Blog is Moving...

Hey Friends.-

     I decided to move my blog over to the All About Kettlebells site.  You can find it at http://allaboutkettlebells.com/category/delaine-ross-blog/

See you there!

Train Hard but Train Smart,

Delaine

Should I Snatch Heavy?

Back in May, I wrote a blog about whether we should go heavy or light in a Turkish Get-up.  The answer is "yes."  The same holds true of the kettlebell snatch.

When Kenneth Jay's book, Viking Warrior Conditioning, came out a few years ago many people in the RKC family just stopped snatching heavy.  Now, I am a fan of the Viking Warrior Conditioning protocol of 15:15 secs work: rest ratios of relatively light snatching for 20-40 minutes.  I did this program 2-3 times a week for about a month and was very lean as a result.  I'm all for VWC if done with proper form (there were many instances of short changed snatches that didn't finish at the top in an effort to get more in quicker but that is a different point) and if paired with heavy snatch days.

The heavy snatch is the yin to the light snatch yang - a phrase I also used to describe the relationship between the light and heavy get up.  They both have benefits and they both are important.  While you can get your heart rate up and get lean with both (If you want the science behind VWC, grab the book.  Kenneth explains it much better than I could) the heavy snatch will give you more power production. You won't get as many reps in, but you won't need to. Efficiency is a good thing!

How does this fit into a training program?  If you are designing a snatch intensive program, I would make one day a week more VWC style and do a whole bunch of light snatches (8 or 12kg for women, 16 or 20kg for men) for a long period of time (20-40 minutes with a 15:15 secs work:rest ratio) and then on another day, I would do 10 minutes of heavy snatching with the same work:rest ratio, but with a heavier bell.

Do your snatch practice AFTER your grinds.  This way you are not only safe, but you can go all out without worrying about saving energy for the slower strength exercises.

Should you snatch heavy?  Absolutely.  There is a place in your training for both light and heavy snatching and if one is left out, an important piece of a well rounded program is missing.

My Whole30 Experience

I've written about going grain and dairy-free before and spoken about how much better I feel without them.  I've also talked about how I discovered dairy breaks out my face and gluten makes my stomach hurt.  I was slowly stripping away the inflammatory foods but had never done a full Whole30 before July.

The Whole30 is not about fat loss, although you probably will experience fat loss if you do a Whole30.  It's about healing your gut, getting your hormones in balance and making yourself healthier by fueling yourself with the right foods.  The biggest change for me was the best sleep I have had since high school when I played two sports and more energy than I knew what to do with (seriously, I was ANNOYED at how much energy I had.)  The combination of energy and good sleep caused me to have better weight training sessions than I've had in a long time which led to muscle growth.  Over the course of my Whole30 I went from 16.3% body fat to 13.8% and I only exercised 9 times in those 30 days.

When I started the Whole30, I was already grain, legume and dairy-free.  I would indulge in dark chocolate almond sea salt bars and occasionally gluten-free cupcakes on the weekends but I thought I was in a good position.  All I had left to give up was added sugars, seed oils, and alcohol.  And wow, what a difference that made.

Let me back track a second and say I also like coffee.  I like coffee but I have the personality type where coffee doesn't really affect me.  I like the taste of coffee. You might say that is BS - and I thought it was too - until I did was Dallas and Melissa suggest and self-experimented.  I gave up my beloved coffee for 30 days.  What sparked this coffee quitting was the fact that I was having serious sleep problems.  I would fall asleep easily but would wake up around 3AM and not be able to fall back asleep before I was up at 530AM.  It was awful.  An interesting thing happened when I gave up coffee.  I had ZERO withdrawal symptoms, the same sleep issues, and 30 days later when I added coffee back in, I couldn't tell any difference.  It wasn't the coffee.  I think it was denial that kept me from experimenting with giving up wine, but after the Whole30, I KNOW that wine was the culprit.

When Condition Kettlebell Gym decided to do this as a group, I decided that I wanted to participate instead of just moderate.  I knew it was time that I got out of the habit of going to the pub next door and doing my accounting with a glass or two of wine... that would into a glass or two at a networking event later.  I knew I needed this challenge to break myself of the wine.

The transition was not too difficult - again, it was just a matter of preparing my own food and not drinking. But the energy was insane.  That may sound like a good thing, but it was extremely annoying to me.  All I wanted was a glass of wine to calm myself down.  It made me revisit hobbies, it forced me try new ones, I got back on track with things that are important to me like getting to Bible Study and organizing my apartment.  And by Day 29 - I was waking up after 8 hours of sleep without and alarm clock... just like I heard was possible.

The Whole30 has seriously changed my life.  The only things I have added in in the last 3 weeks are local, pastured bacon/sausage that has a small amount of sugar in the curing process and wine.  And I realize exactly what the wine is doing.  I'm not talking a lot of wine! I had ONE GLASS on Monday night and woke up at 3AM... ONE GLASS.  Now, instead of casually drinking it throughout the week and being sluggish and not sleeping - which affects EVERYTHING, I only drink it on the weekend... because I LIKE it and poor sleep on a Friday when I can sleep late on a Saturday is not the end of the world. At least I know it's side effects and can make a decision as to whether it's worth it.

The rest of the "stuff"?? I don't care if I ever eat grains or dairy again, and I haven't had a "dessert" in almost 2 months. I'm too afraid that I will get addicted to sugar again, that the dessert - even if it's "compliant" isn't psychologically worth it.

I highly recommend doing a Whole30 to learn how the foods you eat affect you - not just for fat loss...

How Heavy Should I Go in a Turkish Get-up?

One thing that I have noticed over the last few months is that there is some confusion on how heavy to do Turkish get-ups.  We TEACH get-ups very light.  We do that because students are moving around for the very first time with a weight overhead.  The newbie is not confident and there is a danger of dropping a weight on his head until he understands the movement.  Once a student owns the movement and learns to use his body as one unit - the way it is meant to be used - a much heavier bell can be used.  I believe that in our class, it's an instructor problem.  We haven't communicated that the get-up is not just a light warmup mobility exercise (although there are definite benefits there,) but that it should also be a serious strength exercise once the student owns the movement and has confidence.

