Walking, moving legs from back to front

Submitted by ActiveandLapsed on March 29, 2017 - 3:43am
Body: 

Hi

I have been on here nearly three years and my posture is almost there and automatic for nearly everything EXCEPT I have never been able to walk correctly in posture (not for lack of trying). I have had some big insights lately and been able to understand what I see in the WW work and what I see in my kids and link it to what my body is doing (I am quite visual in all this). I had to get my weight further forward and many other things - there was a lot of tweaking required.

I have one question re walking, that might suit Louiseds or Christine. I have been going through old threads and know Louiseds often wrote in quite a bit of technical detail on walking...

When walking, I have my back leg straight and pushed up to my toes (love how this helps flexibility), at the end of the stride. I notice I then drop that straight back leg by bending my knee (old habit I guess) while it is still at the back (this seems to drop my pelvis) and then I swing the leg through to the front and then try and plant my foot so I am on the ball of my foot more than my heel. This is not very fluid as you can imagine and as mentioned it seems to drop my pelvis after doing the work of keeping it up at the back and tiled to the front when I had the straight leg and was up on my toes. When running (I can do a little bit) and when in long grass I lift the straight back foot off the toes and bring it forward with my knee high(ish) and can then plant my foot with my weight forward. It seems this would be the right way as my pelvis does not drop down and my weight can stay forward. I'm really not very technical sorry but feel this is important as others on here may not bring their leg forward properly either. Do we raise the knee after the straight leg and keep the pelvis up and then do we plant the foot on the ball of the foot and begin the process again with the back leg? I imagine with us all walking on concrete, short grass and carpet etc so much we do not have much need to lift our knees so maybe that is part of why we swing it through (also footware can cause this by affecting the feet) but kids seem to lift their knee to bring the knee forward then plant it. I would not say they stride forward, rather they step forward with a bent knee, rather than a straight leg.

I have read through old posts and read a lot and gone over and over my WW resources (of which I have quite a few) but I need the walking slowed down so I can see how Christine or others move the leg from the back to the front and how this impacts the tailbone. I would love a specific walking video showing the stride in slow motion.

I know this detailed analysis may be over kill for many, especially those that are new, but this is a stumbling point and something I have only just noticed I am doing. I have definitely always been very weighted to the back and used my core a lot when walking. That is not an issue now but somehow I am not fluid enough and dropping my pelvis during the my stride so walking is not as effective as it could be.

I'll keep working on this and see what works for me but appreciate any comments and explanation. I want the fluidity in my walking that Louiseds was talking about in one of her posts and of course to feel better in my posture after a walk.

Forum:

Surviving60

March 29, 2017 - 7:16pm

Hi A&L - I am really at a loss to help you, and hope someone else can. Everyone gets to that lightbulb moment by their own path, and I'm not sure I would have ever gotten there if I'd been over-thinking things to this extent. I think you need to keep reading old posts and maybe something will click. Keep walking with the basic posture principles in mind; relax and clear your head and try focusing on something besides your leg positions for awhile. Take long slow deliberate strides, with belly relaxed and chest lifted and open. Swing your arms or do some flapping. Nothing that's forced or over-analyzed will ever become second nature. - Surviving

ActiveandLapsed

March 30, 2017 - 2:30am

Hi Surviving,

I was waiting for comments on over analysing and I agree it can be a hindrance but it can also be a help when trying to tweak something that is not right. I appreciate the advice though as I know you are always helpful on here :o). I know things are not right when they are too unnatural to do in addition to my symptoms not improving or stabilizing but I never give up on nailing this posture!! I do, do the detail first and then bring the bits together and am a very visual learner when it comes to posture.

I have done some trial and error with walking today and it seems I did not have my weight forward so it means I could not feel natural with a straight back leg. I thought I did have my weight forward as it was much more forward than it used to be!

I am pretty sure if people watch women/e.g. Mum's (Mom's) versus kids that in most cases the women will not have a straight leg at the back and it will be somewhat clear how their tailbone is not lifted at the back. Kids have a quick stride (well by primary school they are pretty fast) but I can see their back leg is straight. I find it really interesting to do this people watching while I am waiting for my kids at the park, school etc.

