Improve RUNNING CADENCE to become a FASTER, STRONGER and happier RUNNER! :-)

For a lot of runners, improving your cadence can have a big positive effect on your overall running!
Here's my top tips on how I improved by cadence from around 160 up to 180+.. I hope these tips help you improve yours as well!
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#cadence #marathontraining #marathonrunning

[@beckypetley4921]

10 years of Garmin watches and I never realised they had a metronome! Amazing tips, thanks :)

[@richardc316]

Thank you! I never knew this either. I've been using an app on my phone when I've had it on my phone the whole time anyway.

[@BAJF93]

Last year I started to work on my cadence. At the beginning I did around 150 and wanted to increase it as fast as possible. Then I got into a two week long injury. So really be pantient and take your time.

[@kathleencook3060]

LOVE VIDEO. THANKS BEN! TRYING TO IMPROVE MY SPRINT TIMES.

[@DeeKay1911]

Thanks for the great videos Ben! I have been watching for a while and ran my seventh marathon last Sunday in Germany and finally beat my 4 hour goal - and with minutes to spare with a 3:55! Lots of great advises from your videos so thanks

[@BenParkes]

That's a great result Dennis.. sure you must have been so happy when you crossed the finish line. Congratulations!

[@DeeKay1911]

Ben Parkes Amazing feeling and what’s even better: Still feel as though I have potential. Don’t know if I can make it to 3:30 - seems like a ton to shave off but I’m gunning for even faster next year in a race. In the mean time: lots of shorter fast races!

[@jonb9194]

To increase cadence, strengthen the hip flexors and hamstrings. To increase stride length, strengthen the calfs and quads. After years of working it up, my high turnover 100m repeats are done around 230 SPM and my useful race cadence range is 175 to 225 SPM. 175 to 185 could be used during the first 1/3 of a race, while 200+ is only useful during the very late stages and 225 would only occasionally appear in the final 100m to 50m, when a maximum kick is possible.

[@mnlw1363]

So useful and concise-ty

[@BeakXV]

Love the videos Ben! I've never ran competitively but I am racing my first, of hopefully many races tomorrow. It's a 5 mile and I'm hoping to get a sub-35 minute time. Keep up the vids!

[@BenParkes]

Good luck in your race. Come back and let me know how you get on!!

[@BeakXV]

@@BenParkes Conditions ended up being poor, and the terrain was a lot more uphill than I expected, ended up getting 42:13, which I was still very happy with. Thoroughly enjoyed it and hoping to be racing again soon!

[@johanu3670]

I've been working on my cadence for about 2 months, especially in slower runs. Managed to increase it by around 6-8 steps per minute by just using a metronome app. My running economy is better and feels like less impact on my body after the run. Great tips!

[@gorantoljamo204]

thx! downloaded a metronome app. Never thought abaout it.

[@georginamcnulty2919]

The advice is priceless and the videos from you and Sarah the best so happy to find you both. I may be mature but still loving the plan and maintaining that consistency.best money ever spent with you guys

[@kenleyojones]

KZbin podrunner then what ever bpm for some funky tunes. Great video!

[@stephanfrion2805]

such a great tip @ 4:52!!! so simple but so true . focusing on only one foot against the metronome is a great tip. I always struggle hearing the bpm and figuring out if i'm in sync or not .

[@RunwithBrad]

Something I really know nothing about, thanks for posting

[@Dissey]

Great tips ben!

[@welcometochina9406]

Hey Ben another great video! It’s thanks to your advice/tips over the past few months I’ve gone from a 5km pace to 4 flat. I never even thought I would see those numbers, hard work paying off :)

[@BenParkes]

Well done you!! All that hard work is really paying off. Keep working hard and smart and there are some really great gains to be made. Well done!

[@heavyt5702]

Cheers, Ben. Some useful tips 👍

[@UTubeSL]

Thank you, using a metronome is an absolutely brilliant idea!!