"Naked" get-ups, shoe get-ups, very light get-ups are all great teaching tools as well as good practice and mobility work.  I think that when the awesome book and DVD set, Kalos Thenos came out people gave up heavy get-ups almost completely and replaced them with the light get-ups with neck/shoulder rotations and the high hip bridge - much like when people gave up heavy snatching altogether when Viking Warrior Conditioning came out.  I am not saying the Kalos Thenos get-up is bad - on the contrary, I think it is a great drill for both newbies and advanced lifters as well as an instructor tool to screen movement problems, asymmetries, spot tight hip flexors, and the list goes on... But it's when a whole type of get-up is taken out that some of the picture is missing.

The yin to the Kalos Thenos Get-up yang is the heavy get-up.  The RKC is first and foremost a "School of Strength" and we should get moving with some heavy weights overhead.  As MRKC Brett Jones said last weekend as we were getting ready for the Level II cert, you should have the ability to own different kinds of get-ups.  You should be able to high hip bridge and to low sweep - as well as many other kinds of get-ups.  It's all about body control and strength.  

Note: the heavy get-up will look a little different.  You will probably have to sit more into your hip to under the weight for more leverage when coming up into the kneeling position.  Your breathing will be more of a power breathing style.  The high hip bridge is more than likely out if the question if you are maxing out.  It looks very different from the highly regarded Kalos Thenos get up - and that's ok...

So how do you start working on getting up with a heavier weight?  You do some drills to make sure you know how to use your body as a unit.  In class today, we did the workout in the picture below.  I adapted it from a training that RKC TL Andrew Read came up with when we were teaching a workshop in Minnesota last Fall.

The press drills take out some "cheating" and force you to lock into place using your body.  You may feel your abs working extra hard on the opposite side (The body is set up like an "X" but that is a whole different story... Let Tim Andersen tell it here.)  After you do these drills, try something heavy.  In the 4 classes that I was around for today, we set 11 PR's... and some of those PR's were newbies (who are expected to move up relatively quickly) but some of those students had been with us for YEARS!  Elaine Wade, for example, has been coming since 2008 and did her first TGU with a 16kg - and made it look easy!

The bottom line is the Kalos Thenos get-up is a fantastic way to perform the exercise, but it's not the only way to train Get-ups.  Just like you can use MRKC Dan John's Easy Strength program to pattern movements with lighter weights in order to train for a personal record, you can increase your mobility and stability with the Kalos Thenos get-up in order to get-up with some substantial weight above head, and it will help increase your other lifts as well.  

Homework:  If you are trying to press a certain weight, get-up with that weight or even one bell heavier.  Getting used to moving around with that weight overhead and using your whole body to connect to support it will get you your gains faster.

Kettlebell Burn Classes

Just a quick note to let you guys in on what we have been doing lately.  Here is an example of our short and sweet Kettlebell Burn! classes inspired by Geoff Neupert.

Joint Mobility Warm-up (on own)

3 TGU's: 1 light, 1 medium, 1 heavy (I used 12kg, 16kg, 24kg)
3x3 presses per side (16kg)
3x3 deadlifts (two 32kg's)

12 minutes: 20 swings on top of each minute (6 minutes 24kg, 6 minutes 16kg)

Stretch on own

We were in and out in 30 minutes!

Grinds vs. Ballistics

One of the questions that always comes up in the monthly Kettlebell Fundamentals workshops is "How many reps should I do?"  The answer to that question is "It depends." Sr RKC Doug Nepodal likes to say "5 or less or 20 or more" - but what does that really mean?  It means if you are doing a grind, the general rule is do 5 reps or less and if you are doing a ballistic, the general rule is 20 reps or more.

Grinds
In kettlebell training, grinds are the slower exercises - you know, the ones you "grind through."  Presses, deadlifts, and even get-ups all fall into the grind category.  These are exercises you would do for lower reps at an appropriate weight.  I tell my students if they get 5 or more grinds in a 30 second interval then they can more than likely move up in weight.  I would rather see one repetition where someone had to connect and use their body as unit instead of 10 where he was repping out lighter weights using just one muscle group. And you can even get your one up with a heavy weight then drop down to a lighter bell, but if you can do ONE with good form then do it at least once a week. 
I like to say that presses are one of my favorite ab exercises because to get a heavy press above my head, I have to squeeze my abs very tightly.  As Pavel says, "Muscles are social creatures.  They work harder when they work together." The more muscles you use, the more weight you can move.  Simple as that.
 Once you understand the concept of full body connection and using your whole body as a unit, you can go back and play with lighter weights using the same connectivity and do a program such as Dan John's Easy Strength, but you must first grasp the concept of not isolating muscle groups and using your whole body to lift.

The grip in the grinds is a closed hand grip squeezing the handle.  When you close your grip and squeeze the handle tightly, you maintain greater tension and can move more weight because again, you are using more muscles.


Ballistics 
Ballistics are the quick lifts - the ones where you have to maintain a balance of tension and relaxation.  The swing and snatch are the two most common kettlebell ballistics.  In these exercises, you want to do as many as you can until just before your form goes.  Because ballistics are explosive and dance back and forth across the line between tension and relaxation you can do more reps.  There is that split second at the top of the swing where you can "rest" before the next hike and snap and that moment of "relaxation" is important to keep you going. Swings that are all tension all the time are very ugly and make your neck ache afterward.  At the top of the swing and snatch, stand up tall, don't chicken neck and make sure your face is relaxed.  As MRKC Jeff O'Connor says, "Ugly faces don't make you stronger!"
There is a place for heavy ballistics and a place for light ballistics.  Make sure to make time for both.  For example, a whole bunch of light snatches such as in Kenneth Jay's Viking Warrior Conditioning protocol will shred you and make you lean, but unless you are going heavy at least once a week you probably will sacrifice some strength in that lift.
The grip in the ballistics is looser than in the grinds - you can even have an open grip at the top of the snatch!  When you crush grip the handle in the quick lifts, the handle rubs your hands as it turns and causes callouses.  The arms are more of a guide in the ballistics than a driving force so you don't have to squeeze the bell tightly.
**Note: for more information on the balance of tension in the kettlebell swing, check out an article I wrote for Dragon Door called How Hard is Hardstlye in the Kettlebell Swing.

So, how many reps should you do?  5 or less heavy reps for the grinds and a whole bunch of ballistics as long as form is not compromised.  Once you understand how the body works as a unit, play around with different bell sizes on different days - just know that you have the potential to lift a great amount of weight when you are connected and not isolating muscle groups.

Program Design for General Physical Preparedness

We often get asked, “How do I put together a program at home?” or “How do you put your classes together?”  The simple answer is we make sure to include both grinds and ballistics within the 7 basic human movement patterns.

