Its always nice to get a shout out. Steve Magness is one of the “better thinkers” in the world of running, coaching, and athlete performance, and I respect his opinion highly. Apparently, Steve is nice enough to respect mine as well, and named Anatomy for Runners as one if his “Top 9 Though Provoking Books of 2013” – thanks Steve. If you live under a rock, and haven’t come across his amazing blog, I highly recommend checking it out: the Science of Running.
And while I’m at it, I’d like to say thanks to all of you who have purchased the book. I teach all over the country, and the number of clinicians and coaches who already have the book, and actually USE it daily on their teams and patients is, well, quite humbling. I know the little niche I operate in will never reach the status of the Harry Potter, but there are over 11,000 of you around the world reading this book over the past year. I hope its making you rethink the way you approach your training, and your patients, your teams, and ultimately producing better results. If you’d like to pick up a copy, click on the link on the right side of the page!
The work of a decade of my career, bound into the “take home version” for you.
Jay Dicharry's Website, An Athlete's Body 
Great to see this, Jay – absolutely well deserved. I’ve found your book to be incredibly powerful, especially from how you present the material in a super-accessible way. It’s one of my top recommendations, and I basically make it mandatory reading for anyone I work with that’s running or has some injury/compensation combo at play (so, yeah, pretty much everyone!).
You do amazing work and deserve the recognition.
First of all, heartfelt thanks for making so much of your knowledge available in this book! It really is awesome! I devoured it in one night (10pm-2am) on the day I bought it and then re-read it slowly to allow everything to sink in.
I bought it because whenever I ran, my tibialis anteriors were flaring up as if they were trying to overcompensate for something and I suspected something was off with my form… And indeed!
When I took your tests, I failed THEM ALL, except for the hamstring test and the big toe isolation test… That’s why I’d like to ask you a question 🙂
I’m more than eager (really!) to start working on all those imbalances, but there are so much that the task is a bit overwhelming… So, which approach do you think is the best? Try first to work on one or two, and once they are resolved, begin to work on the rest? Are there weaknesses that are best solved if tackled together? What kind of “fixing imbalances training plan” would be realistic? When running, should I try to focus consciously one day on a certain postural tweak and another day on another? Or really nail one first until its 100% natural and then move on?
But more than everything, a big thank you, this book is an amazing work! (And I LOVED all those metaphors, they really make their point! “You don’t shoot a cannon from a canoe” has been stuck in my head for the past few days 🙂 )
I’ll be sure to spread the good word!
Wishing you all the best,
Coraline
Hi Coraline –
thanks for the note- just take one day at a time, and work on each little thing as you can. All this stuff builds on itself for sure. Try to go through the phase 1 exercises, and master those first. By doing all these, you’ll begin to “think” about HOW you are moving, and this new muscle memory will be something you can tap into when you run. And most of all……NAIL YOUR POSTURE!!!! Getting tired doesn’t mean that you can compensate your posture. OK – get to work!
J
I’d like to offer my thanks to Jay for this book. I purchased it about a year ago based on a recommendation from Peter Larson at Runblogger while dealing with some plantar fascia issues and got some good results. Recently, I developed some hip/back pains due playing 108 holes of golf over 3 days after not playing at all for the previous 12 months. Eventually the pains was keeping me from my morning runs. With help from a local medical practitioner, I narrowed it down to a sciatica issue. She recommended PT but I decided to hold off a bit. I revisited Jay’s book and stumbled on his comments on dealing with sciatica issues via massage & mobilization. I dug out my daughter’s discarded LAX ball and went to work. Within a couple of days, the pain has subsided dramatically and I was back out on the road for my morning runs. There is still some deep irritation going on that is also getting better ever day. Thanks, Jay!
Great book! I loved it. I wish I had this book 10 years ago. The best part is when you said, “Run from the butt.”
I started running in 2004, went online and found the POSE Method. I took to it and my race times were much faster after 6 months. Of course, I got injured but I kept “figuring it out.” One of the things I figured out was “Butt Running.” I came up with the idea when I was running and couldn’t find a bathroom. Once I did find a bathroom, I had great butt awareness since I ran so far not using my butt and trying to hold it in.
Anyway, I posted on the POSE forum about butt running. Dr. R felt compelled to addresses the issue. http://www.posetech.com/training/archives/000419.html
What he didn’t get is that butt running is nothing more than a strong POSE stance, in Dr. R’s speak. I reread his post now and got a kick out of it. My son is 9, and thanks to your book, I identified the hip flexor issue in my son and myself. Sorry Dr. R, but kids nowadays sit long hours like any adult so we will have to scratch that “kids run great all the time” belief.