opinions

Running is easy yes? Put one foot in front of the other. Running up and down hills is good yes? Helps with strength, balance, power and speed. But when it comes to the fine detail, there are many opinions.

Everyone has opinions. To help clarify what some of mine are I shall analyse other people's. Remember, what they say and what I think are still just opinions.

Hill Workouts: Proper form helps you power up any incline.
I'm not sure there's a "proper form"; we are all different.

HEAD: "Keep your head and chest up. Don't slouch," says Olympian Adam Goucher. Attempting to "grit out" a hill, many runners put their head down, which wastes energy by throwing off their form.
Maybe, but posture is more than head and chest. It is also a good pelvic tilt which switches on the hip flexors and brings the knees up. And it's more than that too.

EYES: To keep your body upright, "fix your eyes directly ahead of you, not down at your feet," says cross-country champ Lynn Jennings. "You will sleekly move up the hill."
Yeah, and sleekly trip over a rock.

HANDS: "Keep your hands loose, no fists," says Jim Schlentz, who coached Olympian Kate Fonshell. Loose hands help your whole body stay relaxed.
Not sure about that, All drive starts in the arms, the legs follow. Some active tension would seem necessary in the hands and wrists as the arms drive forward and pull back.

LEGS: "Push your legs off and up, rather than into, the hill," says Goucher. This helps you feel "light," as if you're "springing" up the hill.
I like that one!

GOING UP: Run the first two-thirds of the hill relaxed, then slightly accelerate the last part, while carrying your pace over the top, says Schlentz. "Don't push too hard at the bottom of a hill," he says. "Then you're dead at the top."
I'd take it further; fly up the hill relaxed to start with, fly over the top, and fly down the other side, avoiding the temptation to recover by slowing down over the top. That's where I find I can break away from others in a race.

BRAIN: "Visualize the crest of a hill 20 meters beyond where it really is, so you run to the top-and keep going," says Jennings. "I would tell myself, 'Up and over, up and over,' and would not relax till past the top."
Yes, up, over, and beyond.

TORSO: "Lean forward," says Jennings. "It maintains momentum."
Up a hill it's not a bad idea. Lean slightly forward up hill and run tall. Lean slightly backward down hill and run tall.

ARMS: Coach and marathon champ Alberto Salazar emphasizes accelerated arm action to drive up a hill: "Concentrate on overusing the arms to really power up, so your running almost simulates sprinting." Your arms should form a 90-degree angle at the elbow, and swing straight back and forth, not across your body.
Good except there must be some MOBILITY IN THE ELBOW JOINT. Does no-one understand this?

FEET: "Get up on your forefeet and take shorter strides," says Jennings. "Run with punctuation."
Yes that's what we try to do.

GOING DOWN: "Your feet should land underneath you," says Schlentz. "This produces minimal shock on the body." A shortened arm-swing will help shorten the stride.
Especially when steep and rough I guess. I haven't checked this one out, I don't know where the feet "should" land.

My opinion is you should start out conservatively when you first train on hills, let the body adapt to the new kind of training, and learn what gets you up and over the hills faster. And I coach mature age runners, whose running form is often more suspect than the running form of kids. And I say, the key is, no two people are the same, and for each person, practice makes perfect.