[@joseeduardotschen9186]

Thank you! I didn’t know that my Garmin had a metronome

[@NickHudson2]

Great video Ben really informative and interesting thanks for uploading!! Now subscribed 👍👌

[@yankaitan8648]

thanks for the tips, will try and improve my cadence

[@trevballard5006]

Thanks Ben, very well explained 👍

[@AshleyShelleyApparentlyWeRun]

Very informative as always mate, this is one area I really need to work on. Thank you mate 👍🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

[@vinicio1947]

A 180 cadece make sense if you run at 3'00"/3'20" per km, all the slowest pace doesn't need this high cadece. For example, when I run at 4'30" (in my slow session) the cadece is around 160 and it doesn't make sense to force an highest cadence at that pace. So it's right to check this number but the primary results has to be a natural running forme

[@nehemiah9190]

Vinicio Villa A high cadence is useful for everyone, as it minimizes headbob (increasing running efficiency) and forces you to run towards the midfoot hence recruiting the large muscles of the thigh (quads and hamstrings) more effectively. While it may seem odd at first, I would recommend increasing your cadence too!

[@christian_suys]

My cadence is 170 at 6' per k pace and it feels perfectly fine for me...

[@vinicio1947]

Off course an highest cadence is better. But I consider it as an effect of a good running forme. I'm just saying that it's important to look at the big picture instead of forcing one expects in the body system

[@vinicio1947]

Just to be complete. Yes I run al 160/165 at 4'30" per km, but in my 1k rep or 10k i found my self easy at 180/185. I don't think at the cadence when I'm running but I'm concentrated to have a natural, fluent and effective forme. I watch it after as an effect

[@mattpotter8725]

I was thinking this as i was watching the video. I want to increase my cadence, but if you don't run fast enough then running with a cadence of 185 would just look funny, well it would for me anyway. I guess it does depend on some things like how tall you are, how long your legs are, and therefore how long your natural stride length is, but in general increasing my cadence means more strides per minute, which means putting in more energy and therefore improving your fitness, improving your speed, improving your time on a set course, say a parkrun, will improve your cadence. Yes, focusing your mind on your running form, your foot strike and putting in more effort will help, but I expected more in this video about context in terms of the type of runs you should do this on. Ok, doing this during an interval workout or strides at the end of a run in great, and doing this will gradually increase your cadence over time on all of your runs (though mainly I would think because you get fitter), but this wasn't mentioned at all in the video, which I felt was odd. I don't have the same cadence on intervals as I do on my tempo runs or as I do on my long slow runs so this is all a little misleading. I'm not saying this information isn't useful, but a lot of context was missed out, which I'm surprised as Ben is usually great at this kind of information.

[@adk499]

Cheers Ben, great tips. I’ll def down load one of the apps to try improve my cadence

[@globalste]

you can get a metronome app as well and have it bleeping in the background...

[@aitorarotzena2550]

My cadence is already quite high. More or less 188 when running "fast" (fast for me, obviously), so I need to make my stride longer! Good luck in Frankfurt! Give it all!💪

[@danielheidegger3082]

Great Video Ben !!! I also love my hat :)

[@colinj5099]

Hi Ben, similar time to you back in the day;-). I believe there is no such thing as 'optimal' cadence, because speed is due to both cadence and stride length, both have to increase (or decrease). The 180 number originated around 1980 from Jack Daniels' 'revelation' that Olympic quality runners were 'all' doing 180-- well durr, that was because they 'all' ran about the same sub 3min pace! To give an analogy at extremes, Bolt's cadence was about 244 with a stride length of 2.58m , Bekele in 10km around 212/min at 1.9m (for a 1.65m runner). For a 5hr marathoner to do 180ish, their stride would have to be as short as 78cm, shorter than casual walk ! More likely it would be around 120 and 1.2m, so I hope you get at what I am saying and to recommend an optimal cadence without factoring speed, is counter productive, if not injury producing cheers

[@IsMiseAnthony]

Great video Ben. Best of luck in Frankfurt

[@Yan-pm3kk]

What to do when Paris marathon and half, Francfort marahton ... are cancelled AND Ben didn't yet charge a new video ??? Try a new challenge --> improving my cadence and continue learning thanks to you and Sarah ;)

[@kanishaktomar]

Ben sir i am 14 i love your videos please make a video of full day of eating with carb loading

[@JamesSmith-iz3pl]

Hi Ben, thanks so much for this and all you do. Super helpful and encouraging. My normal cadence is about 165. But however much i shorten my stride length to increase my cadence, my heart rate shoots up. Having read the book 80/20 Running, I'm trying to get my heart rate down. As I'm also 55 I'm trying to keep my runs to alternate days (as you suggested in your running over 50 video). So I'm currently caught in a dilemma. Still enjoying my running though, ran a half last week 1:37. Pips. James

[@bboy6surme]

Good one Ben Thx!

