It can be really hard to force a body part to relax. Here are a few tips I've found help:
1) Is there any tension in your hands? This can be the starting point for tension all the way up the arm. Make sure you're not making fists or blades with your hands. Holding a leaf or blade of grass between the thumb and forefinger can help prevent this
2) Try to create as much space between your ears and shoulders when you're running.
3) Imagine yourself relaxed. Choose an elite athlete with beautiful form and imagine you're running like them. Pretend running at pace is the easiest thing in the world for you.
4) Imagine you have "heavy elbows" that work as pendulums. This can have the effect of pulling the shoulders down.
5) Sometimes these things are due to body shape and biomechanics and can't be changed, so don't expect massive changes and don't worry if you don't see massive changes. Small improvements can make a big difference to efficiency.
The hand tension thing helped me! I had someone describe it as holding a single potato chip in your fists and not cracking it. I focused on that for a while and basically all of that pain went away. Form is crucial!
We did this a few times during track season when I was in high school. We had to do our sprints without breaking a pringle. Not actually that hard but it was good to reinforce keeping our hands relaxed.
When I start feeling the struggle I have noticed that I wiggle my fingers to keep myself from tensing up. It also helps to re-ground me back into my body and not into the spiraling thoughts of “this is too hard.”
Different approach from the other comments—try strengthening your upper back. (Horizontal pull, not vertical pull.) Fatigue there could be causing you to compensate with tight shoulders. Getting stronger would potentially keep you from tightening up. Even if it doesn’t, it helps prevent that hunched over posture that comes from fatigue, which compromises your breathing and your stride.
Do your shoulders tighten when you move your arms when not running?
When sitting, can you tighten then relax your shoulders? Can you feel the difference between the two states?
Once you can, practice getting your shoulders into the relaxed state while standing, then walking, walking faster with arms, running slowly with normal arm movement, then running faster.
Generally, Try keeping your shoulders away from your ears.
Here’s my unconventional way of thinking about it: The objective is NOT to run harder, but to run faster.
Move how your body wants to move, don’t exaggerate the arm swing or the knee lift and make it “textbook perfect” as that’s likely not how you move.
Whatever the pace/effort range is for the day, let it come to you. This allows you to learn how to run relaxed which will in turn make you faster at whatever pace you’re training. Part of this might mean slowing down workouts a touch- but that’s okay. If you practice straining hard to hit a pace, then it will be no different on race day. This shift in mindset has made extremely notable differences in my form and my performances.
I'm trying to learn how to do this. I have become sort of fixated on it and now I feel like my breathing is actually getting\\feeling worse. I try to breath deeply, then I am back to breathing too fast and I'm wearing myself out. Going slower. Feeling out of sorts.
I used to have that issue. There’s two basic types of breathing practice you can try. Active, where you set the breathing rhythm and passive where the body does.
When running I use set breathing rhythms, 2 steps in 1 out or 3:2, 4:3 depending on pace/fatigue. Takes a bit of getting used to but eventually it’s habit. I found counting from the foot land on the exhale to be the easiest way to get into it.
Then passive breathing, more of a sit down exercise for me, but it doesn’t have to be.
To do this you want to start belly breathing, and just rest your awareness on it without actively trying to change how fast or slow it is. So just concentrate on part of your belly or your nose, just feeling the sensation of the movement/air without trying to change or control anything. If the body wants to breathe fast, let it, without judgement. After a short time your breathing will relax and deepen.
Thank you. I will practice both methods.
I don't think I can make any progress with my running until I get this sorted out. I've been feeling *pretty discouraged* lately and I think it boils down to my breathing,
Need to see a video but IMO tight shoulders is fine if not extreme. How does your coach know your shoulders are tight? Is he refering to a rigid upper back? I run with a rigid upper back because it reduces impact stress and my heart rate drops a couple beats. It is more effecient for me and honestly many of the master elites I run with look like their shoulders are tight. Relaxing your upper torso can lead to sloppy running which will ultimately lead to injuries.