Grinds in kettlebells are the slow exercises – the ones you want to perform for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps, such as presses and deadlifts.  Ballistics are the quick lifts, such as swings and snatches, that are to be performed for as many reps until just before form starts to be compromised.

When I think of the 7 basic human movements, I combined lessons from MRKC’s Dan John and David Whitley.  Dan’s 5 movements are:

1.     Push

2.     Pull

3.     Hinge

4.     Squat

5.     Loaded Carry

After assisting an HKC with MRKC David Whitley, I added

1.     Rotation

2.     Counter-rotation (fighting against rotation.)

When training for general physical preparedness (without a certain goal in mind,) you start with some get-ups (which fall into many categories) and fill in the blanks.  Plenty of exercises fall into two categories. And you can use one bell or two.

By no means is this a comprehensive list, but here are some examples of each movement.

Push – you can do any of the numerous press variations (military press, floor press, etc… )You can even combine push and counter-rotation by doing a one-sided floor press. If you don’t want to use a bell, you can do pushups.

Pull – Any of the row variations (rows, renegade rows, single-leg rows, etc..) or pull-ups fall into the pull category. 

Hinge – Any sort of deadlift, swings, cleans, and snatches all are hinges.

Squat – Goblet or front squats are the most common.  If you feel advanced you can do pistols weighted or unweighted.

Loaded Carry – According to Dan John, this one’s a game changer.  Farmers carries, racked carries, waiter’s walk (overhead carries.)

Rotation – Russian twist, ribbons, overhead rotation (bell locked out overhead and rotate from your spine, not hips)

Counter-rotation – One sided suitcase deadlifts, one sided floor presses, renegade rows, alternating swings)

So here might be a simple class or an at-home total body training:

Joint Mobility

4 TGU’s each side

2 laps farmers carries, 2 laps racked carries

30 seconds work with 30 seconds rest for 3 rounds:

Alternating Swings (ballistic, hinge, counter-rotation)

Military Press Left (grind, push)

Military Press Right

Row Left (grind, pull)

Row Right

Snatch Left (ballistic, hinge, counter-rotation)

Snatch Right

Russian Twist (rotation)

Goblet Squat (squat)

That is the secret.  Every class is pretty much the same but different.  The trainings change day to day without “random acts of variety.”  There is a template that we follow that gets maximal strength, mobility, stability, and fat loss results!

The Paleo Diet: Not Just for Fat Loss

For almost a year now, I have been recommending the Paleo Diet to my students for fat loss and have slowly become stricter and stricter myself. It always made sense for fat loss because, simply put, it works, and the science behind it makes sense. But after eliminating foods and then adding them back in on cheat days I began to realize what they were doing to me systemically. It has caused me to really think twice before deciding what I put into my body. I would like to share my Paleo journey thus far and why I think we truly should eat the way we have for millions years of years instead of the last 2000 – and especially in the last 50 years where you can’t’ deny that health in America has been on a steady decline.

The basis of the Paleo Diet is to eat the way our primal caveman ancestors ate because that is how we evolved to eat, and a few thousand years isn’t enough time to adapt to be able to properly digest processed foods. I’m not going to rehash the science and the technicalities of this way of life. There are plenty of resources for that. I want to tell you about my personal Paleo journey and I how I have realized that dieting is not only about fat loss, but overall health and well-being.

During Condition’s first fat loss challenge last July, we suggested the participants adopt the Paleo Diet for the competition. It is very effective for fat loss and because there is no calorie restriction is easy to get compliance once over the first couple of weeks of sugar withdrawal. To simplify the Paleo Diet, it just consists of eating meats, vegetables, good fats, some fruit and some nuts. That means no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no sugar, and minimize alcohol (and ideally only wine and tequila.) This diet is inconvenient, but it doesn’t suck: steak and eggs for breakfast, fatty coconut milk in your coffee… Real food is very tasty!

Giving Up Grains

The first thing I did was cut out grains completely – and almost accidentally. I cut out grains and sugar but was allowing a cheat day. I ordered Meal Movement food to give me a jumpstart but kind of by accident, my cheats had a lot of sugar but no grains. I was cheating with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, not with cookies. One Sunday cheat day, I decided to get my old brunch favorite: an Atkin’s Park Fried Chicken Biscuit. As I ate it, it dawned on me that I hadn’t eaten a grain in about 4 weeks. On the drive home, I started to feel AWFUL. It was almost like I had a hangover without drinking. I immediately went home and took a nap and I got a big belly for a few hours. At that moment I knew that grains are not something good for me. Before, I would think “I shouldn’t have that because it will not help my fat loss goals” but now I have to think again and realize that if I eat grains not only will it not help my goals but I will feel sick and bloated. Is it worth it? 95% of the time, it hasn’t been.

Giving Up Dairy

The next step was to cut out dairy completely. I wasn’t eating a whole lot of dairy to begin with – just organic creamer in my coffee and the occasional slice of cheese on a bun-less burger. I used to have dry, itchy patches under my chin and on my neck. Two weeks into being dairy-free these patches disappeared completely. On a cheat day a month later I ate some cheese and not only did the patches come back, but my face broke out like a middle schooler. Those symptoms took days to go away. So far, 100% of the time I have said no to dairy because not only is it unnatural to drink the milk of another species but the effects can be seen and felt for days -And no piece of cheese has been worth that.

Giving Up Legumes

I cut out legumes when I cut out dairy. So far, no pea has been tempting enough to make me want to cheat with it, so there’s no verdict on that one yet!

Giving Up Coffee (temporarily)

The next thing I did was cut out coffee for 30 days. Jason and Neely over at The Paleo Plan suggested that we do this for 30 days to see how coffee affects our sleep patterns. I have had some problems sleeping so I decided to test it. After 30 days, I added it back in and nothing changed. That let me know that I can keep coffee in my diet, although I try to rotate one day decaf, one day regular.

Limiting Wine

The lastest thing I have been experimenting with is wine. I tried the eliminating coffee experiment to see if my sleep patterns were affected by it but it seemed that they weren’t. I still had the same sleep issues without it. I am currently testing to see if the issues were being caused by wine. I LOVE wine. I would usually drink a glass (or two) with dinner and go to bed at a reasonable hour, only to wake up at 3:45AM and not be able to fall back to sleep. Last week, I made the possible connection. Starting this past Sunday, I eliminated wine on “school nights.” My quality of sleep has improved DRAMATICALLY. It was so hard to give up wine solely based on it’s sugar content, but when it started affecting my productivity I no longer had a choice but to test if that is the cause of my sleeping problems.

