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# Gilesys Key Run Tip
- URL: https://www.grantgiles.com.au/gilesys-key-run-tip/
- Published: 2025-10-01T22:06:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T21:09:48.000Z
- Description: When you spread your toes while running, you’re changing both the mechanics and the neurology of your movement
- Author: Grant Giles
- Tags: Training

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/7c/297c1070-a8ae-4eab-8dfa-a7d21fe5b3af/content/images/2025/10/JAMES1.jpg)

How to run with power and relaxation. 👇

**Spread your toes.**

When you spread your toes while running, you’re changing both the mechanics and the neurology of your movement. Here’s why it [helps with relaxation and power](https://www.grantgiles.com.au/relax-at-speed/):

**Ground contact & stability**

• Spreading your toes increases the surface area of your foot that touches the ground.

• This gives you more stability and a better “platform” to push off from.

• More stability = less gripping/tension higher up in the body (hips, shoulders, jaw).

**Relaxation through the nervous system**

• The foot is loaded with sensory nerves. When you spread your toes, you “wake up” those receptors.

That sensory input tells your nervous system: ‘I’m balanced, I can relax.’

• The body then reduces unnecessary co-contractions (tension) in the calves, hamstrings, and even upper body.

**Stronger elastic recoil**

• A relaxed foot with toes spread lets the arch of your foot behave like a spring.

• The plantar fascia stores and releases more elastic energy, translating into better power return with less effort.

**Chain reaction up the body**

• Spreading the toes engages intrinsic foot muscles → stabilizes the ankle → aligns the knee → frees the hips.

• That clean chain reduces energy leaks and makes your stride more efficient and powerful.

[Get present in your feet](https://www.grantgiles.com.au/ironman-the-first-10kms-is-danger/). [Tension rises, relaxation descends](https://www.grantgiles.com.au/the-embodied-athlete-power-transfer/).

Think and act for your nervous system, not against it.

Gilesy