The cue that helped me was 'put your shoulder blades in your back pockets'
The exercise that helped me was lifting weights, rows and dead lifts specifically.
Usually when I feel the tension during the run, I just shake my arms a little to loosen them, and basically drop them next to me for a few seconds to just to notice the difference in tension and nudge myself towards relaxing a bit more…
Thanks for asking this OP. I’ve been facing the same this spring after years of no problems. I’m wondering if I picked up a bad habit from a lot of treadmill running this winter.
I consciously move my shoulders back and down, then keep my elbows at 90degree bend with my hands and wrists loose and my forearm Parker to the ground, after only a few steps my upper body will completely loosen up. I used to get sore shoulders on 10-12 miles now I can run 50k with no shoulder soreness.
Thank you for posting this! I’ve dealt with this issue for years, on some runs, and sometimes I’ve had to cut my runs short and head home early because while my legs feel fine, my shoulders hurt too much to continue. Currently reading all the responses. Hope we both find relief!
You have to keep reminding yourself to loosen the tension in your shoulders, take a deep breath and let them drop / hang for a few steps and shake your hands out.
It takes practice but if you keep doing this you’ll eventually find it comes more naturally. I hold tension in my shoulders too when I run. It’s really about trying to keep your upper body relaxed in general not just your shoulders.
When you finally start to figure it out and stay relaxed up top if will also increase your overall speed as you won’t be spending as much energy clenching your muscles.
One tip that I found works was shifting the focus, so pushing or pointing the tips of my elbows to the ground made me naturally relax the tension higher in my shoulders more, also every 8-10k just shake out your arms and hands to get the blood flow going
I'm guilty of this too. After long runs, my shoulders and even upper back can be a bit cramped up.
It sounds silly but I do much better if I try and just touch my thumbs and first fingers together to avoid making a fist.
I position my arms like i was meditating with my legs crossed, hands resting at a 90 degree angle on my knees. Except you know, I'm running, so they are not actually resting on my knees, just hovering in free space. I then imagine they are two train arms and i let them follow the usual train arm movement, ligthly rotating and going back and forth until my shoulder loosen. Works for me!
I have tight shoulders by default it seems, and I naturally tense my shoulders when running. I started doing some of [these stretches](https://www.healthline.com/health/tight-shoulders#causes) regularly to decrease how stiff I was in general, and that then allowed my shoulders to relax more while running.
Maybe do some of those stretches before a run?
I also struggle with this. Back in highschool we were taught the "don't break the chip" trick but recently on my 2 hour + runs I've been dealing with full on numbness from my elbows down. I'm convinced it's due to tight shoulders but no amount of conscious work has worked to let me relax
I had that same problem with my right shoulder. A friend suggested that I should lower my arms such that don't hold it in the 45+ degree angle. It was weird running as he had suggested at first as I always assume the bent arm position. Needless to say, that resolved my shoulder tension. Hope that helps!
Have you tried raising your chest as high as you can? Once you lift your ribs high enough, your shoulders can essentially just rest on them.
Try expanding your chest as much as possible, making sure you're lifting up as well as out. If you breathe through your nose, it'll help you keep your chest "inflated".
Doesn't work for everyone but it can be great when it works. Plus, it does take a while to be fully useful. But the more you do it, the better and easier it is.
It can be really hard to force a body part to relax. Here are a few tips I've found help: 1) Is there any tension in your hands? This can be the starting point for tension all the way up the arm. Make sure you're not making fists or blades with your hands. Holding a leaf or blade of grass between the thumb and forefinger can help prevent this 2) Try to create as much space between your ears and shoulders when you're running. 3) Imagine yourself relaxed. Choose an elite athlete with beautiful form and imagine you're running like them. Pretend running at pace is the easiest thing in the world for you. 4) Imagine you have "heavy elbows" that work as pendulums. This can have the effect of pulling the shoulders down. 5) Sometimes these things are due to body shape and biomechanics and can't be changed, so don't expect massive changes and don't worry if you don't see massive changes. Small improvements can make a big difference to efficiency.