Where I Struggle Most

The last two things I have to give up are Chocolove’s Dark Chocolate Almond and Sea Salt bars (no dairy) and polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) when dining out. That candy bar is so delicious, and dark chocolate is allowed on many versions of Paleo, but as Dallas and Melissa Hartwig of the Whole 9 say, we shouldn’t have an unhealthy psychological addiction to any food, and I believe that my driving to 8 health food stores over a span of 10 miles the day after Valentine’s Day when there was a shortage to find this bar is slightly unhealthy. PUFA’s are probably already rancid on the shelves and if not, can oxidize in our system, which is a very bad thing. Eating PUFA’s is just a convenience problem that can be solved with better planning (smoked wings at The Albert, anyone?)

How I Cheat

So I said that I never eat dairy and rarely eat grains. What do I do for my cheats? I’ve found that although white rice is a shot of sugar, it doesn’t make me feel bad when I eat it (probably because there is no wheat or gluten) so I will down a plate of Thai food with rice on a Sunday afternoon. Mellow Mushroom in Midtown also has a (ridiculously expensive, but delicious) pizza with a gluten-free crust. They also have Daiya vegan cheese (no soy and no dairy) that is not allowed (mainly because of the canola oil in it,) but tastes like melted mozzarella and passes for the real deal. The goal is to never have these cravings but let’s be honest… that will take a while.

Paleo: Not Just for Fat Loss

“Diets” used to be about losing fat, but after eliminating foods that I don’t believe we have evolved to eat, adding them back in and seeing what they do systemically has made me think twice about what I put in my body. Sure if I eat this piece of pizza I’ll need some extra time in the gym and a stricter eating plan over the next few days, but I’ll also feel like garbage, be bloated for a few hours and have a broken out face this week. It really has changed how I view food and the choices I make on a daily basis. In my book – just like kettlebell training – the Paleo Diet is not a fad and is here to stay.

Why Paleo, by Jenn Purdy

Food Fight II gets underway on Saturday! Nearly 50 FitWitters are taking part, plus close to 20 from Condition Kettlebell Gym. Huge! I’m excited to see everyone’s changes along the way and to report results at the end.

Food Fighters are using the Quick Start Challenge Guide from Paleo Plan for menus, recipes, and shopping lists. I thought it a good time to address what is paleo, and what it’s not. Since there’s a guide book, one might think it’s just another diet. I once tried one guys’ product-driven diet formula. It worked, sort of, not really. I moved on. It wasn’t sustainable to keep on a program for the rest of my life.

When I heard of paleo, honestly the word scared me, probably because I learned it from some really fit trainers I knew. It seemed pretty hard core coming from these elite athletes (it’s not). I didn’t investigate it for a couple more years (I was on the other guys’ program). Take the labels off - paleo, primal, real food, clean eating, whatever you want to call it - and it’s just eating food as is and has been optimal for human digestion and energy sources since we have walked the earth. It’s not a “diet” as a verb. It is “diet” as noun. The name is simply our modern way of identifying human nutrition, from WAY BACK! If you think about it, it’s a bit ridiculous that we have to call our food by a term that refers to how humans have eaten for thousands upon thousands of years. Our modern food and medical industries have blinded us to the ideal human diet. They have vilified foods that sustain us, created profitable pseudo-food, and pushed many lucrative symptom-covering drugs that discount the body’s intelligence to maintain a state of wellness if given the right nutrition.

Paleo is a principle, not a macronutrient formula. Sure, there are certain general guidelines for protein, fat, and carbohydrates depending upon your intentions. That said, someone can eat higher carbohydrate paleo with sweet potatoes and fruit, but it’s not the best plan for fat loss. Some people will find their appetite satisfied with less fat than others. Others have a need for more protein and carbs because they are lifting heavy and muscle growth is the goal. Real food is adaptable to the need of the individual.

Most of us in the Food Fight, or others at FitWit, first want to lose fat, shed cravings, and find out how certain foods make us feel by eliminating them for a good 6 weeks. Lowering carbs so the body can convert to being a fat-burner instead of a sugar burner is step number one in paleo. The body preferentially is a fat-burner, but it can exist as a sugar-burner (obviously), though with undesireable consequences. Beyond fat loss, when the goal changes, then the strategy can change a bit, but the principles remain the same.

Neither paleo nor the Food Fight are inherently weight loss plans, or muscle gain plans. It’s a lifelong health plan. Whatever you do, or your goals at any given time, whole food will fuel your activity and your brain. If fat loss needs to happen, it will as a secondary result of eating real food. Create an environment where your body can burn stored fat instead of constantly storing sugar. If you just came off marathon season, eating healthier may mean gaining back muscle. As a principle, paleo can be tweaked to what works for your needs in your own n=1 learning process.

What you eat will determine up to 80% of your health, not your workouts or your genetics. Movement - exercise, playing sports you love, and intensely lifting heavy things are definitely essential to your health. Think of your plate as a workout, too. What is on it can only make you more healthy or less healthy. We have the luxury of food we can get steps away in the kitchen, or pick-up-ready from a store, conveniently pre-hunted and gathered for us! The work of obtaining nutrition, fuel for life, is no longer tied to our movement. So, we still need to get out and do proper, functional movement. You’ve got that part covered, now fuel it with proper human nutrition!

How? Eat meat, fish, vegetables, some fruit, good fats, nuts & seeds. It doesn’t need to have a label. A lot of things will fall into place if you eat for how your body was designed.

Jenn

Jenn Purdy, RKC, CF-L1

FitWit & Condition Kettlebell Gym - Trainer & Nutrition Coach

Twitter: @PrimalFamily

Facebook: Jenn Purdy Real Food & Fitness

Cardio without Running by Paul Lyngso RKC II

We are now officially in September! I always enjoy
the cooler weather that the fall brings, it’s a much
needed change of pace after the muggy Chicago Summers.

Fall also brings the one race per year that I actually run,
The Morton Arboretum 5K.

I often then, get the question:

“How do you get your “cardio” if you don’t run?”

The short answer is that my “cardio” is a by product of the way I train. If I had aspirations of being a runner, I would certainly need to work some running practice in so that my body could adapt to that specific stimulus. However, since I’m just a regular guy who wants to be able to run a 5K whenever the mood strikes, my current training will do just fine. Here’s why(the long answer):

I always Focus on Developing Strength and Explosive Power. Simply put, the stronger you are, the less effort each stride takes. Less effort per stride means that you can sustain running longer without fatiguing.

