Self-Selected Running Stride Works Best

For experienced and inexperienced runners, sticking with your natural stride length is the best option for energy efficiency. That’s the finding of BYU professors who published their running study in the International Journal of Exercise Science.
 
They came to this conclusion by measuring the oxygen consumption of 33 runners on a 20-minute treadmill run. Some were regular runners while others had not run more than 5 miles in a week.
 
Subjects were tested running with the stride length that came naturally to them, and were also prompted with electronic beeps to add or subtract 8% and 16% from that self-selected stride. All runners maximized efficiency using their natural stride.