Written by Jonathan Beverly, Running Times
Foot strike, the darling of minimalism, is overrated. Good form starts with the pelvis and the glutes. A wide range of experts--from kinesiologists to physical therapists, orthopedists to coaches--agree that the extreme emphasis the running world has put on foot strike is misplaced. Daniel Lieberman, the Harvard scientist who gave scientific credence to minimalism with his seminal 2010 article in Nature, says, "Frankly, when we published that paper, I never expected everyone to obsess about it as much as they did. Had I realized that, I would have added a sentence to the effect that while foot strike is important, there are many other important aspects of form as well. I have learned over the years that the worst thing to tell anyone is to forefoot strike."
