cliff young ultra marathon runner - increased leg performance through the use of structured movement

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Cliff Young Ultra Marathon Runner

SOME OF CLIFF YOUNG’S HISTORY-Portrait of an energy efficient low impact athlete

Cliff Young was one of Australia's most well known long distance athletes.

8th February 1922 to 2nd November 2003

Cliff was known throughout Australia as the man who runs with a strange shuffle.  
Without spending a cent in research he discovered what many sports institutions are spending millions of dollars to find out, how to run without expending energy and effort.

Athlete's Legs Maintenance using Wholistic Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

Every one who runs has their own unique style peculiar to them and this cannot be changed, but there are differences which may be incorporated into that style that can give them a greater speed, and efficiency of movement with less effort.

Pre the 1983 Westfield Sydney to Melbourne win of 5 days 15 hours and 4 minutes Cliff was in two 100-Mile races at Manly, Sydney.

• He won the first in 1982 in 14 hours 47 minutes at the age of 60 and the second in 1983 in 14 hours 37 minutes, this second run was only 3 weeks before winning the Sydney to Melbourne Westfield marathon at the age of 63!!
  

• In 1985, Cliff held the Australian 24-hour record for a short while at the age of 63 with a distance of 235 kilometers.
  

• Cliff made another world record in 1995 at the Colac 6 Day race when he claimed the 70-74 age group record for 48 hours of 233.4355 kilometers.
  

• Cliffy made 2 attempts at running around Australia, putting in very creditable performances both times.
  

• On his first run, he took 2 days off the previous record for running 6000.25 kilometers.
  

To do this in his 70’s when the period for this distance is 3 months, is not just an accident and says much for the brilliance of Cliff as a runner and his able crew that he was able to do this.

• At 77, Cliff broke the World record again at my favorite race, the Coburg 24 hour footrace.
  

This time he broke his previous record of 141.570 kilometers in 1998 by doing 150.07 kilometers.

In 2013 Australia's ABC television network made a telemovie about Cliff called 'Cliffy' which was shown on Sunday May 26 at 8.30 pm

The Cliff Young Running Method

Cliff Young had what was to many people an awkward running style, but on closer examination it was a very efficient running method because it uses a very little energy to distance ratio

Gravity contributes greatly towards saving energy and the energy saved allows for running a longer distance before needing to be replaced.

When used in propelling a person forward instead of using the arms and shoulders for propulsion and running with the knees coming up is a very efficient method of moving forward.

Cliff moved his body away from the center of gravity as he leant forwards and when he ran, the top of his body leant into the area where he was on the point of falling over as gravity started to take over.

The arms were there to act as props to break his fall if he tripped over.

In the top-heavy position, the body is faced with a choice, fall over, or move the legs forward to avoid it, the body is in control, not the legs, they are just following where the body leads.

When the feet move forward to avoid falling over, they are not elevated very far and impact is reduced. as the feet are only lifted fractionally, there is very little impact to be absorbed by the body, and what little there is absorbed by the slightly bent position of the knees.

The result is an apparent shuffle giving movement forwards and no energy has been expended in the upward direction.

On the other hand the way many other people run involves an upward rather than forward movement which takes away some of the energy needed to gain any distance

Way back in 1993 I was just a not very good massage student, in fact at 53 I was the oldest in the class and not very good at all so no one wanted to work with me

When the 1993 Colac was being run I volunteered to go to learn more on how to work with athletes in  sporting environment, but was not too successful at that either

I turned up at the 1994 Colac for this run and didn’t get too far as everyone else was better than me and I was still struggling

In 1995 when I turned up I was surprised to find out that I was with 2 girls who had never  done any massage at all and suddenly I was in charge of the whole run recovery

I was wondering how I was going to manage working 24 hours a day using conventional massage for 6 days when John Timms came in and said that he needed something quick and light as he was due at the start line and didn’t have time to get undressed

To keep him quiet I got him to go down on the table fully dressed and did some compressing on his legs and kicked him out; he never came back for 9 hours or so and when he did he wanted the same thing!

So I just kept on doing the same thing each time someone wanted some work doing but gradually introduced other elements during the week

I wasn’t keeping track at the time as I was mentally and physically exhausted by day  3 but after the race had finished I was alert enough to recognize that something had happened

What I had done was change the recovery process from working on the muscles and body to working with it

The system I used with Cliff Young I call Light Manual Muscle Relaxation
a simple self recovery system

An Environmentally Friendly Legs Maintenance System-No Oil is used in the testing of this system!

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation the legs maintenance system of choice for world runners!

 Muscle tightness contribution to leg fatigue and poor performance

What is Light Manual Muscle Relaxation?

Light Manual Muscle Relaxation used

The aim of Light Manual Muscle Relaxation is to clear the legs of micro-cellular debris as quickly as possible without breaking into the body's own recovery processes so that a healthy circulation can be resumed as quickly as possible which will result in a better performance for the athlete!

A healthier leg circulation

Wholistic Light Manual Muscle Relaxation is a simple physiology based  recovery system developed for extreme athletes  and tested at events all over the world and is in fact the only system  that has been used on 2  runs around the world!

Arguably it can be said to be the most tested recovery system in the world!

It has also been used at events in

• France
  

• Denmark
  

• The United States
  

• Australia
  

• Canada
  

The advantages of using Light Manual Muscle Relaxation

It is Do It Yourself legs maintenance

• No disrobing
  

• Works with the muscles not on them
  

• No oil used
  

• Non invasive
  

• User friendly
  

• Easy to learn
  

It only needs a few minutes and can be done as often as possible because it does not use a rubbing motion does not initiate or further irritate sore muscles

There are flow on benefits to all athletes

• They can easily learn and use the same system I use
  

• They do not need to do an expensive dedicated course in recovery system
  

• They do not need to invest in or carry expensive equipment
  

• They can use it trackside or field side whenever they need it
  

• If they do not have the services of a support team they just Do It Themselves!
  

A tested Trusted Alternative

When it all came together the results as above were obtained