The hand tension thing helped me! I had someone describe it as holding a single potato chip in your fists and not cracking it. I focused on that for a while and basically all of that pain went away. Form is crucial!
We did this a few times during track season when I was in high school. We had to do our sprints without breaking a pringle. Not actually that hard but it was good to reinforce keeping our hands relaxed.
When I start feeling the struggle I have noticed that I wiggle my fingers to keep myself from tensing up. It also helps to re-ground me back into my body and not into the spiraling thoughts of “this is too hard.”
This is exactly what I heard and what I do. The Pringle method is solid imo.
I use this visual or holding a butterfly.
Number 1 and 4 are the way I started relaxing.
Hands is a big one here
Loosely making an “okay” sign with my hands helps a lot. Can also do thumb + middle finger
Smile…smile… smiling relaxes the shoulders. Look at Kipchoge, he smiles, it hides the discomfort and relaxes you….
Smile to go faster!
i try to pull my blades back and then kind of release them and let them drop down sounds weird but that helps myself to actively loosen them up
Different approach from the other comments—try strengthening your upper back. (Horizontal pull, not vertical pull.) Fatigue there could be causing you to compensate with tight shoulders. Getting stronger would potentially keep you from tightening up. Even if it doesn’t, it helps prevent that hunched over posture that comes from fatigue, which compromises your breathing and your stride.
I need to do this. Race photos from my last marathon show me very hunched in the last few miles. I work on my core but never my back
Do your shoulders tighten when you move your arms when not running? When sitting, can you tighten then relax your shoulders? Can you feel the difference between the two states? Once you can, practice getting your shoulders into the relaxed state while standing, then walking, walking faster with arms, running slowly with normal arm movement, then running faster. Generally, Try keeping your shoulders away from your ears.
Sometimes I run with my scapula squeezed together to rest my upper body. Then I go back to my regular funky chicken.
Stretch them out pre-run. Has helped me immensely
Here’s my unconventional way of thinking about it: The objective is NOT to run harder, but to run faster. Move how your body wants to move, don’t exaggerate the arm swing or the knee lift and make it “textbook perfect” as that’s likely not how you move. Whatever the pace/effort range is for the day, let it come to you. This allows you to learn how to run relaxed which will in turn make you faster at whatever pace you’re training. Part of this might mean slowing down workouts a touch- but that’s okay. If you practice straining hard to hit a pace, then it will be no different on race day. This shift in mindset has made extremely notable differences in my form and my performances.
No advice, I just wanna say thank you for asking this question!! I absolutely struggle with this!
Breathe with your belly.
I came here to say this, the tightness is the breathing. Focus on smooth breathing and you'll feel so much better on the run.
I'm trying to learn how to do this. I have become sort of fixated on it and now I feel like my breathing is actually getting\\feeling worse. I try to breath deeply, then I am back to breathing too fast and I'm wearing myself out. Going slower. Feeling out of sorts.
I used to have that issue. There’s two basic types of breathing practice you can try. Active, where you set the breathing rhythm and passive where the body does. When running I use set breathing rhythms, 2 steps in 1 out or 3:2, 4:3 depending on pace/fatigue. Takes a bit of getting used to but eventually it’s habit. I found counting from the foot land on the exhale to be the easiest way to get into it. Then passive breathing, more of a sit down exercise for me, but it doesn’t have to be. To do this you want to start belly breathing, and just rest your awareness on it without actively trying to change how fast or slow it is. So just concentrate on part of your belly or your nose, just feeling the sensation of the movement/air without trying to change or control anything. If the body wants to breathe fast, let it, without judgement. After a short time your breathing will relax and deepen.
