Olympic Sprinter Reveals the ‘Naruto Run’ is Slower and More Dangerous Than Regular Running

Among the many badass moves Naruto popularized in both manga and anime, it is the rather silly-looking way that he runs that has fascinated anime fans the most. 

Known by fans as the “Naruto Run,” the technique involves bending slightly forward while keeping the arms behind the back, allowing the ninjas to run at faster speeds. For many of us who have been using our arms to pump us forward while running, the Naruto Run does look a bit ridiculous. 

 

While it has become a popular social media meme, it has made some people genuinely curious, wondering if running in that funny-looking position could, in fact, make you faster.

YouTube channel Because Science, which puts many pop culture topics into real-world tests, conducted a Naruto Run experiment with a gold medal-winning sprinter. 

Kyle Hill, the show’s host, explored what science could be behind the reason Naruto’s style of running may be faster. He hypothesized that it could be connected to the drag, which is the force that is most likely to slow you down. Factors affecting drag include the subject’s velocity, density of the material it’s passing through, and the surface area.

Hill proposed that Naruto could be running faster because the position reduces the surface area affected by wind resistance, reducing drag and therefore increasing speed. He did note, however, that it could also be inefficient and may not work in the real world as running like the Naruto characters may keep the body from utilizing its full capabilities.

Hill noted a previous experiment on the Naruto Run which found that slower runners actually improved their speed while faster runners were slowed down by the change in posture. The difference in his experiment is that he involved an expert runner rather than amateur runners. 

In the actual experiment, international gold-medal sprinter and relay runner Jeneba Tarmoh was tasked to run like Naruto to see if the change in form made her 50-meter dash faster. Before she began, Tarmoh said she thought it would not only be slower, but also more dangerous because leaning forward could increase her chances of falling over and injuring herself.

Hill also joined in, each running a 50-meter dash in a normal and Naruto style three times. They then took the average of the three for each of the running styles as their final run times. To see which was faster, they compared the resulting times from the attempts.

 

Based on their findings, running like Naruto was three percent slower than running in normal posture. Both runners also felt that running with their chest bent forward made them more exhausted. The posture also felt more painful and dangerous as it messed with the distribution of their body weight.

“You’re not gonna get as much knee lift as you should be able to,” says Tarmoh who pointed out that the Naruto Run was not recommended. “With your arms not swinging you have absolutely no counterbalance,” Tarmoh explained that it could also have a psychological effect, as knowing the run is more dangerous might mentally slow a runner down.

Featured image via YouTube/Because Science

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Contributer : NextShark