Interested to hear others comments. Walking is such a key thing for all of us.

Surviving60

March 30, 2017 - 4:33am

I applaud your efforts and I am sure you will reach your goal and really enjoy that feeling of nailing it. I hope you understand, I don't particularly like telling members that they are overthinking something; in your case there are real issues that are holding you back, and you are so right about the important of getting it right with walking. But as you pointed out, all of this can make things sound very intimidating to a newbie who might be reading this and wondering if they will ever be able to figure it out! To those folks I say, do your walking in a state of extreme mindfulness of the basic posture principles, and the rest should fall into place. We all came to this work with a different set of engrained habits and practices that had to be broken and fixed. It it a labor of love! - Surviving

Christine

March 30, 2017 - 1:16pm

Hi Active,

I’m not quite sure what you’re describing, as it sounds like the “WW transition walking” from the WW Walking and Running video. In normal human walking the back leg stays fully extended only for a split second until the knee bends to pull the leg through and come down on the heel. In primal human running, we come down on the forefoot and the pelvis stays maximally leveraged forward. One almost feels like it would be possible to take off flying, a sensation that does not accompany heel-strike-first running.

The “dropping” sensation is the side of the pelvis that is moving in such a way (counternutating) as to free the femur so the leg can swing through. The key here is freeing the psoas in WW posture to be the primary “hip flexor” lifting the leg and bringing it forward.

Try this little experiment:

Place both hands on the front of your thighs. Now pull your abdominal wall in and start walking. Feel how hard your quadriceps (thigh muscles) must work to lift your legs. Not to mention that you cannot fully extend your back leg because your dropped sit bones are in the way of your femurs.

Now do the same thing in WW posture. Notice your quads hardly have to work and your back leg can fully extend. The psoas muscles are fully extended through the torso, and therefore easily able to lift the leg and leverage the hip joints. The difference is nothing less than stunning. Tight psoas muscles and short, overworked quads are precursors to chronic hip dysfunction.

More evidence that the human abdominal wall is designed to be held out, not in.

I’m not sure if I’ve answered your question.

Christine

ActiveandLapsed

March 30, 2017 - 11:48pm

Thanks for the great answer, it makes sense and confirms I am correct in my walking now. I love the exercise you mention too, I'm sure that will help many readers who love the little details.

I see I was too upright in my posture (meaning my bum was tucked under somewhat, it was quite a feat with my chest lifted!). I have quite a bit of lumbar curvature so I didn't look straight but I was still tucking my pelvis enough to negatively effect my prolapse and I was bouncing up and down in my walk rather than flowing forward. I now look like the lady in your blog post with her back leg straight. I find the idea of holding my chest forward works for me as it moves my centre of alignment forward to where it should be. I appreciate that may not be a description for everyone, as our bodies all have different aspects we need to adjust in order to grasp the posture, but it has worked for me.

You mention your walking & running DVD, I have slowed down your walking in that and also in the essential woman's health DVD. I noticed how you landed on your heel when walking so I got a bit confused but am happy now.

In the past few days I have noted an amazing increase in my hamstring flexibility since I changed my walking. I have always wondered why I have such tight legs but a flexible upper half. The increase in flexibility is another wonderful side effect to the WW work. It has made my sitting on the floor at night much more enjoyable as I am not so stiff.

Thanks as always for the advice and the wonderful work. I was never going to give up with the posture but it's taken me a while in my journey. I've got years ahead of me to use it, I'm only 39 years young!! I feel a lot younger now with the walking feeling so strong.

ActiveandLapsed

March 31, 2017 - 12:13am

Sorry Surviving
I didn't see your reply. Yes absolutely on the engrained ways. It is that, that has been adding to my walking issues. I am sure our bodies store emotions and beliefs and my pelvis had issues with my mother and suck and tuck and some other emotional stuff. I have had to release that to make the posture possible.

To all those who are new. You can absolutely do this, keep going, ask questions and learning and the answers will come.