If you are like me and time can be tight to fit in training (even when you work at a gym) having some good quality equipment at home can really be a lifesaver. Everybody knows that New Year’s is a time to make changes, but somehow people always seem to find a way to not follow through. Well I am here to take away a bunch of your excuses. Building a home gym can really help keep you on point, but if you are also like me and making your home gym cost-effective is a large priority, and you have limited space, then I have some good tips for you.
Due to CP getting busier, and my life in general just seeming busier, my training time has been reduced. In order to compensate for this I have set up a little home gym on the cheap to allow me to keep up my activity, even in the freezing cold of New England winter. Here are my top 5 tools of choice to help keep you and me getting in those consistent sessions, with a combined cost of under $250.
1. Foam Roller. This is an essential and cheap component to any home gym. Soft tissue work will make you feel brand new, keeping you healthy to train hard long-term. If you are unsure of how to foam roll, watch this.
2. Iron Gym. This is a nifty little piece of equipment I picked up a few weeks ago. This is a phenomenal way to get in some upper body pulling, and I am very impressed with how solidly built it is. It only took about 5 minutes to set up, and it can hold up to 300lbs. For just under $30, it is worth every penny.
3. Kettlebells.Kettlebells are awesome for metabolic work. Whether you do swings, cleans, snatches, Turkish get-ups or use it for anything you would use a dumbbell for, a kettlebell is an awesome piece of equipment for your home gym and can instantly add a ton of variety and conditioning.
4. TRX Suspension System. The TRX allows for some awesome things that you could usually never do at home. With the TRX you can do just about anything. You can hook it up to your Iron Gym and do pushup variations, rowing variations, single leg work, squat progressions, ab work and so much more. One of the most versatile pieces of equipment available.
5. Assorted Bands. Bands can allow you to make a lot of exercises harder without having a ton of equipment. You can use the bands to make pushup variations harder, make squat variations harder, use for band pullaparts, stretching and more. Accomodating resistance equipment (like bands and chains) can add a whole new stimulus to your training and really increase results.
Bonus Equipment
Jump Rope. I think this one is pretty self-evident. Cheap go-anywhere piece of metabolic conditioning equipment that just about anyone knows how to use.
Valslides. These fun little slides allow for some great variety in your training. Doing reverse lunges on these will help you discover your posterior chain. You can also use them for non-impact mountain climbers, hip-extended leg curls, lateral lunges and more.
Basically what it comes down to is no matter your budget, work schedule, space or any other variable you can think of, you are only limited by your willpower and creativity. Now get training!
My epic blog post a few days ago (The Case Against Conventional Dairy) has generated a lot of talk and questions. It was by far my longest and most in depth blog to date, and so in covering all that ground it obviously left some people wanting more answers! I will do my best to provide a few here today, to continue to clear up any remaining or lingering questions.
Q: I rememeber reading about dangers of milk pasterisation(sp). So maybe this “casein-cancer connection” actually is “heat-treated casein-cancer connection”.
A: While I am no fan of pasteurization as it destroys the beneficial bacteria in raw milk which actually make it more digestible for people with mild lactose intolerance, it destroys the taste of the milk (ever had a glass of raw milk?, much sweeter and creamier) as well as causing large increases in 7-keto cholesterol content, which is a dangerous oxidized cholesterol, I do not think it is the cause of the casein-cancer connection. Wow that was a long sentence. Yogurt is pasteurized and it’s casein content is not linked to the issue, so I don’t think that is the problem. Now might the pasteurization process denature some of the casein and make it worse? That is within the realm of possibility, but as of right now I would definitely not state that pasteurization is what causes the connection.
You have to keep in mind that cows milk is much higher in protein, in particular casein, than human milk. Human milk is much higher in whey. Back home in Maine I found unpasteurized Greek yogurt at a local natural foods store near my parents home. Talk about jackpot!
Q: Do you think a acid/base balanced diet is a possible reason why diseases associated with a lack of calcium are not prevalent where cow’s milk is a neglible part of the diet?
A: To be totally honest I am unsure how I feel about acid/base balance. The kidneys are actually quite good at keeping things on an even keel. While it is true that the average American eats a highly acidic diet, I just don’t know if it is enough by itself to cause the increased fractures risk. It could certainly be a contributing factor, and obviously eating more alkaline foods (like fruits and vegetables, especially spinach) and less acidic ones (refined carbohydrates, sugary foods, fried foods) is just a great thing for health overall, as well as acid/base balance. So it is definitely possible that the data is skewed because nations like the US who consume more cow’s milk, and therefore calcium, and have more fractures also have more access to and consume more crappy acidic foods.
