Bare Foot Running Part 2: The Best Technique.

This post follows on from Bare Foot Running Part 1 which introduced the concept of Bare Foot Running and laid out exercises to build up the foot muscles in preparation for starting your natural running.

(Slight side note, while doing some researching into barefoot running, I came across the theory that it is supposed to be very good for you because it allows free radicals and pent up energies to be realised into the ground... Really? Really? Just to state, I don't support bare foot running for these reasons. Also, she was still wearing Vibrams, so how many more free radicals can escape through those compared to normal shoes? I'm sure they have an answer, but I think my mind might cry hearing it.)

So, today we are going to look at the necessary changes in your technique to run injury free while bare foot.

Most people think that running is a very natural movement that doesn't need to be trained or taught. Well, just stand by a jogging track and watch people go by for long enough and you'll realise this isn't actually the case. There are lots of variations on 'how to run' and some of them look really painful. (I can't stand watching people run with their shoulders up around their ears, it makes even my muscles ache.)

Further, even if you have been trained in good running posture and technique, there are a lot of adjustments that need to be made when reducing the cushioning in your shoes (which is a good thing in the long run (pun was not intended! I'm not becoming my dad!)).

I'm going to outline the basics, and then if you have 10 minutes free I highly recommend the video by Terra Plana I've added below. They are makers of a minimalistic shoe, so do have a vested interest in promoting the method, but they give a lot of good advice and some exercises to do before running to prep you with appropriate posture, etc.

1. The Foot Strike.

The biggest difference that needs to be made (and almost automatically will be made because it's rather painful not to) is that you stop 'heel striking'. When you jog in shoes, you lengthen out your stride and hit the ground with your heel first. However, without the cushioning, this becomes very jarring, and you should move to a mid-foot or ball of foot strike. Just think of when you jump off something, you try to land on the balls of your feet because they absorb the most shock, you wouldn't try to land on your heel.

This photo from Science Daily demonstrates the difference in movement.

2. Length of Stride

One of the consequences of striking with your forefoot is that you will need to shorten your stride. Barefoot running requires faster, more dynamic movements than a lot of people might be used to. The aim is to keep the movements light, easy and fast. Initially this can add extra strain on your Achilles tendon and calves, so be wary of overworking these. However, once they strengthen up, you will have much stronger legs.

3. Posture.

A lot of people lean forward when they run with shoes, but with the shorter strides of bare foot running, it is always best to be as vertical as possible, which also allows you to breathe better. Your foot should be hitting the ground almost under your hips, which will be in line with your shoulders.

Those are the big three. I highly recommend you take the 10 minutes to watch this video, which will give you a much better idea of what to do:

Next time we will look at the various products you can get to help you go barefoot.

Other resources you might want to check out:

Science Daily. Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes. This article looks at the research into heel versus mid-foot strikes, and how running without shoes encourages a more natural gait. 

One Life. Is Barefoot Best? The Truth About Running Techniques. This offers a balanced view from a physical therapist who doesn't recommend barefoot running for everyone.

BareFootRunning. Running Barefoot, Forefoot Striking and Training Tips. This covers the same information about heel verse forefoot striking, but has some very useful tips on transitioning to barefoot running. 

BareFootTed (the whole blog, basically). Anyone who has read Christopher McDougall's 'Born To Run' will know of BareFoot Ted. He is a big advocate for barefoot running. In his blog he covers all the different issues you might face trying to transition. (By the way, if you haven't read 'Born To Run' and are interested in natural running, I highly recommend it.)

Barefoot Running - Part 1

Barefoot running. Surely you've heard of it by now? Also known as minimalist running? Natural running?

If you are a regular exerciser, but don't spend your spare time browsing fitness magazines and books, then you might not have heard of this. My little sister hadn't until my brother and I mentioned (me because I'm interested in fitness, and my brother probably more because he's interested in fads. Love you Dave, but you know it is true!)