I always Train Total Body Movements. Running requires the use of both upper and lower extremities, with the each leg transferring power to the opposite arm, and vice versa. If you are not coordinated, your running will be very inefficient and much more taxing than it should be. If you train your body as one coordinated unit, each stride will be way more efficient than if you run like Frankenstein.

Finally, my Focus on Joint Mobility, Flexibility, and Quality of Movementallow me to show up for the race, uninjured. Simply put, running is dangerous. In fact, each year about 1000 qualifiers of the Boston Marathon take a medical deferrment, meaning they qualify, but will take a full year off due to injury. And these are folks who know a thing or two about running! If you want to reduce injuries, in ANY atheltic endeavor, you need to focus on the QUALITY of movement (proper exercise form) rather than quantity (45 minutes on a treadmill with horrible posture and your body completely out of alignment). Quality movement starts with healthy joints that can operate pain free through their entire range of motion.

Being constantly injured or in nagging pain is a sure fire way to dampen not only your fitness goals, but your overall quality of life.

I know I haven’t even mentioned heart rate yet. Well here is the deal, when you train strength, such as, say by doing kettlebell swings, Turkish Get Ups, and squats, your heart rate goes up. A lot. Then we rest and let it come back down a hair. And then we do another set, and the heart rate goes up again. This constant up/down makes your heart stronger i.e. more efficient at pumping blood. The more blood your heart can move with each heart beat, the longer you can sustain an activity, such as jogging, with a lower heart rate. Lower heart rate=Less Energy Used=Less Fatigue.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Lance Armstrong here when it comes to endurance sports. However, I would venture to say that any of my clients would put a treadmill junkie to shame any day when it comes to a 5K (or most any athletic feat). Just sayin…

Paul Lyngso, RKC II and Owner of Burr Ridge Kettlebells

www.burrridgekettlebellclub.com/

You Can't Outrun a Doughnut

This article was inspired by Dan John's presentation at NPE's business coaching training last weekend.

You Can’t Outrun a Doughnut. It might not be the first time you have heard that statement and it’s true. There is no way to get the body you want without both exercise and diet. Unfortunately, in my book, diet is about 80% of the battle. Wouldn’t it be easy if we could eat whatever we wanted as long as we exercised? Many people do think that way, and as the owner of a kettlebell gym the ability to exercise without having to watch my diet would be a dream come true. It’s my JOB to exercise and to guide people through their fitness journey, but I still have to be careful what fuel I put in my body.

According to Livestrong.com, a 175lb person burns about 1700 calories running a half marathon. That’s approximately the equivalent of three slices of pizza and a milkshake, but do we go out and run a half marathon after every party we attend? I would guess most of us don’t, and those 30 minutes on the elliptical won’t do as much damage control as we would like to think. Don’t get me wrong -I’m not saying to just diet without exercising. Lean muscle increases metabolism and helps us burn more calories. Exercise is also imperative for our hearts and has a plethora of other health benefits, but exercise cannot stand alone in the fat loss battle.

So what diet works? The one you can stick with. There are many different options out there and I lean towards the diets with real foods that require the least thinking. After “retiring” from fitness competitions, I vowed to never do another eating plan that required me to measure anything – and luckily there are plenty of companies out there do all the measuring for you. All you have to do is pick it up from one of the convenient local sponsors’ refrigerators or have it shipped to your door. How easy is that? Having a no brainer eating plan (that happens to taste good too) is the perfect complement to a rigorous exercise program to help us win the battle against fat! Good luck on your journey!

June 25th HKC

Don't miss the June 25th HKC with MRKC David "Iron Tamer" Whitley!

If you havent seen David's show reels, you can check some of his highlights out on this episode of Dragon Door TV where he is Comrade of the Week.

At the HKC, we will cover in detail how to teach and perform the foundation kettlebell exercises: the swing, get-up, and squat. These exercises will make you powerful, strong, and mobile. Everything else is icing on the cake.

If you have any interest at all in teaching kettlebells, DO NOT MISS this workshop. You can register here - early registration ends June 3rd so don't wait!

Train hard but train smart. :)

Why Kettlebells?

One of the biggest selling points of Kettlebell training is that it’ s strength, cardio, and mobility all in one

efficient training. Unfortunately, when many people think of those 3 components they think yes, we know

cardio is important to keep us in shape and keep our hearts healthy, being strong is pretty important, but

often they gloss over mobility. “ I don’ t care if I can touch my toes” – well, I don’ t care if they can touch

their toes either. When we in the RKC community speak of mobility, we mean the ability to move properly,

to own the primitive movement patterns we seem to lose when we get stuck behind a desk or in a car all

day long. The mobility that is critical for our health and well-being.

It’ s a matter of fact that the American Society as a whole lives in flexion. We sit and do work at our

computers, behind the wheel, on a couch – and even our children are growing up playing video games

instead of playing outside. Many in our society cannot move the middle of their spines (the thoracic spine)

in order to stand up straight. I have seen countless people who have no thoracic spine mobility say “ But I

can stand up straight” and then they move from their lower back. It’ s no wonder that back pain is the most

common ailment among Americans. Or maybe someone says “ But I can stand up straight” and then they

move from their shoulders. Either way, they are compensating with poor movement pattern and making

things that much worse.

Even many “ gym people” who are a step ahead of the sedentary spend their time looking in the mirror

working their biceps, and pecs, and then what happens? They build up the front of their bodies and neglect

the backside. They too, end up in flexion. The problem guys who "can’ t put their arms down" have because their "lats are so

huge" (a "disorder" that some lovingly call ILS - or Invisible Lat Syndrome) is more likely caused by an

immobility in their thoracic spine rather than bulging muscles.

What’ s left is a society with poor thoracic spine mobility, no shoulder stability, weak and tight hip flexors,

and no glutes - well, no strength in the posterior chain at all. As fellow RKC, Paul Lyngso said "We look like a group of Mr Burns' from the Simpsons!"

The beautiful thing about Kettlebell training is that it addresses all of these issues: regaining the rolling,

standing, kneeling primitive movement patterns as well as training the posterior chain making us mobile,

strong and powerful. And the best part about it is that good practice can take only 30 minutes (or less) only

a few times a week!

Basic, Basic, Basic. If someone is proficient at the two foundation Kettlebell exercises: the swing and the

get-up, they will more than likely move better, perform better, and feel better than most of the population.

