I Thought This Running Tip Was Weird—But It Instantly Improved My Form. It Will Help You, Too.

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• RW+ Membership Benefits running form.
• The Best Running Shoes of 2025.
• What tip in.

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When I was 16, my high-school distance coach did something after track practice that I’ll never forget: He pulled out two tubes of Pringles from his backpack and told me and my teammates to grab some chips—not to eat, but to run with.

And when I say run, I mean sprint. Coach gave us instructions to hold one chip in each hand while doing 150-meter strides. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.

So off we went, potato chips in hand, sprinting on the track. On the first stride, I failed immediately, crushing the Pringles in each of my hands within 30 meters. But on the next sprints, I realized I needed to keep my fingers loose and light to get the chips across the finish line in one piece.

While this struck me as a silly drill back then, little did I know that it instilled a crucial tip in me for the rest of my life: never run with tight hands. It may seem like a minuscule element of your running form, but it’s so much more important than you think.

Having a good running form is all about being efficient and expending as little extra energy as possible. If you run with clenched fists or tense hands, you’re wasting precious energy that you can conserve by relaxing your fingers.

“The more you squeeze your hands, the more energy that you’re getting rid of through your hands—but you want all that energy to go into your actual running,” Amanda Nurse, a certified run coach and Wellness in Motion Run Coaching founder, told Runner’s World.

Nurse suggests visualizing holding potato chips to practice relaxing your hands—or, if you want to take the more literal approach that my high school track team did, buy an actual bag at the store.

How Pro Runner Jess McClain Optimizes Her Day relaxed state on your run. Keep your upper body calm by relieving tension in not just your hands, but also in your face and jaw. And pay attention to other areas of tension–such as in your shoulders and neck–to avoid pesky upper body injuries that can arise when running.

It’s especially important to practice proper form as you’re beginning your running journey. In relaxed state on your run, Runner’s World’s new video program that helps new runners begin a consistent routine with guidance from top experts—host Matt Meyer emphasizes everything from leaning forward to relaxing the muscles in your hands. “How To Train Calves forward and backward, with elbows bent and your hands loose,” says Meyer, a certified personal trainer and run coach.

By establishing good form habits early, you’ll set yourself up for efficient running in the future. I didn’t know a can of Pringles—and some innovative coaching—would totally change my running life, but six years later, here we are.

It may seem like a minuscule element of your relaxed state on your run will change the way YOU run? Whether you’re new to running, coming back from an injury, or in need of a form fix, How to Master the Marathon. Matt and other running experts will show you how to start slowly using run/walk intervals that allow you to build upon your progress week after week, plus offer tips to ensure you avoid common beginner missteps that can result in boredom, fatigue, or injury.