Slow Motion: Analyze Your Running Form

In threes, students film each other running in slow motion from the side and from the front and analyze their form with a simple checklist: trunk posture, foot landing relative to the hips, arm swing and vertical bounce. Each student picks just one improvement and tries it in the same session.

How to play

1. Explain the four-point checklist with an example using a video of the teacher (4 min).
2. In threes: runner, camera operator and analyst. One 20-meter run at steady-run pace filmed from the side and one from the front; rotate roles (9 min).
3. Analyze the videos in slow motion with the worksheet: each student marks which point looks improvable, with the analyst's help (6 min).
4. Each student picks just one cue (e.g., "elbows at 90 degrees" or "land under the hips") and does three runs applying it (5 min).
5. Film again and compare before and after; videos are deleted at the end if the student prefers (6 min).

Rules

• Only film students who give consent, and videos never leave the school's device.
• Comments are about technique, never about the person's body.
• Groups film from outside the running lane, at least 10 feet away.
• Delete videos at the end of the session unless the student wants to keep theirs for their portfolio.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students who don't want to be filmed: act as analysts and get direct observation of their form with the same worksheet.
• Visual impairment: gets a verbal explanation from the analyst and hands-on correction of arm position.
• Wheelchair user: analyzes their pushing technique with the same video-and-cue structure.

Learning goals

• Analyze one's own running form from slow-motion footage.
• Choose and apply one specific running economy improvement.
• Use technology responsibly, respecting others' image and privacy.

Equipment for a class of 25

• tablets or phones: 8
• cones: 6
• worksheets: 30

Teacher tip

Check beforehand that the devices can record in slow motion and that students know the school's policy on images. One cue per person works better than trying to fix everything.

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