The swing is strength and cardio in one exercise; the get-up is strength and mobility in one exercise.

Everything else is icing on the cake. "Magic" happens with the other exercises when the basics get better.

In one particularly busy month last year I stopped all training except, MRKC David Whitley's Furnace,

twice a week. What happened? I set a PR on my military press without training presses. The WTH effect

in full force. As taught in the CK-FMS course, we need a solid base of mobility and stability before we can

even think about piling strength on top of a bad foundation.

So why Kettlebells? The foundation Kettlebell exercises teach us to move properly and counteract the

damage we do by the postures we live in. They train our bodies to work as a unit and have the composition

we are made to have - and the exercises are so efficient and powerful that it takes a fraction of the time

many are accustomed to spending on their training.

Dragon Door TV

Check out my favorite Dragon Door TV episode - with my good buddy, uh I mean "Mate" Andrew Read!

How it All Began

On January 16th, I posted that it was my 5 year kettlebelliversary. Fellow RKC, Mark Snow asked for a blog post on how it all began. Here it is:

In 2004 when I was living in Atlanta after graduating from Georgia Tech, I had a flexible outside sales job and a long distance relationship. That combination meant that there was a lot of free time that I needed to fill. I chose to occupy my free time with frequent trips to the gym. I quickly became addicted and found myself spending 2 hours a day, 6 days a week in the gym. That's TWELVE HOURS of gym time each week. I thought that I had to go that often to get enough cardio training, plus strength and flexibility training.

Fast forward and I am living in San Diego, working a 55 hour a week job and trying to balance life and a relationship at the same time. Needless to say, no matter how much I rearranged my schedule, I didn't have the 12 hours that I was used to spending at the gym anymore. That is when I heard a local radio station talk about a gym called Iron Core that used these things called 'kettlebells.' According to the people interviewed, kettlebells dramatically decreased your time in the gym since the workouts were cardio, strength and flexibility all at the same time. It was too good to be true. I had to check it out for myself.

So, I went down on a Saturday morning for a 'trial class' and was amazed at what I discovered. The workout was intense and very different from what I was used to. It was some serious cardio without the boredom of the 'hamster wheel' (AKA the treadmill) and strength training without the monotony of isolated repetitions such as bicep curls. It was strength stretching without the endless poses of yoga. The workout was not only comprehensive and intense, but it was a lot of fun! And the trainer who, to me, was "just the guy at the gym down the street" was someone named Brett Jones (you may have heard of him.) I had NO IDEA at the time what a gold mine it was to be able to train with him multiple times a week!

I went from going to the gym 12 times a week, to taking three 45 minute classes, and yet somehow I found my strength and body composition improving. I wasn't getting those bulky, beefy muscles that you would think would accompany strength gains, but was getting long, lean lines and definition - all while spending 1/3 of the time in the gym!

I knew within a month that I wanted to be certified to teach and be able to share kettlebells with others. I attended the September 2006 RKC - back when they were only held in Minneapolis. Iron Core was nice enough to let me teach some classes after work and then a year later I decided that it was time to move back to Atlanta and open my own place.

When Condition opened, I was the only class instructor and Katie Bigelow (Now RKC2 and Z-Health Master Trainer) helped me out in the intro workshops. She went through the RKC 6 months after Condition opened and now almost 3.5 years later there are 12 HKC's or RKC's who teach here on a regular or substitute basis. I'm proud of all of them as they all have full time jobs outside of kettlebells and got certified because of their love for the training - just as I did.

I cant imagine a time where I won't train with kettlebells. I love the efficiency of kettlebells because with less time spent on my own training, I now have more time to do other things: like teach kettlebells, write about kettlebells, or read about kettlebells, or blog about kettlebells.... ;)

Maintaining Sanity Via Kettlebells and the Warrior Diet for Fitness Competitions

In 2007, I decided to become a fitness competitor. I had been an RKC for a year and kettlebells had been my sole form of exercise for two. One of my friends had a relative who had been competing and hooked us up via email. She let me know that I was on the wrong track and needed the guidance of someone with experience and convinced me to use her online consultant. Now, this company produces the top fitness competitors internationally every year and I knew they could get me where I wanted to be for the first show – and they did. The problem was the path to the first show made me insane! The overwhelming monotony and planning for the diet and hours of conventional fitness training drove me into isolation. It was all consuming. 3 months later when the show came around I was ready, but it came with a price. Was competing worth it? And more importantly, did it have to be this way?

Just a little insight into the competing world: Meals had to be timed no more than 3 hours apart. No alcohol in the last 3 months, and the only allowed vegetables in the last 4 weeks were broccoli, asparagus, spinach, and green beans. Brussel sprouts were not allowed! With 5-6 meals a day timed perfectly, my spreadsheet that had to have macros add up– not just calories – drove me crazy. I remember the times where the protein and carbs would add up but I would be short on good fat and would have to drink a tablespoon of oil at the end of the day to make it all work. And the workouts! Hours at the gym – on the hamster wheel, doing lunges, 4-6 days of hour long “cardio” with different “RPE’s” (which I never fully understood) then 4-5 days of isolated muscle training – tons of reps with very light weights. Add onto that 1-2 days of yoga or pilates, which I am sure are great programs, but they both bored me to tears. I even tried a yoga where you hung from straps off a wall to get my mind off of it. They said “Kettlebells should only be done once a week because they only work the big muscle groups and will never the lines you need.” Between a full time job, diet planning and going to the gym there was no time for myself or my friends. I was a nut job! The smallest things became the biggest deals the closer it was to show time. And apparently, that is “normal” in the fitness world. We were warned of it.

With the 2008 season approaching I decided to tweak my approach. I dropped the insane training and only did kettlebells for the Fitness Universe competition in Miami. The diet was still crazy – who likes eating the same vegetables 5 times a day for 30 days? But at least the training time was cut in at least half and I was enjoying it. At Universe I felt even more ready than for my first show and was only about half as crazy as for the first show. But with a little more clarity I started noticing how superficial that world can be and I really didn’t fit in with the glam girls. The problem was, I had invested so much money on shoes and suits and makeup and tanner that I thought it would be a waste if I didn’t do just one more show.

