Here's a longer article on the rational behind going barefoot or wearing barefoot shoes from New York Magazine.
I want really want a pair of the vivobarefoot shoes mentioned in this article.
Here are some interesting quotes from the article:Consider a paper titled “Athletic Footwear: Unsafe Due to Perceptual Illusions,” published in a 1991 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. “Wearers of expensive running shoes that are promoted as having additional features that protect (e.g., more cushioning, ‘pronation correction’) are injured significantly more frequently than runners wearing inexpensive shoes (costing less than $40).” According to another study, people in expensive cushioned running shoes were twice as likely to suffer an injury—31.9 injuries per 1,000 kilometers, as compared with 14.3—than were people who went running in hard-soled shoes.
Yep, you can't fool mother nature. She made our feet the way they are for a reason.For years, rheumatologists have advised patients with osteoarthritis of the knees to wear padded walking shoes, to reduce stress on their joints. As for the knee-adduction moment, they’ve attempted to address it with braces and orthotics that immobilize the knee, but with inconsistent results. So the researchers at Rush tried something different: They had people walk in their walking shoes, then barefoot, and each time measured the stress on their knees. They found, to their surprise, that the impact on the knees was 12 percent less when people walked barefoot than it was when people wore the padded shoes.
Need I keep going? Ok, maybe one more...n a 1997 study, researchers Steven Robbins and Edward Waked at McGill University in Montreal found that the more padding a running shoe has, the more force the runner hits the ground with: In effect, we instinctively plant our feet harder to cancel out the shock absorption of the padding.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Longer read on going barefoot
Thursday, April 24, 2008
63 year old
Watch this video of a 63 year old women doing 6 pullups, 15 dips, and 11 feet elevated puhsups (they're harder that way)! Amazing!
Hat tip to Conditioning Research for the link.
The best recipes
As Dr. John Berardi says, "Most people view food very simply: it either tastes good, or it's good for you - never shall the two meet."
If that's what you believe, THEN YOU ARE WRONG.
How do I know?
Because I just received my copy of Dr. Berardi's book Gourmet Nutrition, and let me tell you that there are a lot of mmMMMmmmMMMm good foods in there. Check out a sample of the book here.
After shipping the book will cost $50, but how much is the body of your dreams worth to you? $50 is pittance compared the recipes this book provides, and will no doubt inspire you to create on your own.
Another good book I purchased recently was Dr. Jonny Bowden's "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth." They are perfect compliments to one another because Dr. Bowden's book serves as the grocery list, and Dr. Berardi's Gourmet Nutrition tells you what to do with it.
But if you only get one, opt for Gourmet Nutrition.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Feet hurt? Kick your shoes off...
I've been an advocate of barefoot living for a while now. The foot is really made to operate barefoot, but today we stuff our tootsies in cinder blocks which cause our body to compensate in various ways leading to malfunction.
I go barefoot whenever I can, and since I have the luxury of training at home I do all my workouts with no shoes. Furthermore, whenever I'm out and about I wear my Nike Free 3.0's. Nike Free's a shoe that simulate barefoot walking.
Anyways, today I caught this article on yahoo news about going barefoot.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Gary Taubes Lecture
If you've got some free time, listen to this lecture from Gary Taubes on his new book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories." I've read the book and listened to the lecture off and on. I'm still digesting it all, but it's all very fascinating.
The gist of the lecture is that we have misinterpreted the energy balance=energy intake-energy expenditure formula of weight loss. He also talks about the concept of "internal starvation" where your energy is pushed into fat cells and away from other cells, among other topics.
Check it out.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Natural trans fat good for you?
Now scientists are saying that naturally created trans fat are good for you, as opposed to the trans fats created by hydrogenation. Interesting.
Check out the story here.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
More on celebrity training
Here's another celebrity trainer that's got the right idea. His name is Joe Dowdell. Who's Joe Dowdell trained? Many of New York's top fashion model's, including Gisele Bundchen. What's his advice for getting towards a Victoria's Secrets like body? * Always build your exercise choices around exercises that utilize multiple joints, such as Squats,Deadlifts, Split Squats, Lunges, Step Ups, etc.
* Intensity is the key.
* Focus on strengthening the posterior chain, Hamstrings, Glutes and Lower Back, which is important for both aesthetics as well as function.
* Forget reading a magazine and spending 45-60 minutes on the Stairmaster doing cardio, perform at least 2 high intensity interval training sessions of cardio each week in conjunction with your weight training routine.
* ... I prefer using total body resistance training routines at least 3 times per week on non-consecutive days along with interval training sessions on the days in between resistance sessions. I find this to be the most effective manner to get people lean.
As Joe says in the quote, he has his Victoria's Secret clients perform squats and deadlifts. In case you're unfamiliar with deadlifts, here's a video:
When it comes to squats, Joe has said elsewhere that one of his Brazilian models can do back squats with 135 pounds, and she has amazingly slender legs.
Here's a video of a back squat. The demonstrator is using 95 pounds:
Here's a few more quotes from Joe:For instance with models... [they] will come in 3 times per week and we will do a total body workout and the off days will be energy system work (cardio). The strength program may consist of back squats with short rest before a pull up.