So, for all those faithful exercisers who haven't heard about barefoot running, this post is for you!

Let's start at the beginning. What on earth am I talking about?

I first heard about barefoot or minimalist running in a fitness magazine. Then the Maffetone method brought it up again. Then it came up again in 'Born to Run' and I started to do some more investigation.

The basic theory is this: our foot was designed to run without any cushioning or stabilization. The foot has a massive number of bones which give it a natural shock absorption when running on the middle to balls of our feet. However, with the introduction of more cushioned shoes, we have started landing on our heels, which is not how we are designed to run and leads to a lot of the injuries runners seem plagued with.

The solution? Go back to running in bare feet and very soon your posture and foot fall will go back to the more natural movement (possible with some retraining).

Generally, there is a lot of internal logic to this argument.

1. striking the ground heel first does seem an unnatural and jarring movement if you aren't wearing padded shoes.

2. deconditioning elements in your feet and legs that usually stabilize the foot would lead to injury.

3. runners are generally plagued by injuries.

So, the movement is not altogether crazy. If you watch some of the videos out there, a lot of the proponents of the movement seem slightly on the hairy palm side of normal, but the general principle that you should reduce the padding in your shoes and try to run with a more natural mid to ball striking gait seems sensible.

So where can you sign up?

Now slow down. If you are anything like my eldest brother, and a large proportion of men appear to be in some respects, then you will jump straight in, kick off your shoes, try to run a marathon and end up injuring yourself. 

First warning: obviously the skin on the bottom of our feet is not as tough as it would be, so some form of footware is necessary at least to begin with.

Second warning:  after years and years of running in shoes, a lot of the muscles and stablizers that normally would be super strong are not so strong and can become inflamed if you go straight into long runs in anything close to bare feet.

Have you ever spent a day at the beach and after walking on sand for a hours the next day your foot is cramping and sore? Well, that's because you are expecting it to adjust to the moving sand, something it's totally not use to and the muscles fatigue just like any muscle with a new exercise.

Going straight to barefoot running is a milder, but similar form of this.

So, if you are interested in this movement, I recommend working towards it in three steps:

First, try to get a pair of runners with the least amount of padding and the most flexibility that you can tolerate. Usually, super cheap running shoes work well for this.

Second, actively work on building up your foot muscles.

My top exercise suggestions:

- If you can, walk on sand as much as you can.

- Walk around your house barefoot. 

- Every night while cleaning your teeth or chatting on the phone, balance on the ball of one foot, and work your way up to doing it with your eyes closed. This will strengthen all the stabilizers.

Third, look into getting some of the minimalist shoes out there once you feel comfortable. The five-fingered vibrams were some of the earliest, but a lot more have come onto the scene. Just remember that you should always start with a few sessions just walking in them, then build up to alternate walking and jogging and finally jogging/running normally.

In the next post I'm going to look more at the technique for barefoot running, and then in the third post I'll review some of the different barefoot products out there, as well as looking at how to make your own... just because you know you want to.

Sugar Detoxing Fail

From Stock.xchng uploaded by silviogs

Sugar detoxing is hard!

It's probably even harder if you manage to actually cut out the sugar. But even just trying to do that is difficult.

So, on Sunday I said I was going to cut out the sugar this week, caffeine next week, and increase my low level cardio in line with the Primal Blueprint, before going on my health retreat in two weeks' time.

The fact that I had to have a fasting blood test on Monday did not really help. Almost passed out again in the doctor's surgery, but that could also have been because I'm not great with needles, and tend to do weird breathing while one is stuck in me.

So needed something quick, but without sugar. So I got a juice, which faithfully said it had no added sugar. But is juice cheating? It feels like it should be cheating.

I also got a turkey wrap for my late breakfast because I couldn't find much else, and fear that the cranberry sauce probably had sugar too.

For lunch I was super good and had sausages, steamed veggies and a roast tomato. So definitely going well on the extra veggies and protein.

