Here's another unpopular idea that can have a major impact on your health, physique, and vitality.
Barefoot running, as far or fast as you want, on virtually any surface.
Ted from http://barefootted.com/, finishes a
marathon wearing the infamous Vibrams.
And who said all marathon runners are skinny?
*Also*, notice how this guys quad is flexing as he's landing?
More in a second...
marathon wearing the infamous Vibrams.
And who said all marathon runners are skinny?
*Also*, notice how this guys quad is flexing as he's landing?
More in a second...
So today I was in the sauna after my workout and there was this old man. He commented on my shoes (the Vibrams I just linked), not uncommon since they are uncommon shoes to be wearing.
We began talking about the foot and how it works. Turns out this guy is a physician for god knows how long.
We then of course discussed how my shoes work, and how they lack any type of heel support (essentially they are there to protect the skin on your feet, nothing more).
He said, verbatim, that the natural movement of running for humans (bipedal propulsion), is to go from heel to toe (back to front).
I'm like hmm....interesting. Seeing as how I run bare foot half marathons on a weekly basis (just yesterday actually), I had to let this guy know that it's quite impossible to run barefoot heel toe, you're legs will literally fall apart from the massive amount of shock you send up your skeleton.
A simple example of how this works can be found, here.
*For the record, I feel Vibrams Five Finger shoes are far superiror to their shoes, it's just the illustration that's easy on the eyes.
Back to the doctor in the sauna.
He assured me, that the most natural movement is from heel to toe (with shoes of course because EVERYONE wears shoes when they run, right?).
I had to ask him, what did ancient man do? Last I checked shoes were relativley new to the masses. Even the invetion itself only dates back a few thousand years. Ancient man was barefoot, for hundreds of thousands of years.
Bipedal propulsion in humans literally evoled along with our feet and body (skeleton and muscles in junction).
So...seeing as how it's literally impossible to run any sizeable distance heel/toe, barefoot, then how would it be the most natural movement?
Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, despite it being popular.
Did the physican of 30+ years have an answer?
Nope, just kept re-hashing what he "knew", or moreso, what he unconciously identified with.
The truth is, running from heel to toe is horrible for your body, everything from improper muscle development- take your shoe off a second and place your heel on the ground by itself, then try to wiggle your knee, then place your forefoot on the ground and try to wiggle your knee, see the difference? Muscle (quadiricep), versus your BONES trying to move- to ankle/knee/lower back and hip problems later in life (or now of course).
And guess what, 99% of people run from heel to toe with shoes on. The shock doesn't get absorbed anywhere near as much as most people think, it gets transffered to the rest of your body, where it does NOT belong.
You know that small ball of muscle on the back outside of your foot? Do you know what it's for?
No, it's not for decoration, it's an incredible shock absorber when used properly (and believe me, you WILL use it when you run barefoot).
So what's the moral of the story?
Shoe's aren't neccessarily bad, but "everything popular is wrong" rings true as far as exercise is concerned. I'm sure you have a lot of questions about running barefoot (the transition in particular). I'll be happy to answer them here on the blog, or just check out Dream Vitality in a few weeks where I give it a full "run down" ;).
For more immediate info, check out
http://vibramfivefingers.com/
and
http://runningbarefoot.org/
Where more benefits and reasons to run bare foot are listed out and explained accordingly.
ALSO, if you want to go do this NOW, please check out the above 2 links first! Do NOT just go out and run 10 miles barefoot off a whim.
happy new year's guys, cya in 2009
-Dream
We began talking about the foot and how it works. Turns out this guy is a physician for god knows how long.
We then of course discussed how my shoes work, and how they lack any type of heel support (essentially they are there to protect the skin on your feet, nothing more).
He said, verbatim, that the natural movement of running for humans (bipedal propulsion), is to go from heel to toe (back to front).
I'm like hmm....interesting. Seeing as how I run bare foot half marathons on a weekly basis (just yesterday actually), I had to let this guy know that it's quite impossible to run barefoot heel toe, you're legs will literally fall apart from the massive amount of shock you send up your skeleton.
A simple example of how this works can be found, here.
*For the record, I feel Vibrams Five Finger shoes are far superiror to their shoes, it's just the illustration that's easy on the eyes.
Back to the doctor in the sauna.
He assured me, that the most natural movement is from heel to toe (with shoes of course because EVERYONE wears shoes when they run, right?).
I had to ask him, what did ancient man do? Last I checked shoes were relativley new to the masses. Even the invetion itself only dates back a few thousand years. Ancient man was barefoot, for hundreds of thousands of years.
Bipedal propulsion in humans literally evoled along with our feet and body (skeleton and muscles in junction).
So...seeing as how it's literally impossible to run any sizeable distance heel/toe, barefoot, then how would it be the most natural movement?
Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, despite it being popular.
Did the physican of 30+ years have an answer?
Nope, just kept re-hashing what he "knew", or moreso, what he unconciously identified with.
The truth is, running from heel to toe is horrible for your body, everything from improper muscle development- take your shoe off a second and place your heel on the ground by itself, then try to wiggle your knee, then place your forefoot on the ground and try to wiggle your knee, see the difference? Muscle (quadiricep), versus your BONES trying to move- to ankle/knee/lower back and hip problems later in life (or now of course).
And guess what, 99% of people run from heel to toe with shoes on. The shock doesn't get absorbed anywhere near as much as most people think, it gets transffered to the rest of your body, where it does NOT belong.
You know that small ball of muscle on the back outside of your foot? Do you know what it's for?
No, it's not for decoration, it's an incredible shock absorber when used properly (and believe me, you WILL use it when you run barefoot).
So what's the moral of the story?
Shoe's aren't neccessarily bad, but "everything popular is wrong" rings true as far as exercise is concerned. I'm sure you have a lot of questions about running barefoot (the transition in particular). I'll be happy to answer them here on the blog, or just check out Dream Vitality in a few weeks where I give it a full "run down" ;).
For more immediate info, check out
http://vibramfivefingers.com/
and
http://runningbarefoot.org/
Where more benefits and reasons to run bare foot are listed out and explained accordingly.
ALSO, if you want to go do this NOW, please check out the above 2 links first! Do NOT just go out and run 10 miles barefoot off a whim.
happy new year's guys, cya in 2009
-Dream