The way I look at it is you should be eating as many basic foods as possible, and minimizing acidic foods for overall health anyway, and acid/base balance will be improved as a nice little side effect. If you top it off with a little Greek yogurt consumption you get a nice dose of protein, immune and digestive boosting probiotics, as well as a nice dose of calcium without contributing highly to the acid side of things.
Q: Hey Brian, Just curious, if you could gain access to raw milk, would this change?
A: Maybe. While I do think raw milk is a HUGE step up over conventional store-bought milk, even the organic kind, I would still want to know a few things. How much grazing and pasture time does the cow get? How much corn or silage are they fed in addition to grazing? Are they artificially inseminated and kept pregnant year-round? Are the milking the cow through all phases of pregnancy? Things like that.
If the cow get the vast majority of its calories from pasture grazing then you know the milk will be higher in cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid, omega-3′s and from a healthier cow. If they only milk the cows at the beginning of their pregnancy or after they give birth then the amount of dangerous estrogens is reduced dramatically, to levels that have not been found to be problematic. If those conditions are met, then it is a much healthier product. I also like to think that the probiotics in the raw milk, like lactobacillus acidophilus somewhat inhibits that casein-cancer connection and then we have a pretty good food.
What it comes down to is asking these questions to the people who produce your milk, find someone who makes it the way you want it, and I think some small consumption should be just fine as we have been consuming it for thousands of years without problem.
A small reminder for those interested in losing that post-holiday weight. The other day I sent out an email link to a video of Dr. John Berardi talking about his two latest programs – Lean Eating For Men and Lean Eating For Women.
Far and away, the most frequent questions had to do with his $40,000 in prize money. $10,000 to the top female winner and $10,000 to the top male winner. Plus, 5k to each of a few runners up.
Click HERE to check out the blog post announcing this amazing prize.
You see, the biggest transformations, body transformations or otherwise, are accomplished when people have big incentives. And I’d say 10 thousand bucks qualifies as a big incentive all right. But big inspiring goals also need some potential punishment. Or, some risk.
And in today’s video, Dr Berardi shows you how to coerce yourself into sticking to the plan, even when the motivation wanes. Enter “the best kept secret in weight loss.”
So, if you’re REALLY interested in changing your body this New Year and you’d like a little extra incentive for doing so, this is definitely a program you need to check out.
Again, this message is time sensitive. From what I hear there are A LOT of people clamoring to get in on the program.
So check out these posts below. I know you won’t be disappointed.
Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the dairy week, and if any of you have any more questions on the topic, please feel free and I will do my best to give them a thoroughly detailed and honest answer.
Dr. John Berardi and his Precision Nutrition team are launching their annual Lean Eating Coaching Program today. This is a one-of-a-kind program that produces tremendous results. Perfect example is a Cressey Performance summer intern. He completed the program before coming to CP last summer, and here were his results:
Top Transformation – Runner-Up
Runner-Up
Shinrock
Total Changes:
20 lbs lost
6% body fat lost according to calipers
Before/After Photos:
He got lean!
Now not only are Dr. Berardi and company putting on this tremendous program, when I watched this video he sent over, and learned that he’s giving away $40,000 of his own money, that definitely got my attention. Check out this blog post for yourself, HERE.
Now, to qualify for this reward, you have to participate in the Lean Eating program. But that’s a no brainer. You should want to do that ANYWAY if you’re interested in body transformation because there is nothing else like it. You get 6 months of world class coaching, the type of coaching you can’t find, well, anywhere (except with me of course). And, during these 6 months, if you achieve the best body transformation, you’ll win 10K.
Worst case scenario, you come out with the best body of your life. Best case scenario, you come out with the best body of your life, and 10 GRAND. So, I highly encourage you to check out this post below. In it, Dr Berardi shares with you two critical components for body transformation success. And then he tells you exactly how one man and one woman are going to swoop in and claim $10 G’s of his own money.
Now, this message is time sensitive. No, it’s not gonna self-destruct or anything. However, spots are limited in this program. And LOTS of people want in.
So, if you’re interested in finding out exactly how to eat to get in the best shape of your life, click the link below. 10 grand may be waiting for you on the other side. Check out the Lean Eating Program right HERE.
An online consulting client of mine sent me a link to a recent article in the NY Times. It was on one of my “favorite” topics, The Biggest Loser. Now I know that a lot of people like this show, they find it inspirational. I get that. I wrote an entire blog about that.