Walked for 2 hours after work (only one hour was intentional, the extra hour was because the tram didn't come.)

Shopping for meat for dinner I found that so much of it is basted in... sugar! Ended up getting these mini pork roasts with chilli and corriander which were really nice (and supposedly sugar free). I also roasted some eggplant, tomato, capsicum and chunks of garlic (I live by myself, who cares if I have bad breath?) with some olive oil along. And that was it for the night.

This morning I had sausages and salad for breakfast (weird, I know, but breakfast salad is becoming a thing, just wait.) But then at work one of the girls brought in Mochi, which I love, and turns out to have like five different types of sugar in it. I admit I cracked.

Then at lunch grabbed an iced white tea, only to find after I had bought it that it had cane sugar as the second ingredient after water! Natural cane sugar, though, does that make it any better? (Don't worry, that one's a joke).

Continued on the downhill slope with sweet chilli salmon for my mid-afternoon snack, but was good after that with most roast pork with veggies and some apple for dinner.

So, starting all over again tomorrow.

Anyone know: is juice and fruit allowed when trying to detox from sugar?

Think I'm going to make up some date and almond balls, as had them at a yoga retreat recently and it was just as good as chocolate. Will let you know how they go.

How To Get Started On The Primal Blueprint Diet

To be honest, looking over the various different requirements, mirco-nutrients balancing ,etc. involved in the Primal diet can be a bit overwhelming. I know I said I would put my money where my mouth was and try it, but help!

However, Mark has put together an e-book of questions he asked his faithful followers to answer. One of the questions was basically where should a beginner start?

Most emphasised that you should start slow, as it is a lifestyle change, not a 'diet' as such, which is generally good advice. Some recommended throwing out everything in your pantry that didn't fit with the program (or giving it to charity), while others just suggested only buying primal from now on and slowly get rid of the rest. I'm thinking I'll go the slower approach. If I'm going to crack, it is most likely going to be while I'm at work or coming home passing the supermarket anyway.

The three practical steps that kept coming up again and again were:

1. Cut out sugar.
2. Get rid of grains.
3. Start doing more exercise.

Looking at those three things, and taking it slow, I think I might be able to do this, for a little while at least.

I also have some added incentive now. I've got two weeks of annual leave starting next week, and am arranging to spend the second week at The Golden Door in New South Wales at their 7 day health retreat!

(Okay, have always wanted to go there, and it is super expensive, but I'm really, really looking forward to it. You will be getting full details on all the different exercise classes and wellness programs I do, don't worry.)

As my best friend pointed out, if I'm going to be spending all this money and doing this for a week, I might as well spend these next two weeks getting ready for it so I can really see even greater changes and enjoy it more.

The biggest problem is that you can't have any caffeine while you are there. Now, I don't drink that much coffee or coke, but I do go through about 6 - 7 cups of jasmine green tea a day. While not bad for you, it does have a lot of caffeine. Just to check, I didn't have any today and have developed quite a headache by late afternoon to the point where I had just one cup to try and nullify it a bit.

So, will need to detox from caffeine before going as well. Therefore, don't think I can do everything.

I can see the dangers in sugar, and know that it is meant to be as addictive as crack. Grains I'm not so convinced that they are trying to poison me. Exercise, however, is always good to do.

So I'm going to try to sugar detox this week, up my exercise and get off the caffeine next week. I'll try to reduce the carbs I have and focus on increasing my protein and veggies, but I'm not going to cut them out altogether.

Sound pretty fair?

(Or course, all I can think of now is almond croissants, but still...)

Wish me luck!

Primal Blueprint Fitness Program Review

In the last post I looked at the diet plan of the Primal Blueprint, the brain child of Mark Sisson. Today I thought I would look at the fitness aspect of the program.

It is based on the same fundamental principle as the diet aspect: what is best for us is what we were doing for tens of thousands of years.

