Do you Land-Lever-Lift or prefer the Windlass Mechanism

Danny Abshire describes landing , levering  and lifting as the correct way to run. The Newton way. The proper, correct and most efficient way to run. Here’s a run down taken from their website.

LAND lightly with your foot parallel to the ground under the center of your body mass.  This keeps impact shock off your heel, preventing braking action and reducing muscular damage. 

 As your midfoot/forefoot impacts the ground, you engage the Action/Reaction Technology™.  The membrane supporting the four external lugs absorbs shock and stores energy.  As you LEVER your foot forward, the lugs act as levers loaded up with energy.

Instead of using excessive muscle power and pushing off to begin a new stride, simply LIFT your foot off the ground.  The lugs will thrust out of the midsole chambers with a burst of energy that turns into forward propulsion.  

And yet here on the other side, we have Asics, the most popular brand of running shoe, and really, they are (just look around you, and not just in Singapore), to put it crudely, describing HEEL STRIKING AS A CONVENTIONAL RUNNING FORM! Oh my !@#$%. Sacrilege! Many in the  running community scream and faint! Here take a look at this brief description. You can read the whole thing yourself on the Asics America site.

According to Asics, the running gait is divided into two phases, the Stance and Swing.

The Stance phase comes first and here, the foot is in partial contact with the ground. This phase is further sub-divided into three stages. The Contact stage, which begins as the heel strikes the ground, involves bodily absorption of shock throught the foot and leg. It ends when the forefoot contacts the ground. The Midstance stage is where the foot and leg provide a stable and supportive base for the body to plac its weight on and pass over. The final stage, Propulsion, involves the Windlass Mechanism, where the big toe dorsi flexes , tightening the plantarfascia, raising the arch and pushing off from the forefoot. i you’re still cluless, the Windlass Mechanism refers to the coordinated action of the foot’s muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments to act as an efficient lever for pushing off.

After the Stance phase comes the Swing phase in which the foot is completely airborne. The foot enters the Stance phase when it contacts the ground again.

So you see my dilemma and confusion. i wonder how many of you feel the same way. Someone enlighten me!