Unfortunately I think this show promotes unhealthy and unrealistic habits along with dangerous training. Apparently the contestants agree. According to the article the winner of season one, Ryan Benson, who lost 122lbs on the show, did so in part by fasting and dehydrating himself to the point where he was urinating blood. That is near renal failure/death. That is not what I call healthy weight loss. What I don’t like about the show is that is does not reward learning lifestyle changes that lead to long-term weight loss and maintenance of a healthy weight, it promotes maximal weight loss at all costs.
I have always been slightly surprised that more people do not get injured on the show, but we are starting to see it more and more. Last season there was a hip injury and an injury during a very ill-fated marathon. This season alone there have already been two contestants sent to the hospital, one by air lift due to serious heat-stroke.
Here is one of my favorite quotes of the article, discussing the health implications associated with such severe caloric restriction, six hours per day training and the rapid weight loss they lead too:
“I’m waiting for the first person to have a heart attack,” said Dr. Charles Burant, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Health System director of the Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center.
“I have had some patients who want to do the same thing, and I counsel them against it,” Dr. Burant said. “I think the show is so exploitative. They are taking poor people who have severe weight problems whose real focus is trying to win the quarter-million dollars.”
I agree completely with that quote. I think these people are just being exploited and their health and actual results are a distant second to ratings. Now I love the fact that this show inspires people to exercise and eat better, I love it. What I don’t love are the methods it promotes and the expectations it creates for people to have for their own results, which can’t be replicated in the real world. If you want to read more great points about this topic, the great strength coach Robert Dos Remedios wrote an excellent blog perfectly encapsulating my thoughts right here.
I have nothing against people trying to get in shape, and I understand they want the results to come quickly and efficiently, but there are healthier alternatives to starvation and all day training. An effective protocol I have used in the past was the Warp Speed Fat Lossprogram, where I lost about 12lbs in one month. Recently a new and improved Warp Speed Fat Losswas launched, which you can check out here.
This morning thinking about what I wanted to blog I had a ton of different and completely unrelated thoughts running through my head. I decided that I would just write about all of them, and in honor of Tony Gentilcore I named the post Miscellaneous Monday. Enjoy!
1. Anna and I spent a quick weekend in Maine during Halloween, just spending time with our families. I of course checked out the local Hannaford to see what kind of food options were available since I hadn’t shopped there in years. I was shocked at some of the fantastic options, at such better prices than Connecticut (shocker I know, but seriously, so much cheaper). In the “Natural Food” section they had raw cheese, full fat Greek yogurt (which is usually available at natural food stores, but rarely in a traditional supermarket), all manner of almond and hemp milk, tons of sprouted grain products including breads, English muffins and wraps, quinoa and more. Needless to say I was very impressed with the selection.
So if you live in Maine, especially around the Lewiston-Auburn area you have no excuses when it comes to high quality food selection. Not only that but there are tons of small local farms for quality produce, meat and eggs in addition to many small natural food stores (like Axis Natural Foods in Auburn). Maine is a healthy eater’s dream.
2. Speaking of almond milk, I just tried it for the first time a few weeks ago, and I must say I was very impressed. After some more reading on problems with dairy, I am cutting my consumption down to Greek yogurt and whey protein, with the very occasional cottage cheese snack (I plan on writing a large article about the topic, just have to find the time). I haven’t drank much milk in a long time anyway, but I was looking for a healthier alternative. Soy milk was definitely out of the picture because it sucks, rice milk tends to be quite high in carbs and sugar for my taste, so I thought I would give almond milk a try. I bought Pacific Natural Foods organic unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and even by itself it was quite good.
Like I noted in a recent blog, I have been experimenting with a small protein shake before I train. Instead of water I have now been using 8oz of the almond milk, with 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, cinnamon to taste and a banana, or I blend the milk, protein and cinnamon with an apple. It is absolutely awesome and helps to keep my energy levels up while I train. I highly recommend you give it a try.
3. For a completely random occurrence yesterday Anna and I were doing our usual Sunday grocery shopping. I was grabbing some eggs when I hear Anna start to talk to someone behind me. I turn around to see her talking to our friend Cassandra Forsythe. Talk about random! Cass works at a gym not too unlike CP just down the street, but still what are the chances? We chatted for a minute, of course talked about some nutrition stuff, about her pregnancy and just life in general. So this isn’t so much an important comment, just an interesting one.
