How to Prepare Video for Running Form Analysis

Before you shoot, attach a strip of adhesive tape near the top of your running shorts. Have a friend check that it forms a level line across the small of your back when you're standing still. The tape should contrast with your running shorts (see the green tape in the side-by-side video stills below). 

A strip of horizontal tape to make pelvic tilt clear

Video should be shot on a smartphone, portrait model, 1X rather than zoomed in.  Have a friend shoot it from three perspectives.

  1. From the side. Set up about 20 feet away from the path or track with phone pointing across it. Hold steady as the subject runs by at marathon pace. Do not pan with the runner.
  2. From behind. Set up a foot or two off the subject's path. Start the video as you hear the runner approaching. Hold steady for 5 or more seconds after the subject runs past and into the center of your shot. 
  3. From in front. Now have the subject turn around and run towards you at marathon pace. Start the video when the subject is about 100 feet from you, holding steady until they've passed.
  4. Treadmill. Finally, shoot 30 seconds of video from behind the subject as he or she runs at marathon pace on the treadmill.

Name the four short videos SIDE, BEHIND, FRONT and TREADMILL and send them as email attachments for analysis. 

 

 


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