Impressive Progress & Bare Feet?
Filed under: Nutrition, Training, Weight Loss
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.
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Posted on April 23rd, 2009 by Brian St. Pierre
6 Comments
April 24th, 2009 at 8:21 am
I have worn Asics, Nike, Saucony, Reebok and Brooks. At least 2 different shoes for each brand. I have serious shoe issues. And other ones too.
Marathon is over, time to lift some heavy sh*t.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
“Marathon is over, time to lift some heavy sh*t” — Somebody buy that girl a drink. Wait, I will tonight.
You hear that Aimee? Time to lift some heavy sh*t. Thursday nights, CP Satellite, be there.
April 24th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Brian,
I love your articles, I always learn so much.
That being said, After having tried a few other brands of running shoes, I fell in love with my Asics. I have never had any issues running in them. But what do I know?!
Deb
April 22nd, 2010 at 7:18 pm
are you saying that running it’s not good? maybe i’ve missed the point.
August 17th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I am a massage therapist and I work alongside a personal trainer who tells her clients that if running makes you happy, do it, but otherwise, she encourages other forms of cardio since the chance of joint damage is so great with running. I worry about that sentiment though, since I was hearing it back in high school, which is an awesome time to run, especially for girls, since it helps bones grow strong. As for the barefoot argument, there is a whole tribe of people in Mexico (or maybe elsewhere in Central America) who run hundreds of miles barefoot and they are just fine! Don’t even get me started on those “shape-up” shoes being offered these days…love the site, fresh interesting material!
July 13th, 2011 at 1:24 pm
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