” to stop guessing what to change and get a program that will start making your runs feel easier 🫡
Foot drills for arch pain get thrown around constantly. Roll a ball under your foot. Do towel scrunches. Grip a pencil with your toes…
But most of them skip the actual question: what is your foot doing when you run?
Your big toe is supposed to extend at push-off — that’s what winds your plantar fascia around the metatarsals, raises your arch, and turns your foot into a rigid lever for propulsion. It’s called the windlass mechanism, and it’s what makes efficient push-off possible.
The problem I see with runners? They’re scrunching their toes at push-off instead of extending. Gripping the ground instead of letting the fascia do the work. That’s not a drill problem. That’s a mechanic problem.
Before prescribing anything, look at three things:
Is the big toe extending at push-off?
Is force distributed across the whole forefoot?
Is the arch rising or collapsing under load?
That’s what tells you what to actually train.
Comment “do better” and I’ll send you info on my Do Better running program 👣
Foot drills for arch pain get thrown around constantly...
Roll a ball under your foot. Do towel scrunches. Grip a pencil with your toes.
But most of them skip the actual question: what is your foot doing when you run?
Your big toe is supposed to extend at push-off — that’s what winds your plantar fascia around the metatarsals, raises your arch, and turns your foot into a rigid lever for propulsion. It’s called the windlass mechanism, and it’s what makes efficient push-off possible.
The problem I see with runners? They’re scrunching their toes at push-off instead of extending. Gripping the ground instead of letting the fascia do the work. That’s not a drill problem. That’s a mechanic problem.
Before prescribing anything, look at three things:
Is the big toe extending at push-off?
Is force distributed across the whole forefoot?
Is the arch rising or collapsing under load?
That’s what tells you what to actually train.
Comment “do better” and I’ll send you info on my Do Better running program 👣
Your foot’s supposed to be a spring…
Every stride, your foot has to stiffen into a rigid lever the instant you push off or all that force has to go somewhere. Usually into the arch and heel that are already yelling at you.
Here’s what a good toe-off actually looks like →
→ Big toe extends
→ Plantar fascia loads (LOOK UP windlass mechanism — this is supposed to happen)
→ Arch rises
→ Foot locks into a spring
→ Posterior chain launches you off
The fascia loading isn’t the villain. The problem is when it’s the only thing absorbing that load, because the foot, calf, and hips never learned to share it.
You can’t cue this mid-run. It’s not a position you hold — it’s a pattern you build.
So I built a movement that teaches your foot to spring off the ground without dumping everything onto the fascia.
Follow so you don’t miss it → I’m dropping the exact drill in my next post. 👣
DO BETTER.
You probably can’t feel it happening…
This is why filming yourself run is one of the highest-leverage things you can do. Some patterns never show up as a feeling. They only show up on video.
Here’s what to look for from behind:→ Your pelvis pushes out to one side as you land
→ That same hip rotates open (externally)
I call this the weaver. It’s not a flaw to panic about — it’s a readout that your hip doesn’t yet have the capacity to stay stacked under load. Left alone, it usually means you’re leaking energy and working harder to hold your line. Cleaner control = a more efficient, lighter-feeling stride.
One movement I’d start with: a lunge with a thoracic twist.→ The lunge loads the leg through your quads and hamstrings
→ The twist forces your hip to resist rotation while it’s under load — which is exactly the control the weaver is missing
The point isn’t to think about your hips mid-run. You’re building the capacity so the pattern cleans itself up automatically. Patterns, not positions.
Film yourself. Find your weaver. Train the control.Stop running harder. Start running efficient.
DO BETTER
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