What type of cardio?Most women overdue cardio training, some do an hour a day, which is too much. I will tell them right away that changes will be made in the way they do their cardio and that the sessions will last 30 minutes at the most. Most of the time women look at me like I am crazy and say that they do not think it will be enough. I tell them not to worry about it and that the bottom line is caloric expenditure. You can burn more calories doing interval training, which is done at a higher intensity. You will get a better return on your time as well. The heart rate fat burning zones is a big myth.
I find that women tend to want to do more cardiovascular training then men. It is very difficult to convince some women that they are being counter-productive to their body compositional goals by doing 45-60 minutes of aerobic training a day. When it comes to body compositional goals, I like to utilize Interval Training with my clients.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Exercise and nutrition for female celebrities?
Most women don't want to look like this:
However, some women do, and that's ok. But most women prefer something more along the lines of...
So, the question is inevitably, how do they get that look?
First, I would be remiss if I didn't throw out the gene card. Some women just have different body proportions than others (longer/shorter legs and torso's ect.), and different propensities to store fat. But, that hardly means there isn't anything to learn or gain (or should I say ungain?) from how female celebrities get these bodies.
That's why I want to call into attention two recent interviews from some of Hollywood's top trainers.
Warning: The following links do not contain nudity but may not be work safe.
The first interview comes from trainer Valerie Waters, who has been responsible for the bodies of the likes of Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Kerry Washington, Lauren Holly, Elizabeth Berkeley, Jennifer Lopez, Cindy Crawford, and many others.
Valerie likes to say that she gets her clients "Red Carpet Ready," meaning that her clients often need to look good for a special event like the red carpet, or a movie or photoshoot. How does she do it? In reference to getting Jennifer Garner ready for a shoot, she states:The workouts prior to shooting were high intensity circuits, often mixed with running intervals.
The exact protocol that is recommended by the evolutionary fitness philosophy! What does she say about nutrition?The majority of carbs should come from vegetables and fruits and if you do eat starchy foods, make sure they are whole grain.... Have some protein every time you eat... Eliminate white flour, sugar, and foods made with them. Get the majority of your carbs from fibrous vegetables like broccoli and asparagus.
Can you say paleo diet? Notice how Valerie says "if you do" eat starch, as in, "you don't need to but if you do, at least make it whole grain." Again, we see a parallel between Valerie's philosophy and the evolutionary fitness concept which sates, "meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, little starch, and no sugar."
Jason Walsh, the next trainer to be interviewed also has a philosophy very akin to evolutionary fitness. Jason has worked with the likes of Jessica Biel, Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Garner.
When asked what he does with Jessica Biel, Jason replies:We do a lot of single leg squats, stair hopping, planks, med ball throws, and sprints.
Hopping, throwing, and sprinting are all inherently high-intensity-burst like activities. As we can see, a common theme between these two trainers is a lack of endless hours of cardio, and a concentration on more high-intensity/interval like activity. Jason goes on in detail about more of Biel's training where he uses exercises such as front squats, bounding, shuttle runs, and chin ups in addition to the exercises described above. One of the days he says they do boxing, which again is an inherently high-intensity/interval like activity.
So, two interesting interviews that give some more validation to the evolutionary fitness concept.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
How to lose 10 pounds of fat with without cardio!
I'm going to admit something. From about August 2007 to mid February of 2008 I was being really bad about eating and exercising. I got caught up in the this years presidential primaries and pretty much concentrated on nothing but that, forgoing fitness for those entire 5 1/2 months.
Needless to say, I put on a little fat - about 10 pounds. Well, it's all gone now and I can see my six pack again. How did I do it? Easy, I just ate a low-carb paleo diet concentrating on meats, veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds. For a month and a half I lifted weights and ate right, and I did "cardio" maybe once or twice. But the one or two times I did it, it wasn't traditional cardio where you run, bike, or elliptical for 45 minutes. It was deadlifts followed immediately by sprints, or verticals jumps, or pullups and pushups.
Just goes to show you that diet is a powerful determinant of body composition, so if you aren't seeing the fat loss that you hoped for, then look first at what you're doing with your diet.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
What is Fitness?
If fitness is to be the goal of any exercise program, one must first have a idea of what fitness is.
Improving fitness is commonly believed to be nothing more than improving strength, endurance, and body fat. While this sounds like common sense, my philosophy is that we should achieve fitness that is both broader and more specific.
Fitness is the ability to overcome life’s demands. Sometimes these demands include things like lifting, carrying, pulling, pushing, and throwing objects or our own bodyweight. The common definition of fitness does not take into account the balance, coordination, accuracy, and agility to required to overcome such demands and neither do common exercise prescriptions.
Enter functional fitness. Functional fitness takes into account that many of life’s demands require exercises that are specific to the movements that we perform in real life. For example, the strength to correctly lift a bag of groceries or a child is best developed by practicing lifting objects from the ground. But when was the last time lifting weights off the ground was part of your fitness routine?
Not only do functional exercises that mimic real life activities build useful strength, but they are also the most potent fat burners when done with lighter weights, higher repetitions, and lots of intensity. No more 45-60 minutes of cardio in the "fat burning" zone. 20 or less minutes is all you need.
Elite Fitness.