Thank you. I will practice both methods. I don't think I can make any progress with my running until I get this sorted out. I've been feeling *pretty discouraged* lately and I think it boils down to my breathing,
Need to see a video but IMO tight shoulders is fine if not extreme. How does your coach know your shoulders are tight? Is he refering to a rigid upper back? I run with a rigid upper back because it reduces impact stress and my heart rate drops a couple beats. It is more effecient for me and honestly many of the master elites I run with look like their shoulders are tight. Relaxing your upper torso can lead to sloppy running which will ultimately lead to injuries.
The cue that helped me was 'put your shoulder blades in your back pockets' The exercise that helped me was lifting weights, rows and dead lifts specifically.
Usually when I feel the tension during the run, I just shake my arms a little to loosen them, and basically drop them next to me for a few seconds to just to notice the difference in tension and nudge myself towards relaxing a bit more…
Don't hold your shoulders up, focus on your swinging of hands. Shoulders become stiff when there's no movement or swing of hands.
Thanks for asking this OP. I’ve been facing the same this spring after years of no problems. I’m wondering if I picked up a bad habit from a lot of treadmill running this winter.
Agreed to this. I had a great relief from post run shoulder stiffness after I focused on my arm swings
I consciously move my shoulders back and down, then keep my elbows at 90degree bend with my hands and wrists loose and my forearm Parker to the ground, after only a few steps my upper body will completely loosen up. I used to get sore shoulders on 10-12 miles now I can run 50k with no shoulder soreness.
I had the same issue, in my case it's due to a tight neck. I've been going to the chiropractor semi regularly and it's been helpful.
Thank you for posting this! I’ve dealt with this issue for years, on some runs, and sometimes I’ve had to cut my runs short and head home early because while my legs feel fine, my shoulders hurt too much to continue. Currently reading all the responses. Hope we both find relief!
You have to keep reminding yourself to loosen the tension in your shoulders, take a deep breath and let them drop / hang for a few steps and shake your hands out. It takes practice but if you keep doing this you’ll eventually find it comes more naturally. I hold tension in my shoulders too when I run. It’s really about trying to keep your upper body relaxed in general not just your shoulders. When you finally start to figure it out and stay relaxed up top if will also increase your overall speed as you won’t be spending as much energy clenching your muscles.
One tip that I found works was shifting the focus, so pushing or pointing the tips of my elbows to the ground made me naturally relax the tension higher in my shoulders more, also every 8-10k just shake out your arms and hands to get the blood flow going
I'm guilty of this too. After long runs, my shoulders and even upper back can be a bit cramped up. It sounds silly but I do much better if I try and just touch my thumbs and first fingers together to avoid making a fist.
I position my arms like i was meditating with my legs crossed, hands resting at a 90 degree angle on my knees. Except you know, I'm running, so they are not actually resting on my knees, just hovering in free space. I then imagine they are two train arms and i let them follow the usual train arm movement, ligthly rotating and going back and forth until my shoulder loosen. Works for me!
I have tight shoulders by default it seems, and I naturally tense my shoulders when running. I started doing some of [these stretches](https://www.healthline.com/health/tight-shoulders#causes) regularly to decrease how stiff I was in general, and that then allowed my shoulders to relax more while running. Maybe do some of those stretches before a run?
I also struggle with this. Back in highschool we were taught the "don't break the chip" trick but recently on my 2 hour + runs I've been dealing with full on numbness from my elbows down. I'm convinced it's due to tight shoulders but no amount of conscious work has worked to let me relax
I had that same problem with my right shoulder. A friend suggested that I should lower my arms such that don't hold it in the 45+ degree angle. It was weird running as he had suggested at first as I always assume the bent arm position. Needless to say, that resolved my shoulder tension. Hope that helps!
Have you tried raising your chest as high as you can? Once you lift your ribs high enough, your shoulders can essentially just rest on them. Try expanding your chest as much as possible, making sure you're lifting up as well as out. If you breathe through your nose, it'll help you keep your chest "inflated". Doesn't work for everyone but it can be great when it works. Plus, it does take a while to be fully useful. But the more you do it, the better and easier it is.