4. Use your lazy Sunday to prepare yourself for the week. I know it has been written about ad nauseam, but it really can make a huge difference in your food consumption for the week. Last night Anna and I made her chili recipe, cooked a family pack of chicken breast, and chopped our veggies. This makes our daily food prep so much more convenient and so much faster. Just do it.
5. If any of you are worried about the usual holiday weight gain, utilize tip #4 to control your food choices and intake. If that isn’t enough, don’t forget about Mike Roussell and Alwyn Cosgrove’s awesome Warp Speed Fat Loss 2.0. This product will help strip those holiday pounds off and more, and would be perfect to start as your New Year’s resolution because it works, plain and simple. Get it HERE.
Hey folks, sorry for the delay. My website has been having some technical difficulties (I know some of you weren’t able to even read the last post, I am working on it), my wife has been sick with the flu (she is better now) and life has just been crazy.
Anyway, before I get started I wanted to make a quick announcement. As many of you know I did the Warp Speed Fat Loss protocol back in January. I figured if I was recommending it to people, I might as well give it a shot myself! It worked great, I lost about 11lbs and was my fitness level was through the roof! A hardcore CP client did the program with me, and he lost about 12lbs, and saw his abs for the first time since we was 12!
Fortunately for us, Mike Roussell & Alwyn Cosgrove have spent the last year refining and improving this incredible system, and have released a new and improved version, Warp Speed Fat Loss 2.0. I got a sneak peek at it and I must say, it looks awesome! Next month that same CP client is going back at it again with this program before he heads off to Caribbean beach after the holidays. I am actually contemplating going through this hell again with him, I thought I never would, but the new program looks that good. Do yourself a favor, pick up a copy, or buy it for a loved one (buying presents early is a life-saver) and now you won’t have any excuse not to complete your New Year’s resolution. Get it HERE.
Vegetarianism Part 2
I wrote a monster blog post last week on my thoughts on vegetarians, please check out part 1 of that series HERE.
In Part 1 I outlined many (though not all) of the reasons that people choose to become vegetarians. How terrifying our food production has become, and the utterly inhumane treatment of the animals we consume. People then choose to no longer support this corrupt industry, and stick to only plant-based food choices. This may not seem like such a bad choice, but unfortunately many people do not educate themselves on how to meet all of their nutritional requirements after eliminating meat from their diet, as it does contain a few nutrients that are nearly impossible find to large enough quantities in the plant kingdom. So, does being a vegetarian ensure better health?
Not Real Food
It all depends on how much they educate themselves. In my opinion people can be vegetarians and be incredibly healthy, but it does take education and effort. How does a vegetarian get enough vitamin B-12, or enough iron in their diet? Many vegetarians would have no idea how to answer this question, and therein lies a problem. (to be fair most meat eaters have no idea where to get those nutrients either, but lucky for them, their meat contains both in abundant quantities)
Through my practice I have met many vegetarians, who range from some of the most nutritionally educated people I have ever had the pleasure of talking to, to young girls who read that becoming vegetarian will make them thin. Becoming a vegetarian requires more effort than most people realize. Subsisting on pasta and veggie burgers may in fact be vegetarian eating, but it is certainly far from the ideal model of health. There are just as many pitfalls, if not maybe more, in eating vegetarian, if only because the food selection is now more limited, so the margin of error is smaller.
To be a healthy vegetarian I urge you to ensure that nearly all of your food comes from more nutrient dense options. Choose grains that are provide tons of nutrition; things like quinoa, buckwheat and sprouted grains, especially since all of these provide complete proteins and plenty of micronutrition along with significantly less anti-nutrients. Eat plenty of seeds and nuts to get in healthy fats, fiber, and more protein. If you are trying to gain an appreciable amount of mass or are trying to maintain lean mass while losing weight and you want to up your protein intake you do have some good options. If you do still consume eggs and dairy obviously whey or egg protein is fine, if not you can go to something like hemp or sprouted rice protein. Your best bets in that regard are a new hemp protein that I am quite impressed with called Hemp Pro 70 by Manitoba Harvest, which is also very reasonably priced, or Sun Warrior Rice Protein, which is a little on the pricey side.
For those of you who do still eat dairy and eggs, obviously these can be great sources of protein, especially things like Greek yogurt and omega-3 eggs. Making good food choices is still the name of the game. To actually get that vitamin B-12 I was talking about earlier vegetarians either have to supplement or consume fermented foods like sauerkraut. For iron, the best sources are chick peas, spinach and beans. Obviously very doable, but how many people actually eat sauerkraut on a regular basis? Like I said, it takes education and effort.