In September 2009, there was a competition for the Southeast regionals only 30 miles from where I live. I decided to drop the fitness diet and use the Warrior Diet instead. Again, I decided to only use kettlebells this time using the Return of the Kettlebell protocol. Once I decided on this program I wanted to run it by an expert so I called Master RKC Dan John for advice. He told me that, for my size goals, I should drop the 2x20 deadlifts and trade them for clean and front squat ladders 1-3. The deadlifts are great for inching up strength but what I needed was a little more mass relatively quickly. And the program worked! What a great way to finish my “career” in the fitness world. No stress on show day, lots of fun backstage. I actually TRULY enjoyed the whole experience. At that show I placed 2^nd overall – the highest I have ever placed – and at the same time maintained “sanity” while dieting and did the training I knew was reliable. They even put my picture from that show on a poster for one of the 2010 shows.

If I was giving advice to an aspiring fitness competitor who was looking to build size, I would tell her to use Return of the Kettlebell or Kettlebell Muscle in the building phase, then 4 weeks prior to the show, use Viking Warrior Conditioning to lean out while maintaining lean muscle mass.

What I took away from the fitness competition experience is that there is more than one way to achieve fitness goals. If you run miles and miles a day or swim for hours or even spend 3 hours at a conventional gym, you can reach your goals. I choose kettlebells because I love the training and it’s the most efficient method I’ve seen. Is it the only way? No, but it makes the most sense for me. I would rather spend 20-45 minutes training 3 times a week than 2-3 hours 6 days a week. I have better things to do than train all day (like teach others to train, or read about training, or write about training…) ;)

Keeping it Real

I didn’t realize how badly I was eating until Fall of 2007. I wasn’t overweight and I thought I was eating healthy. I wanted a challenge so I decided to do a fitness competition. I had heard how bad the fitness diet was and I was afraid that I was going to be hungry and cranky all the time. The diet WAS hard but only because of the measuring and preplanning. The food portions were amazingly large. At the time I was working in an office and kept my Lean Cuisines and powerbars in the refrigerator in the break room. They were convenient and doesn’t “lean” mean healthy? They didn’t taste good and never filled me up but I thought I was being healthy. My first show was in 3 months and when I showed my consultant my diet journal she said “You have to cut all that crap out NOW if you want to be ready in 3 months.” I was shocked. I thought I was doing most things right. What she told me was to eat REAL food. If it swims in the water, flies in the sky, runs in a field, grows from the ground or falls from a tree, you can eat it. To my surprise, the portions got bigger and the food tasted better. She told me not eat anything that had an ingredient I needed a college degree to pronounce. I felt better, got leaner, and amazing wasn’t hungry. Eat REAL food. Who knew?

When you eat REAL food, your body knows what to do with it. It can optimally digest foods that are unprocessed and that will result in better body composition.

Now let’s talk about vegan and vegetarianism. If someone is vegan or vegetarian for ethical reasons, more power to them. I’m all for it. But if someone cuts out meat products to lose weight, it generally isn’t a good idea. Of the many acquaintances I have who do not eat meat, none of them only eat vegetables, fruits, and nuts. They tend to fill their plates with soysage hot dogs and tofurkey sandwiches. Their diets are overly starched with tons of bread, rice, pasta - and overly processed – full of fake soy based foods that their bodies don’t know how to digest. It would be healthier and would better help them reach their goals if they made a steak salad with organic dressing.

How do you know if something is natural if it doesn’t have a label? If something doesn’t have a label and you’re not sure if it’s natural, a good idea is to stay away from things that are white. White sugar, white flour – anything bleached has been stripped of its nutrients.

Another diet pitfall is processed or refined sugars and even artificial sweeteners. Now sugar should really be eliminated altogether, but for most people that just isn’t feasible (guilty.) The best form of sugar is raw honey, stevia, or natural sugars such as cane juice. If you use artificial sweeteners, use them sparingly because #1 most are highly chemical and processed and #2 if you use enough of it, your body will treat it as regular sugar. There are plenty of products out there sweetened with natural sugar and I personally think that it tastes better than products with corn syrup in them – from which we should run screaming. But there comes a time when you’re going to want something sweet. There’s nothing wrong with that in moderation but make good choices when you decide on your sweet. If you read the labels of so called “Diet” food, you’ll find many words that look like a bunch of letters put together. My advice is to find organic natural sweets. Compare the two labels: One is Edy’s Slow LIGHT churned vanilla bean ice cream and the other is Straus Family Organic creamery.

Edy's Slow Churned Light Vanilla Bean

INGREDIENTS: milk, skim milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, whey protein, egg yolks, tapioca maltodextrin, cellulose gum, mono and diglycerides, ground vanilla beans, guar gum, carrageenan, dextrose, vitamin A palmitate, natural flavor

Straus Family Organic Vanilla Bean

Ingredients: Organic cream, organic nonfat milk, organic sugar, organic egg yolk, organic vanilla extract, organic vanilla bean.

Not only are the ingredients recognizable and healthier in the organic ice cream but you will be satisfied quicker. Your body knows what it’s getting. I don’t know about you but with diet foods I never feel like I got enough whereas a couple of spoonfuls of rich, natural ice cream fulfills the need for something sweet. Be careful of marketing that will lead you to bad choices. When I see “Diet” or “Light” and especially “Fat free” I pretty much move on. If it says “Natural” or “Organic” I’ll at least read the label to see what’s really in it. One of the foods we were NEVER allowed to eat on the fitness diet was Dannon“Light and Fit” yogurt because the processed ingredients were so unhealthy, but we could eat Stoneyfield organic yogurt – even though it had more calories. The difference is the calories are useful and our bodies know what to do with them.

If you’re serious about eating natural you can take this a step further by doing things such as eating only grass fed beef. Animals are not meant to eat grains so when cheap grains are fed to cows, they develop ulcers. They are then medicated with hormones and antibiotics, which are then passed to the consumer when eaten.

The transition to real foods can take some time. At first, start paying attention to the ingredient list and what’s really in the food you’re eating. You don’t need to starve to eat right. Just eat foods that are real. And remember.. just because it is “diet” doesn’t mean that it’s “healthy.”

Lift Heavy!

The NY Times posted this - a testament to lifting heavy!

REALLY?

The Claim: For Better Muscle Tone, Go Lighter and Repeat

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Published: April 4, 2010THE FACTS

Lifting heavy weights makes you big and bulky — or at least that’s the conventional wisdom. It’s the reason many women (and some men) who want slim and “toned” physiques opt for lighter weights, lifted more times.

But the notion is not supported by science. Producing bulky muscles requires not just heavy weights but heavy calorie consumption as well, typically far above the 2,000 daily calories recommended for many adults.