[@vancehetariki476]

Hey Ben, I have a high cadence around 195 avg to 205 on my 5km workouts. So how do i get to 180? And should i

[@charliehutcheson1185]

Great tips Ben. I started to focus on my cadence after seeing a race photo of me running with textbook heel striking. Only took a couple of months of training to make ~180 my norm and it has benefited me hugely in terms of form, pace and injury proneness. Also feels entirely natural when you start running with a higher cadence.

[@zsoltszigetvari6538]

Great video! I find it hard to keep the cadence fast while running slowly. Sadly I needed to abandon my first marathon due to ITBS. Cadence will be definitely one of the factors I’ll work on, too.

[@isaacayres4967]

marathon subscriber special coming up soon??

[@minhluongbui958]

Tks bro !!!

[@LukasSkate2]

I run with a metronom for a month now and gradually increase my cadance per run about 1 step/min. My metronom is at 165 but my app (mifit forr miband 4) still show me a cadance of 148.

[@markfalkingham590]

Great video, I appreciate it. It seems I’m at 185 average, maxing out at 195. Stride length is 1.13 meters.

[@Barneyveld93]

Metronome is 1 option. i just downloaded music with 170 and 180bpm. thats a bit more fun to listen to instead of a boring annoying beep.

[@BenParkes]

Yes, music works well for those longer runs when the beep gets really annoying!!

[@rangersfan747]

Love these tip videos Ben, not sure if this is something you’ve covered before but would you have a tip video or tips for improving foot striking. Or did you have any trouble with heel striking when you first started?

[@davecowdry6274]

Isn't increased cadence just another term for run a bit faster? Is there a difference?

[@jordankeightley-smith9246]

Hi Ben, great info on the blog thanks! After watching this i have been trying to increase my cadence using the metronome on my Garmin 245. On my last easy run i managed to average 176spm (my usual average is between 175-170spm). I had the metronome set at 180spm but found it difficult to maintain on an easy slower run? Is this normal? Do you manage to maintain your desired cadence even on your easy runs? Or is it reduced? Any info much appreciated! Jordan

[@davidl3904]

Hi Ben what's missing for me is the relationship between speed and cadence. I'm a beginner and hovering around 160. But all I need to do is a bit of interval training, or a race where I'm pushing a little harder, to see my cadence go up linearly. So in my simple mind that equates to faster=higher cadence and I haven't figured out how to speed it up when I'm running slowly and slow it down when I'm running fast (I guess the answer is shorter strides when running slow and longer ones when running fast)?

[@paulhoulden]

You know what, I'd love to meet some of the people that dislike videos like this, I'd love to know their thought process.

[@BenParkes]

haha.. you can't please everyone!

[@peterwilkins7013]

Too tip: to increase cadence move your arms quicker. Your legs will naturally move quicker.

[@BenParkes]

Great tip Peter.. missed that one out from the video, thank you for adding it here!!

[@albo5254]

Running in Frankfurt with you in 2 days. Hoping for a sub 2.50

[@BenParkes]

Good luck Alexey!!

[@albo5254]

@@BenParkes gl to U2!

[@dummydami9892]

i only have 150-160 cadence 😂

What is the best tempo to train your cadence in? Higher speed = faster cadence, and lower speed = slower cadence.

[@mattias0stout]

I'm an assistant coach who is having a debate with a main coach on weather cadence should be work on every single run or focused on during workouts

[@joeljenkins5873]

Thanks for another great video! In your experience how accurate are Garmin watches at measuring cadence? Watch measures me at around 166-170, definitely working on imrpoving it closer to the 180 range!

[@BenParkes]

My Garmin is pretty good.. when I use the Garmin HRM Strap with it, then its probably more accurate. But I trust the watch by itself to be 95% accurate and that's good enough for me :-)

[@joeljenkins5873]

@@BenParkes Ok good to know! Thank you for the reply!