What makes the best fitness program? Something that mimics the types of movements and activities we needed to do while hunter-gatherers.

He points out we have been walking, lots and lots, sprinting in a few cases, and then lifting heavy things.

Most of that is pretty self-explanatory, but what types of exercise mimic the lifting heavy things?

"Humans have been squatting, horizontal pressing, vertical pressing, climbing, and using their torsos to resist pushing and pulling forces for millions of years."
(See A Fitness Plan So Easy A Caveman Did It.)

How all this should fit together is best summarised by Mark's Primal Blueprint Fitness Pyramid:

He explains this further:

Lift Heavy Things – Resistance training is the cornerstone of fitness. Stronger people live longer, survive hardships better, and are able to enjoy life more fully than weaker people. Two to three Lift Heavy Things workouts of 7-30 minutes each week, employing the Four Essential Movements.

Run Really Fast Every Once in Awhile – Sprinting is the biggest “bang for your buck” exercise. It’s brutally effective and highly efficient, promoting growth hormone release, fat burning, and lean mass building, but you know why I really like sprinting? It’s over in ten to fifteen minutes, and you only gotta do it once a week.

Move Frequently at a Slow Pace – Slow movement is the foundation of fitness. Walking, hiking, gentle cycling… these aren’t about burning calories, they’re about maintaining the movement and the ability to move. Three to five hours a week.


And that's the basics of his method.

The things I like about his fitness program:
1. It's pretty simple, you don't have to know much about exercise to be able to do most of it.
2. It's reasonably balanced with some weights, anaerobic and aerobic exercise.
3. The majority of the exercise being done is aerobic so as a fitness program shouldn't be too stress inducing for a beginner. It would be difficult to over-train following this program.


One thing against it is that it requires a lot more time than most people are prepared to give to exercise when they are first starting out. People find it difficult to exercise for 30mins 3 times a week, which only really covers the weights and the sprinting, and doesn't account for the large amount of time needed for the cardio work.

So optimistically I think it is a great program, but realistically I don't know if many beginners are actually going to spend that much time. Most people have trouble sticking to the couch to 5k program which really is only 30mins 3 times a week.

However, if you can start adding in the longer, slower cardio work as part of your everyday life (walk to work once or twice a week, go for a bike ride on the weekend), and then use your 'exercise' time for the weights and sprinting, then you could see real results.

I don't really see that many other downsides to the program. What do you think? 

Diet Plan Reviews: Primal.

Everyone knows that eating right is important. However, with the vast array of different diet plans and programs out there, it is amazing anyone eats anything at all! Yesterday it was no fat, eat carbs, today it is fats are good but low carbs, tomorrow it's eat only lemons!

So, in keeping the the review series, I thought I would start looking at some of the different diet plans out there. Instead of starting with an obvious one, I thought I would start with one that maybe not all of you have heard of. It is a new-ish movement, built on previous movements, called 'Primal'. It has been developed and promoted by Mark Sisson, in book and blog form.


It bares some relation to the low-carbs/Atkins style diets, but developed from the Paleo diet that came out a few years ago now.

Like most diet plans these days, it is not just about food, but includes lifestyle and fitness etc. Mark has created a 10 step blueprint for what life should be like. However, for the sake of this review, I'm just going to outline his dietary suggestions.

Brief Overview:
The basis of the theory is that all creatures function best eating their evolutionary diets. As grains were only introduced to the human diet reasonably recently in evolutionary terms (last 10,000 years), our bodies are not adapted to eating them and do not function at their optimum with a diet heavy with such carbohydrates. Instead, we should be focused on the food available to hunter-gatherers such as meat, fish, fowl, nuts, seeds, fruit, roots and tubers.


His Eating Plan:
In very simple terms (taken from his site).

Protein takes priority.


Limit carbs to just enough to provide glucose for the brain and to provide energy for occasional anaerobic exercise.

