How important is posture for running? "Form is to be worshipped": A FreeRunners mantra

" How important is posture?" should be the question and not only for running. "Walk as you Run", maintain posture 24/7 is the mantra. Why is it so important? The human body with a straight spine is designed to perform perfectly only if the spine is erect. Unfortunately by habit most of us ignore it while doing our daily work and soon get "comfortable" with our reclining and slouching form, whether we are seated at our work spaces or in front of the TV in our homes/ dining table etc. Sitting for a long time is just not natural, we should be up and about most of the time with sitting breaks in between. During sitting also, we should try and maintain an erect spine. We have to try and make it a habit to make our spine erect at all times. Posture correction does have other benefits, just try walking tall with chest out and stomach tucked in for some time, you will realize what I am trying to tell. Just look around and if you see someone walking that way, don't we admire the person for a wonderful and pleasing personality? How do we achieve this? 3 things to remember:-

(a) Practice , (b) Practice and (c) Practice :Basically 24/7 keep your mind aware of your posture and keep correcting whenever you are finding yourself slouching. Fix a poster in your room with the correct posture and put in block letters "WATCH YOUR POSTURE". Tell your family members to check you if you are slouching or reclining in wrong posture. Remember 21days of practice makes it into a habit and surely, the posture will change and the body will become very efficient. "Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit;  sow a habit, reap a personality;  sow a personality, reap a character " Quoted from the book "MegaLiving" by Robin Sharma, the author of  "The Monk who sold his Ferrari".

Look at good runners and try to copy their form. Everybody learns by imitation of their superiors, we call them mentors, teachers, parents etc. but finally we are imitating them or sub-consciously we start walking, talking and behaving like them because they affect us in a very subtle manner. We become our environment. So it is very important to identify the correct people in our lives to emulate and treat as role models when it comes to posture correction. Try and spend more time with these people.

A person learns only when he unlearns his/her past. It is very important to accept intrinsically that there is improvement needed. There are a lot of us who have run many marathons and maybe ultras too, but still have a poor form. Change is the only constant in life and we have to be ready for it if we want improvement. And all of us must want improvement always.."Runs will always end.. but running will never end." We have to move on and ahead..better timings, greater distances , better form, better strength etc.. the more we push, the more we realize is achievable.