In the end you can do anything as a vegetarian that you could do as an omnivore. It is no more or less healthy, and it has just as many pitfalls. The food industry markets to this demographic heavily, and created a plethora of crappy food that are sold as vegetarian approved fare. The same basic rule still applies, whether omnivore or vegetarian: Eat Real Food.
So just because you eat soy burgers and whole grains and avoid meat does not make you healthier than everyone else. Remember that just because you may choose to no longer eat meat does not make you inherently healthier. If more omnivores cared about where their meat came from, and chose to purchase their meat/dairy/eggs from grass-fed, pastured and humanely treated sources along with eating plenty of high quality plant food, I would make the argument that you can’t get much healthier than that, and it is certainly the equal of a high quality vegetarian diet.
In conclusion: care about where your food comes from, make conscientious choices about your food selections, consume foods that make you feel good physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and strive to be as healthy as you can be. That is a recipe for success whether you choose to eat meat or not.
This past weekend my fiance and I moved apartments. (Hence the lack of blogging since the beginning of last week!) It was absolute hell. We did the move almost entirely on our own, and our bodies took a toll. Loading our rented moving truck, an absolute monster (it was supposed to be a 16 footer, instead they gave us a 26 footer!) was hard enough, but moving all our crap up three flights of stairs was even more fun. To top it all off, our couch had a slightly raised staple that cut us both up pretty good, making it look like we got into a vicious knife fight.
Me behind the wheel of this rig
We ate like absolute crap this weekend, since we were almost completely out of edible food and whatever was left was half packed away, half buried behind boxes. I ate food that I haven’t eaten in years and years. The worst part was we didn’t take many food breaks, so when we did it, we absolutely crushed food, crushed it! Even with the unholy amount of crappy calories I stuffed down my piehole, I managed to lose a few lb’s over the weekend! This goes to show the absolute amazing effectiveness of NEPA. NEPA (non-exercise physical activity) is a pretty broad term, and I’m not sure that moving heavy crap up and down stairs doesn’t fall under the category of exercise, but bear with me for the sake of argument.
When it comes to fat loss, every little bit counts. Leigh Peele, known for her ability to elicit fat loss from clients who have been stalled for years, is a huge fan of NEPA. In her book, The Fat Loss Troubleshoot, and in pretty much every interview she does Leigh hammers home the point of being more active, of just moving more. It sounds cliche to park your car further away, take the stairs instead of the elevator (right Cass?), but things like that really do add up. Fidgeting burns tons of calories. Just getting up every hour at work to take a 5-10 minute walk, or do pushups or bodyweight squats in the bathroom adds up as well. At the end of the day, you could be talking about several hundred extra calories burned without inhibiting recovery capacity from your actual exercise sessions (and possibly enhancing recovery with increased bloodflow), that really adds up over time.
Long story short, be more active! Take small walks before dinner. Take the stairs at work. Every hour get up from your chair and move around, do some bodyweight movements or stretch. Just move more! It really does help, you don’t have to move everything you own to lose a few pounds, but just moving your body a little more every day will help the process along nicely.
When Dr. John Berardi dropped me a line the other day,
telling me all about his new program, I thought for a second
the guy had lost his mind.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I respect Dr Berardi. He’s
recognized as one of the top nutrition coaches in the world.
And his programs get people results. Fast.
However, when I watched this video he sent over, and learned
that he’s giving away $20,000 of his own money, he definitely
got my attention.
Check out this blog post for yourself, right HERE.
Now, to qualify for this reward, you have to participate in
the Lean Eating program. But that’s a no brainer. You should
want to do that ANYWAY if you’re interested in body
transformation because there is nothing else like it.
You get 6 months of world class coaching, the type of coaching
you can’t find, well, anywhere. And, during these 6 months,
if you achieve the best body transformation, you’ll win 10K.
Worst case scenario, you come out with the best body of your
life. Best case scenario, you come out with the best body of
your life, and 10 GRAND.
So, I highly encourage you to check out this post below. In
it, Dr Berardi shares with you two critical components for
body transformation success.
And then he tells you exactly how one man and one woman are
going to swoop in and claim $10 G’s of his own money.
Now, this message is time sensitive. No, it’s not gonna self-
destruct or anything. However, spots are limited in this
program. And LOTS of people want in.