Learn to love fats.

(Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-the-primal-eating-plan/#ixzz2I8VgiBoj)


My Thoughts:

There are definitely some parts of his logic I don't agree with. For example, he makes the argument that grains have developed natural 'anti-nutrients' in order to stop them being eaten, so that they can fall and grow instead. 

"The grain is anything but defenseless, though. It has an array of chemical defenses, including various lectins, gluten, and phytic acid, that disrupt your digestion, cause inflammation, and prevent you from absorbing vital nutrients and minerals." (see http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-agriculture-ruined-your-health-and-what-to-do-about-it/).

This seems a rather weak argument, and while not necessarily a central point to his theory, it does suggest that a lot of his theory is based on things he's experienced to be true, but then has tried to justify it with weak logic/cause and effect etc.  So, it might be best to use the same steps he is using but not necessarily buy into all his explanations. 

However, what about the basis that we should eat what our ancestors ate? 

Most of the suggestions for eating are pretty healthy in general: cutting out fast food, reducing sugar and sodium intake and eating fresh are sensible suggestions. Further there is a growing support for focusing on eating nutrient dense food, so more veggies and fruit is great. 

The program is pretty down on dairy, which to be honest I'm not a fan of. I love my milk, cheese and yogurt, and getting enough calcium without them takes some serious planning. With two grandmothers in their 80's and 90's I know what not having enough calcium does to you.  

The big debated issue is the carbs Vs. protein, which comes down to: have our bodies adapted to eating grains in the last 10,000 years?

It is difficult to tell in that Primal eaters point to the reduced stature of cultures that were mainly carb based, and the increase in size with protein, along with the growing obesity epidemic. However, there are so many confounding variables in such historical studies. Often the groups pointed to were peasant farmers who ate little else than carbs, so did not have other micro nutrients, and then there were people within those societies that were eating large amounts of meat but were still very small. And the current obesity problem, I would argue, is more related to the increase in sugar and trans-fats along with a severe reduction in exercise and other calorie burning activities such as staying naturally warm than just carbs.

On the flipside, there is growing evidence of a number of digestive diseases related to grains. So obviously some people do have problems processing these. 

So, overall: the aim of eating primal, with a focus on fresh, natural food that is nutrient dense is a great goal. 
Whether you should cut out dairy and healthy grains and legumes (so, maybe not croissants and poptarts) is something I'm not completely sold on. 

But, I should put my money where my mouth is, shouldn't I? 

Over the next week I will do more research into the Primal diet, and try implementing it for a month. 
If anyone wants to join me, give a shout out and I'll send you more information (or you can check out Mark's Daily Apple which has all the info, you can also get his book from Amazon: The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy (Primal Blueprint Series) ) 

Too Busy Feeling Sorry For Myself...

What is the point of having a blog if you can't occasionally have a sulk on it?

So, was being all super sporty and active riding my bike home from work. The sun was out, it was a beautiful day, there were people everywhere for the Australian Open Tennis. I had just rounded a corner going slightly up hill, so luckily not going too fast and then...

Well, not quite sure what happened. It appears I fainted.

Lost vision, felt like I was still going forward until the ground side swiped me from the right.

Rolled onto my back and waited for my vision to clear again and found a small crowd of people staring at me, in a very nice, concerned sort of way.

Luckily did nothing major. Scrapped my elbow and hand, and have a growing bruise on my hip, but other than that came out pretty unscathed. Except for my pride that is. Everyone got me to sit down, and wanted to work out why I had fainted. Had I had too much sun? Had I drunk enough water that day? As I had been inside at my desk all day, couldn't really claim heat exhaustion, or anything else particular.

Then had to walk the rest of the trip home as the rest of the path is beside the river, and if I lost it again and fell in, that could be quite bad.

So, this is my explanation why I haven't found something more interesting to tell you, too busy feeling sorry for myself :D

Until next time...