For people who lift weights to tone up and slim down, experts say, a regimen that includes a combination of challenging weights and fewer repetitions can help significantly. In a 2002 study, for example, scientists looked at what happened when women performed various resistance exercises at different weights and repetitions (85 percent of their maximum ability for 8 reps, versus 45 percent for 15). Subjects lifting more weight fewer times burned more energy and had a greater metabolic boost after exercise.

In another study published last year, scientists followed 122 women for six years. They found that those who were assigned to do resistance exercises three times a week — sets of 8 reps at 70 to 80 percent of their ability — lost the most weight and body fat. A similar two-year study of women who did strength training with challenging weight twice weekly found similar effects on body and “intra-abdominal” fat.

THE BOTTOM LINE

For better tone, try fewer reps and more challenging weights.

ANAHAD O’CONNOR scitimes@nytimes.com

Barefoot is Better!

Let me first say that I plagiarized most of this from the Vibram website, Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, and websites discussing McDougall's book in order to put together a 7 minute speech for a business networking group. This is what I presented:

The human foot is pretty complex: it has 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles, and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, healthy feet need to be stimulated and exercised.

Many experts believe the shoes we wear virtually cast the foot in a coffin and weaken our foot and leg muscles, leaving them underdeveloped and more prone to injury. And while there are many times where traditional footwear is important for protection, it is just as important to counter the time we wear stiff shoes by exercising the foot in a more natural state. Stimulating muscles in your feet and lower legs will not only make you stronger, it improves your balance, agility and body awareness.

Despite their marketing suggesting otherwise, no manufacturer has ever invented a shoe that is any help in injury prevention.

In modern years, between 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. At Stanford University, two sales reps from Nike were watching the athletics team practice. Part of their job was to get feedback from the sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred. 
Unfortunately, it was difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing. 'Didn't we send you enough shoes?' they asked head coach Vin Lananna. They had, he was just refusing to use them. 'I can't prove this But I believe that when my runners train barefoot they run faster and suffer fewer injuries.' the well-respected coach told them. Nike sponsored the Stanford team as they were the best of the very best. Needless to say, Nike was a little disturbed to hear that Lananna felt the best shoes they had to offer them were not as good as no shoes at all. 
When Christopher McDougall, author of “Born to Run” was told of this he wasn’t surprised. He'd spent years struggling with a variety of running-related injuries, each time getting more expensive shoes, which seemed to make no difference. He'd lost count of the amount of money He'd sports-injury clinics - eventually ending with advice from his doctor to give it up and 'buy a bike'. 
And he wasn't alone. Remember, every year anywhere from 65 to 80 per cent of all runners suffer an injury. No matter who you are or 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, chubby or lean, your feet are still in the danger zone. 
But why? What abut the Tarahumara tribe, the best long-distance runners in the world? People who live in caves without running water, and run with only strips of old leather thongs strapped to the bottom of their feet. On race day, they step to the starting line and just go for it, ultra-running for two full days, sometimes covering over 300 miles, non-stop. For fun! One recently came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing nothing but a toga and sandals. He was 57 years old. It’s as if the facts MUST have been recorded wrong. Shouldn't we, the ones with state-of-the-art running shoes, have the zero injury rate, and the Tarahumara, who run far more, on far rockier surfaces, in shoes that barely qualify as shoes, be constantly hospitalized? 
The answer, McDougall discovered, will not be easy to swallow for the $20 billion running shoe industry. 


The modern running shoe was essentially invented by Nike. The company was founded in the Seventies by Phil Knight, a University of Oregon runner, and Bill Bowerman, the University of Oregon coach. Before then, the modern running shoe didn’t exist. Bowerman didn't actually do much running. In between writing and coaching, Bowerman came up with the idea of sticking a hunk of rubber under the heel of his pumps. With the heel raised, he reasoned, gravity would push them forward ahead of the next man. Bowerman called Nike's first shoe the Cortez – Ironically, after the conquistador who plundered the New World for gold. Bowerman's partner, Knight, set up a manufacturing deal in Japan and was soon selling shoes faster than they could come off the assembly line.

Since then, running-shoe companies have had more than 30 years to perfect their designs so, logically, the injury rate must be in rapid decline by now. Adidas has come up with a $250 shoe with a microprocessor in the sole. Asics spent $3 million to invent the Kinsei, a shoe with 'multi-angled forefoot gel pods', and a 'midfoot thrust enhancer' – whatever those are. Each season brings an expensive new model for the average runner.

But at least you know you'll never limp again. Or so the leading companies would have you believe. As you know by now, running injuries have drastically increased since the invention of the “running shoe.”

Runners wearing top-of-the-line trainers are far more likely to get injured than runners in cheap ones. This was discovered as far back as 1989, according to a study led by Dr Bernard Marti at Switzerland's University of Bern.

Dr Marti's research team analyzed over 4,000 runners in a 9.6-mile road race. The runners filled out an extensive questionnaire that detailed their training habits, injuries and footwear for the previous year. What surprised Dr Marti was the fact that the most common variable among the injuries wasn't training surface, running speed, body weight or weekly mileage. It was the price of the shoe. Runners in shoes that cost more than $95 were more than twice as likely to get hurt as runners in shoes that cost less than $40.

Follow-up studies found similar results. For double the price, you get double the pain.

But WHY is running barefoot so much better? Not only do thick soles restrict our feet, keeping them weak and changing our natural posture, but cushiony shoes change our stride. When you run barefoot you are more likely to land towards front of your foot, whereas running in thick trainers will cause you to have a heel strike. If you run barefoot, your very smart body will tell you if you are doing something right or will send pain signals if doing something wrong. Try running barefoot on your heels. It hurts. Your body is sending these pain signals because it’s just not a good idea. The cushion in trainers absorbs the impact so you don’t get these natural cues from your body yet you’re still putting pounds and pounds of pressure up the chain in a far less than optimal gait. Watch Jesse Owens run: his only shock absorption came from the compression of his legs and his thick pad of midfoot fat. Thumping down on his heels was not an option.

If you decide that being barefoot is the route for you, take one step backward and realize you are most likely in the process of rehabilitating your feet and legs from years of being restricted. All the padding and support has led to weaker feet. Barefoot running is not about blocking or pushing through pain.. It is about tuning-in to what your body is telling you..Listen to it. Adjust and advance accordingly. I’ve been wearing my vibram five fingers for 3 years – the closest to barefoot I can be in my world – and I have never felt better.