[@paulmiller3712]

Great video and thanks Ben. What cadence to you recommend for trail running? Good luck in Frankfurt? 💪🏻

[@markus7894]

Great video as usual, Ben! Tall people (above 190 cm) have longer legs and therefore lower cadence, right? So, for a guy of 190 cm would a cadence of 170 spm be optimal? - Also for the easy runs, should the cadence be the same, or rather more relaxed?

[@juggledave]

I'm 189 cm so probably fit fairly close to your question. I ran a 2:35 marathon with roughly 180 spm but my easy runs are typically low 170s. The faster the pace the higher the cadence probably needs to be to keep up. For example, I ran 1km in 2:49 (Kipchoge's 1:59 pace) and my cadence was 195 so I think elites just have high cadence as a side effect from running so quickly.

[@markus7894]

@@juggledave Thank you that is very helpful information! As you said the easy runs are slower. Congratulations for you marathon time!!

[@klaasdeboer8106]

My cadence is very high, probably because of a beer belly when I started 5 months ago, any drills to bring it down? Bringing the cadence down seems more risky than bringing it up.

[@tobiasziesing2762]

180 pm in top speed? or in (nearly) every speed? Hard to reach in easy runs for me.

[@johanlarsson23]

Hi Ben! the cadence should be the same both for easy runs and more intensity runs? my cadence is around 170 steps per minute right now

[@jdwelman5849]

...and same cadence for up and down hills?

[@pauljonespritchard4215]

Have you found that your work with Shane benzie has helped you become faster? Thanks

[@BenParkes]

Yes 🙂

[@myself0883]

thanks for sharing Ben the info is very useful. question¿? in what kind of trainings (tempo, easy runs , intervals)?? regards from mexico

[@998mph]

Great video. I'm trying to improve my running style, less heel striking! what's a good ground contact time?

[@benbaileyfitness]

Whats the best running watch to getvthat also measures didtance? Thanks

[@pereiraplaza222]

You're such a happy camper. 😁

[@VicNicGuitar]

When I run sub 7 min miles my cadence is usually 175-180 on the Garmin 945. But after my usual 7/7:30 paced training runs it goes to mid/late 160s. I don’t know if this is normal. I think pace plays a part.

[@googlephone8353]

Hey Ben, I noticed that you mentioned Chi running form when you first got into running. I was wondering, would you recommend this over the pose method? Currently my cadence is around 178-184 depending on the type of workout, but I'm wanting to improve my efficiency as much as possible. Thanks!

[@simonecarniglia4870]

Being a tall guy I usually am around 160-165 and already tried all of this but I can't quite focus on the metronome and so didn't get much benefit out of it yet. For me I find that strides are the best way, but the improvements look like "short term" ones (that is: maybe a slightly better turnover just in the following run). I guess I have to be patient and persist with the annoying metronome, but apart from that is there any other exercise (like strides and intervals) that can help?

[@BenParkes]

It does take time for sure and can be frustrating. It took me about a year before I was constantly running around 180 without having to think about it. The other thing that I sometimes do is downhill repeats.. so like hill repeats, but fast down and slow up. That will get you focussing on a higher turnover. The reason I didn't put it in is that you have to have pretty strong legs to even attempt it. Good luck!

[@hansvanzuuk9504]

Ben what happened to Frankfurt marathon?

[@BenParkes]

Still running on Sunday.. just try to drop more instructional videos in-between the vlog style ones! New vlog out this evening!

[@JamesGrayKing]

Thanks for the video! Funny question but any thoughts on how to improve if your cadence is too fast? My girlfriend and I run together a lot and while mine is at 180 she’ll typically be at 200 or so and it seems that’s a lot more effort than needs to be expended!

[@BenParkes]

Yeah.. once you get over 200 it will be a lot of effort to keep that up! You can use the same principles here to bring it down a bit. All the best to you both!

[@JamesGrayKing]

Thanks to you both! She seems to have that cadence regardless of speed so we’re going to try the metronome!

