Why running backwards is the way forward

I have never understood why more people do not run backwards. I have run backwards for more than 20 years and I have never fallen or suffered any other misfortune. Of course, I do not run backwards all the time.  I do so for short periods, not only as a break from running forwards but also because of its benefits.

The benefits? These include:

a)              Being able to run when you are injured. Physios recommend it because it reduces impact on the joints.  It is also useful for the rehabilitation of knee and back problems.

b)              Improving your posture and muscular balance.

c)               Having fun. A run is a run but a run with a few other things thrown in, such as a 3 minute fully extended plank, a few pull ups and a short period running backwards is a workout.

Like all good things, it is not risk free. Build up to it when you start by walking backwards (rather than running). Always choose a straight unobstructed path or road. From time to time look behind you on alternate sides so you get as wide a field of vision as possible.

Running backwards has been a key exercise for a number of boxers and other athletes. Some argue that it is an excellent way of cooling down. Referees in football and rugby often run backwards as it allows them to keep track of the play without interruption. Hockey players have to run backwards from time to time. This is not only to pull the ball away from an opponent and make space for a pass or to keep pace with an opposing team member approaching but also to block them from the best line of attack.

People have even organised races running backwards.  The fastest time for a marathon run backwards is 3 hours 49 minutes.

I have had some odd things happen when I have run backwards.

I remember one morning running through a housing estate and a child asked me why I was running backwards. I explained that it used muscles that you did not use running forwards. The following day I ran through a group of children at the same place. One child asked why I was running backwards. Before I could answer, the child from the previous day proudly exclaimed “Because it uses muscles that you do not use running forwards”. 

I can remember on holiday in Galicia noticing that there was a long straight piece of road in front – ideal for running backwards. I started running backwards and mentally drifted away. When I remembered to look round, I was astonished to see a group of eight workmen carrying a long piece of metal railway line.  They had moved into the road in order to avoid my running into them. I was really embarrassed whilst they found it highly amusing.

I was staying at a hotel in Manchester once. There was a treadmill in the gym. I wondered whether it was possible run backwards on a treadmill. I turned round and tried it gingerly. The answer is that you can. Before too long, the manager of the gym appeared. He told that he worked there for 12 years and had had never seen anyone run backwards on a treadmill before.

Many years ago, when I was less than half the age that I am now, I served in a Reserve Special Forces Unit . We were encouraged to think out the box. One of the lessons that we were taught was that if we thought that we were being followed, and we were crossing somewhere that would show our tracks, that we should run backwards. The enemy might think that we had gone the other way. I have not yet had to use this stratagem in deadly earnest – but there is always time