With Coach Kelvin, Online Running Coach for We Run and the We Run Virtual Running Club, and 1:1 Running Coach for Leeds and surrounding areas
In this video, I want to cover a topic that’s often misunderstood – knee drive in runners. There’s a lot of misleading or incorrect information online, and I frequently see discussions around whether we should actively drive the knee forward during the swing phase of running.
Should You Actively Drive Your Knee Forward?
If we go back to the fundamentals of running technique, the answer is no, you shouldn’t actively drive your knee forward, unless you’re a sprinter or doing hill sprint drills. We don’t actively drive the knee forward in distance running.
Yet, we often hear advice about knee drive and the importance of driving the knee forward while running. One challenge is that a lot of running information online comes from studies on elite male distance runners. These runners typically compete in races from 100 meters to 1500 meters, sometimes up to 5K. Even at the elite 5K level, however, purposeful knee drive is minimal.
For the majority of runners – whether they’re just starting, running fast 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, marathons, or incorporating speed work – we don’t encourage active knee drive.
The Role of the Swing Phase in Running
The swing phase starts when push-off is complete and the leg leaves the ground, continuing until it makes contact again. During this phase, the leg is almost passive. As we push off, the hip flexor complex stretches, and when the foot leaves the ground, the stretch-recoil reflex brings the leg forward. This reflex also lifts the leg, meaning we’re not actively driving the knee forward or lifting the heel toward the glutes with the hamstring.
In fact, it should feel like we’re doing nothing at all. While there may be some minor activation, it’s not something we consciously try to do.
Why Active Knee Drive Can Be Counterproductive
If we actively try to drive the femur forward during the swing phase, we can run into timing issues between the anterior (front) and posterior (back) muscle chains. The posterior chain is responsible for driving the hip into extension to push us forward. If we try to actively drive the knee forward too soon, we can create conflicting forces rather than complementary ones.
The Misconception of Knee Drive in Running
I decided to make this video because I’ve come across multiple articles this week discussing knee drive for runners. The truth is, unless you’re competing in races from 100 meters to 800 meters, you don’t need to focus on actively driving your knee forward. Even when my runners perform strides (short, almost all-out 10-second bursts—I don’t instruct them to focus on knee drive. Instead, the stretch-reflex mechanism naturally takes care of the movement.
Final Thoughts on Knee Drive from Coach Kelvin
There’s a lot of confusing information out there about knee drive, but to summarise: for distance runners – anyone running 1500 meters or longer – we don’t actively drive the knee forward when we run.
I hope that makes sense! If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to drop them in the comments below.
More Thoughts on Knee Drive from Coach Tim
With Coach Tim, Online Running Coach for We Run and the We Run Virtual Running Club
I’ll be honest with you, there are several articles online which try to sell the idea of a shorter running stride as a method of injury prevention. However, in 2017 Leeds Beckett University did some analysis of the World Championship Men‘s 10000m Final. The lowest stride length of any of the leading contenders, at any point during the race, was 1.75m. Mo Farah, the winner of the race, had the longest stride, peaking at 2.25m on the last lap, which he covered in 56 seconds – after 6 miles of hard running! Elite distance runners take huge strides, run around 120 miles a week and don’t suffer many injuries. How do they do it? With an amazing knee drive.
What Do We Mean By Knee Drive?
Your knee drive starts as a response to your foot hitting the floor – the more power your foot puts through the floor, the higher your knee will want to rise up (remember “each action has an equal and opposite reaction” from this blog post on arm drive in running). The hip then carries this momentum forwards by driving the knee forwards.
Why Is Knee Drive Important For Runners?
There are two ways your stride can change to become a faster runner: increase your stride speed or increase your stride length. Knee drive plays a part in both.
Every millisecond your foot is in contact with the ground, it contends with frictional forces which slow you down. Increasing your stride length will reduce the number of steps you have to take and the overall contact time you have with the ground over the course of a run. How do you increase your stride length? Increase your knee drive. This will turn you from a ‘shuffler’ into a runner.
Speed is generated through pushing a downward force through the floor. It’s much easier to run quickly on the road than through soggy mud as it’s very difficult to get downward force on a soft surface. When you see a cross country runner run through mud you’ll see them lifting their knees higher. This higher knee lift gives their foot a greater gravitational force to use as it drops to the floor. Whatever the surface, the higher the knee lift, the greater the force as the foot hits the floor and the faster the leg moves forward. However, there is a limit to this: You’ll notice that elite sprinters will raise their knees to an angle of up to 90 degrees to the vertical so they can put a greater power into the floor. Of course, this isn’t sustainable for a long period of time so elite distance runners will raise their knees to about 45 degrees, even when running on firm ground. This higher knee lift has the added benefit of gravity taking some of the work of running off the runner.
Don’t let that previous paragraph put you off; it’s unlikely that you’re near that 90 degree angle! If you’re not sure, have someone watch you do some 70% effort strides and gauge your maximum angle of knee elevation.
What Are The Potential Risks Of Neglecting Knee Drive?
Trying to increase your stride length without working on knee lift has definite risks. If you purely focus on striding further, you run the risk of your foot hitting the ground in front of your body, which has a braking effect and will jar your leg, causing stress to the foot, ankle, knee, hip and lower back. Likewise, if you focus on putting a greater force through the ground without working on knee drive properly, you’ll end up ‘stomping’ which will also put you at risk. Your best bet is to use a knee drive programme constructed for distance runners. This will give you a faster, longer stride without you trying to reach forward with your feet or push them harder into the ground.
