Your arms help to provide balance and power while running. Many feel there is a correlation between moving their arms faster and getting their legs to move faster. Optimally, the arms should support the energy of the body in a forward motion while running.

Your arms provide balance in the following way: As your left leg goes forward, so does your right arm. This balances you as you move forward. Then when the right leg moves forward, so does the left arm. The way you carry your arms while moving is called “arm carriage.”

For proper arm carriage, your hands should be lightly clasped (as though you are holding a roll of dimes) rather than tightly clinched. Don't waste muscle power needlessly. This isn't a stress test, so relax. Allow your arms to swing from the shoulder, with your wrists at the level of the waistband of your shorts. Make sure your hands are not too high or too low. Your elbows and wrists should be relaxed and not carrying any tension.

Different types of runners have different types of arm carriage. Sprinters pump their arms in a straight forward-backward motion. Most longer-distance runners use a slight arc as they swing their arms, but the faster, more efficient ones don't waste motion by moving too much from side to side. Remember, you want all motions of your body to be moving in the forward direction. This includes the motion of your arms in front of your body.

Wasted motion in the arms is just as bad as an improper or inefficient stride in the legs. A few arm carriage “Don'ts” include:

• Don't carry your arms too high. Your arms cannot help your legs move when the arms are held too high. High, tight arms also lead to excessive rotation in your torso, which reduces your running efficiency.

• Don't carry your arms too low, because they won't help you way down there either.

• Don't swing your elbows out too wide, since this wastes energy and also causes you to twist too much from your trunk.