Feel the Beat!

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Have you ever noticed how having just the right song in your headphones can make your run so much better?

When that perfect song comes on, it can feel like you’re flying!

Choosing the right music can do more than make your run enjoyable.

It can also help improve your form to reduce your risk of injury.

It’s all about your running cadence.

Your running cadence is the number of steps you take in a minute, or steps per minute (SPM).

Increasing your running cadence can improve your running form. You might think that the more steps you take per minute, the faster you will run, but this is not entirely true. Don’t worry- we aren’t telling you to just speed up and work harder!

Your running cadence goes hand in hand with your stride length, or the length of ground you cover with each step.

If you increase your running cadence and keep your speed the same, you will end up with a shorter stride length. Shortening your stride length reduces common compensations in form, which is safer for you as you pound out those miles. This makes each step more efficient.

There are all sorts of fancy ways you can measure stride length and calculate your typical cadence, but before you get into all of that, try this one trick:

Match your steps to the beat of your music.

Choose music that has the same beats per minute (BMP) as your goal steps per minute (SPM). Your goal SPM will depend a bit on how long your legs are, and that may take some experimentation to figure out what feels right. In general, most people have good running form in the range of 170-180 SPM.

Start out with these songs!

Tip: you can also try searching your music streaming app for “running songs 170 BMP”

 

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