RUN RIGHT!

Have you ever wanted to start running?

Have you tried to run but been injured or demoralised at your progress? Are you looking to increase your running distances or get better times?

Alex & Joe are the first and only Running School Certified Running Technique Specialists in the North West and Manchester area and offer a “learn to run in six visits” programme to get you off the ground. You can also sign up for six, twelve or eighteen-session programmes for improving technique, speed or a full marathon support package. We also offer our ‘RUnlimited‘ coaching in the right situations.

The six sessions will help to correct running technique and provide muscular reprogramming for correction of movement patterns that lead to injury. Whatever your starting point, we work with you to achieve your goals and give you the best platform for going forwards.

The programme is simple and fun and will help you get mobile and fitter, improve your speed and prevent injury.

Session Structure: Built Around How Adults Actually Learn

Every component of an adult session has a specific job to do. Nothing is included for its own sake, and nothing is left out without good reason. Here’s what happens in each session and why.

Walking Warm-Up (5 to 10 minutes)

Before anything else, we walk. Not just to raise the heart rate, but to check in properly. How’s the body feeling today? Any niggles since last session? What’s the energy like? Gradual physiological preparation reduces injury risk and primes the body for high-intensity work that follows. We also use this time to work on walking technique, which matters more than most people realise. Walking gait and running gait are closely linked, and improvements in one carry over to the other.

Dynamic Movement Skills including BlazePods (10-minute block)

This isn’t a warm-up extension. It’s a deliberate neurological primer. The DMS block elevates dopamine and increases Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), creating the conditions in which motor learning happens fastest. Agility and multidirectional movement strengthens the brain-periphery neural connection and sharpens proprioceptive awareness, while rapid footwork increases neural firing rate and drives enhanced myelination, improving the speed and efficiency of neural transmission. Put simply, this block makes the brain more receptive to everything that comes next.

Glute Activation (5 to 10 minutes)

The glutes are the engine of efficient running. They drive hip extension, stabilise the pelvis through every stride, and when they’re not pulling their weight, other structures compensate and that’s where injuries start. Most adults arrive with glutes that are under-activated, often as a result of prolonged sitting and movement habits built up over years. We address that directly before any running technique work begins, so the muscles we’re coaching are actually online and ready to respond.

Running Technique Re-Education (10-minute blocks)

This is the heart of the session. Short bursts of 10 to 20 seconds at controlled speeds and gradients, repeated with precision. Brief intervals are non-negotiable: extended running degrades form through neuromuscular fatigue, and fatigued repetitions reinforce the wrong patterns, not the right ones. Controlled treadmill conditions constrain movement options, guiding the nervous system progressively toward optimal mechanics. New motor engrams, the neural representations of movement patterns, form through repeated high-quality practice, and distributing that practice across a block of sessions allows consolidation to happen between them, producing far superior long-term retention than cramming ever could. Running biomechanics directly determines running economy, and even modest technical improvements translate into measurable gains in efficiency and performance.

Why We Film at Session 1 and Session 6

Video analysis is a powerful tool when it’s used at the right time. We film at Assessment and again at Session 6 because that’s when the comparison is genuinely meaningful. Technique changes take 4 to 6 weeks to become subconscious and visible. Too much video too soon creates paralysis by analysis, and research is consistent that runners develop better technique through expert coaching and intrinsic movement feedback than through watching themselves repeatedly on screen. By Session 6, the change is real, visible, and earned. That’s the moment the comparison video does its job.

Why Block Bookings, and Why Six Sessions Minimum

Adult motor patterns are deeply ingrained. Years of running a certain way, or years of not running at all, leave strong neurological signatures that don’t shift quickly. Overwriting them requires 6 to 10 weeks of consistent, high-quality repetition. Distributed practice across weekly sessions produces dramatically superior retention compared to cramming, and the consolidation that happens between sessions, when the nervous system integrates new movement patterns during rest, is an essential part of the process, not a gap in it. Progressive skill development across multiple sessions further enhances long-term retention.

Six sessions is the minimum because the biology of motor learning demands it. We offer six, twelve, and eighteen-session blocks depending on your goals, whether that’s correcting technique, building efficiency, improving speed, or preparing for a marathon. Whatever your starting point, the programme is individually targeted and built around you.

Why 1:2 Coaching Works Better Than 1:1

Paired coaching isn’t a compromise. For technique development, it’s actually the more effective model. When your training partner is working, you’re not resting passively. You’re learning. Observational learning enhances motor skill acquisition, peer observation activates the mirror neurone systems that underpin motor learning, and alternating between doing and watching optimises skill acquisition in a way that unbroken physical practice simply cannot replicate.

The rest intervals also serve a critical physical function. Running technique work demands full neuromuscular concentration. Pushing through fatigue doesn’t build better patterns, it reinforces worse ones. The 1:2 model solves both problems at once: you recover physically while continuing to learn visually. It’s an efficient use of every minute.