[@djc0108]

Bit of heel striking going on at 4.40

[@djc0108]

David Taylor it was only a light hearted comment, no need to take life so seriously. Heel striking isn’t a major problem in running, it’s ‘ overstriding heel striking ‘ that is the problem and increases risk of injury.....and yes, I do read books on this issue and I totally agree with you that I don’t know as much as the professionals. Life is all about learning. 👍👍👍

[@djc0108]

David Taylor By the way....if you’re a big fan of Arthur Lydiard I would advise checking out the KZbin video ‘ Faster, Higher, Stronger ‘ re middle distance runners, where it talks about his association with Peter Snell and later on with Finnish Runners - very good video

[@djc0108]

David Taylor 👍👍👍

[@pablo_elizalde]

You know who Floris Gierman is? Check out his channel today. 😂

[@Chris-dw3xl]

Cheers Ben good advice 👍plus never knew my watch had a metronome built in ( Fenix 5s) 🤪also I tried to use your medichecks code and unfortunately it never recognise you ???? Not sure if it was me if I use it right ??? Just thought I’ll let you know 🤔👍

[@BenParkes]

I'll check out the code. I never click it myself, so wasn't sure. Thanks for letting me know though!

[@Chris-dw3xl]

@@BenParkes all good 👍

[@artemasward5842]

when you moved from 2:36 down to 2:19 - did you increase the cadence or increase the stride length? thanks

[@nehemiah9190]

Hi Ben, what would you recommend for someone who can hit past 190 bpm? This especially occurs in speedwork.

[@BenParkes]

That's ok for most races and sessions, it's a good thing. If you're running a marathon it will be hard to sustain a cadence around that level, so you just have to be cautious with longer runs that you don't burn out.

[@toirleachomalley3264]

when I train easy runs I'm normally at around 171 Cadence. MY HR starts to climb a bit too much when I go over around 173. I normally race at pretty much dead on 180 but I see my Berlin Marathon was all over the place. Average of 177 but with the crowds I was up and down like crazy the whole way. I think I was just trying to avoid feet nearly the whole way. It was impossible to get into a flow / rhythm. I keep forgetting about strides. I defo need to get in the habit of doing them more often. Thanks for the tips.

[@BenParkes]

It can be really hard in big races to get any rhythm going with so many other runners around. Strides are so good for improving your running for sure, many many benefits!

[@AREDONE]

I am very short person (168cm) and my cadence is always in the 190-210 range which seems too high but I have heard that shorter runners tend to have higher cadence, should I focus on lowering my cadence to the 180 range??

[@shahiruperera1103]

Depends on how fast you're trying to run honestly, if you're trying to go like sub 3:50km pace that's quite a good cadence, but for like 5:00km pace that's too many steps

[@randomize9642]

Thanks Ben. I think the only thing that I should really focus on is my running form, but like you said with interval sessions they will improve.

[@BenParkes]

Running is always a long term thing.. small gains over time. Keep working hard and it will improve! :-)

[@alexanderparsons4862]

Can this guy touch his toes?

[@FevuhhHD]

When I do my easy runs, my cadence is around 160 but when I do my intervals or 5km parkruns it can go up to 190. Is this normal, purely because I'm trying to run more slowly on my easy runs?

[@pablo_elizalde]

You should be able to keep the same cadence (sort of) at any speed. The best way to notice the difference is to run on a treadmill. Set it to low speed and use a metronome to increase your cadence. You'll notice is quite brutal at first!

[@shahiruperera1103]

How did you increase your speed to sub 4:00km? I've been doing 5k xc and I ended my season with a 22:15 pb (around 4:27km pace), and i feel like I should be able to run faster because I can run 10k training runs in 50min comfortably. Do I need to do shorter runs (2-3km run) at a faster pace, or should I continue with my long runs?

[@alykh28]

Shahiru Perera i run sub 20 and i have found that doing some speed work (1k repeats, fartleks, etc.) 1-2 times a week really helps

[@nehemiah9190]

alyssa : Yup, seems like speedwork is the answer here. Long runs are for getting your body used to distance, not for increasing your speed.

[@shahiruperera1103]

@@alykh28 you're prob right, but those workouts are so fricking tiring😂

[@marcop.2606]

I think my cadence is 120 🤣

[@richystrong]

Hey Ben, loving the videos! I wander if you’ll reach 42.2k subscribers before Frankfurt???? 🤞🤞🤞

[@smccareerpointbynitishkuma1576]

Speak hindi

[@alyssacascos8665]

Great tips! I always learn so much from your videos! 👟❤