So, if you’re interested in finding out exactly how to eat to
get in the best shape of your life, click the link below. 10
grand may be waiting for you on the other side:
So I was thinking about what I wanted to blog today, and was really struggling to find a good topic. I wasn’t in the mood to write about a particular food, so I was putting it off by helping out some online clients and feeling kinda apathetic about a topic. Then my answer comes to me; my fiance puts the Biggest Loser on and I want to gouge my eyes out. I understand how this show can be inspiring and dramatic and can maybe actually motivate some people to lose weight. I get that. If it helps you get up and out and increase your activity, awesome. When you do though, please educate yourself. The exercise they put those poor people through is so idiotic and dangerous it boggles my mind. Standing on an overweight woman’s legs while she is doing a wall sit? Brilliant!
In all seriousness though, it really is INSANE that they make these people complete a marathon. People who are fit and train hard for that one purpose get injured doing that exact thing. What makes them think that unfit, overweight and still vastly undertrained individuals can do this without a significant risk of injury? One participant started having blood sugar complications and poor blood circulation like 5 miles in. It is doing these people a serious injustice, and misleading the uneducated people of America that this is a good way to get in shape. Running a marathon may not be easy, but I assure you, it is not anywhere near the safest nor most efficient method to get the body you want.
Now I am not trying to say that what this show did for these people is not amazing. The ones still on have each lost over 100lbs, an absolutely incredible achievement that I am not downplaying in the least. I am ranting about the training methods used, and shown to America as being the way people should train. It gives a terribly false impression and expectations of what a beginner’s training should look like. It is a battle that is really frustrating to have to wage, as it almost glorifies the training practices of the idiots in this industry.
Idiots
In the end, cheer for these people, vote for them, enjoy their journey and take inspiration from their effort and achievement, but please do not in anyway try to copy their methods. It will only leave you injured and further behind than before.
For those of you who have been long time readers of my blog, you will know that I am pretty good friends with Kevin Larrabee, the host of the FitCast, one of the highest rated fitness podcasts. Kevin was one of the first people to do Warp Speed Fat Loss, and he had tremendous results from that program, losing close to 10lbs. He is back at it again with the help of the great Leigh Peele and her Fat Loss Troubleshoot.
Kevin has had tremendous progress, which you can follow along with right here, with the code name Destination: Abs. Leigh is one of the best at what she does, has helped hundreds of people get the bodies they want, and has one of the best programs on the market. So what do you have to lose?
Another interesting article brought to my attention by former CP client Gregg Taliercio about the lack of support for running shoes in keeping people healthy, whether cheap runners or loaded to the gills with the newest technology. One of the most interesting quotes from the article was this:
Every year, anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are, no matter how much you run, your odds of getting hurt are the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, fast or slow, pudgy or taut as a racehorse, your feet are still in the danger zone.
The painful truth, especially hot on the heels of the Boston Marathon (nice work Steph and Aimee) is that long distance running beats the shit out of you. Long distance runners are usually either injured, or recovering from an injury, and it is a repetitive vicious cycle. And it appears, the shoe choices do not help.
In a paper for the British Journal Of Sports Medicine last year, Dr Craig Richards, a researcher at the University of Newcastle in Australia, revealed there are no evidence-based studies that demonstrate running shoes make you less prone to injury. Not one.It was an astonishing revelation that had been hidden for over 35 years. Dr Richards was so stunned that a $20 billion industry seemed to be based on nothing but empty promises and wishful thinking that he issued the following challenge: ‘Is any running-shoe company prepared to claim that wearing their distance running shoes will decrease your risk of suffering musculoskeletal running injuries? Is any shoe manufacturer prepared to claim that wearing their running shoes will improve your distance running performance? If you are prepared to make these claims, where is your peer-reviewed data to back it up?’
Dr Richards waited and even tried contacting the major shoe companies for their data. In response, he got silence.
It’s not really that big of a surprise is it? Big companies are about big business, telling people to run barefoot or for thousands of miles in old thin shoes is not conducive to big business. Having strong feet can go a very long way to keeping you ankles, knees and hips healthy. One of the reasons we have people do their warmups in their socks, along with all deadlift variations and box squat variations, helping people grip the floor and learn to use the intrinsic muscles of the feet.
Of course, the article had it’s share of duds:
Humans need aerobic exercise in order to stay healthy,’ says Lieberman. ‘If there’s any magic bullet to make human beings healthy, it’s to run.
If that isn’t a line of complete and utter bullshit, then I don’t know what is.
Posted on December 28th, 2009 by Brian St. Pierre
51 Comments »