The “PERFORMANCE” Blog

Long-Awaited Barefoot Running Study Finds Sneakers Are Harmful!!!

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:34:43 -0600

Shoes change the human foot strike and may lead to more running injuries
By Jeremy Hsu

All the latest footwear engineering in your running sneakers might not mean a thing when it comes to preventing injuries. The latest barefoot running study in the journal Nature deployed 3-D infrared tracking to gauge the difference in foot strike between shod and shoeless runners, Scientific American reports. Here's a modern-day meme summation of the findings: "Shoes? You're doing it wrong."
Runners who wore sneakers ended up landing heel-first 75 to 80 percent of the time. By contrast, barefoot runners usually land toward the middle or front of the foot -- a dramatic difference that recalls the more natural foot strike of early Homo sapiens. Needless to say, early humans certainly were not born to run wearing Nike or Reebok.
The heel-landing without shoes means a painful collision force of 1.5 to 3 times human body weight. But cushioned sneaker heels have allowed runners to change their stride to high-impact running, and likely open up a whole world of pain involving foot and leg injuries.
"Most people today think barefoot running is dangerous and hurts," said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and lead author on the study. "But actually you can run barefoot on the world’s hardest surfaces without the slightest discomfort and pain."
Lieberman and his colleagues point out that modern running shoes did not come about until the 1970s -- a fairly late invention that latched onto that then-new fad known as jogging (or "yogging" as Ron Burgundy says). Now contrast several decades of sneakers with a human body that evolved barefoot running over thousands of years, and you begin to see a potential problem.

More bad news for sneakers came last December, when the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that running shoes can increase joint torques at the hip, knee and ankle. Their study suggested that even going for a run in high heels was better for preventing joint injuries than tennis shoes.

Runners who fear years of soft treatment giving way to foot calluses still have options. Certain footwear such as the Newton Running shoes or the Vibram Five Fingers permit runners to readjust their foot strike back to the more natural way, or simply act as a second tough skin to protect the foot in the latter case.
One more unstated benefit of running without sneakers -- you'll never, ever have the temptation of wanting to remove your toenails.
[via Scientific America

Come on... Give Me Some!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:24:32 -0500

No let ups! What are you doing to continue to reveal the absolute best version of yourself?

Intellectual Starvation

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:35:10 -0500

Our intellectual needs are never urgent, so it is easy to overlook them. When was the last time you said to yourself, “I urgently need to read a good book today?” It doesn’t happen. Why? For one, our intellectual needs are not primary needs. If we neglect them, we won’t die. But mental vitality leads to physical, emotional, and spiritual vitality. Everything in our lives begins as a thought.

Our bodies need regular exercise and a balanced diet, and so so our minds. You have a legitimate need to nourish your mind. If you choose the right diet of the mind, your life will be directed by ideas of excellence and greatness. If you allow the media and secular culture to select your intellectual diet, your life will be formed by distraction and mediocrity.

Excerpt from “The Rhythm of Life”

Are YOU Living with PASSION? Or are you just GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS?

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:07:59 -0500

First time I really “listened” to this song... I was racing along in my truck to make my last meeting of the day, which was at 6pm (mind you I’m out the door by 4:45am most days!).

Never-the-less... I was quiet... I LISTENED... I felt the lyrics were written especially for me!

As I LISTENED... As silly as it sounds... I began to feel my heart open...

I began to feel my breathing spiral out of control! Heck, within seconds I was hyperventilating... (I needed one of those brown-paper lunch-bags to try to get things under control!!!)

Then... My tummy began to quiver... which quickly progressed to absolute violent... just wave after wave of hard-core convulsions... CRAZY!

And then... I just physically couldn’t hold it back any longer... I didn’t simply shed a tear or two... It was like opening up a honk’en fire hose! The pressure... I began to sob so uncontrollably... (I have no recollection of how I kept my truck on the road! Not advised!)

Folks... Life is short... Time is a gift, right?

Please make a commitment... Let’s together hold ourselves accountable... Let’s strive to become THE-BEST-POSSIBLE-VERSIONS-OF-OURSELVES!

We just can’t get caught up GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS!

Did YOU Miss it? Are YOU Ignoring the SECRETS from this Powerful, yet Gentle Voice?

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:41:24 -0500

When we were children... did we hear this gentle voice with great clarity?

Could it be true that as we grew older, we became aware of all the other voices that surround us... the voices of parents, siblings, friends, critics, television, strangers, and experts?

All these other voices have the strength and confidence of experience, so we become fascinated with them. And as we enter into this fascination with all these other voices, they begin to distract us from the gentle voice within.

As we begin to listen to all these other voices, we begin to doubt, question, and ignore the gentle voice within. And gradually, the one true voice within each of us grows fainter and fainter.

The gentle voice within is your truest guide. It has absolutely no self-interest. That is what sets it apart from every other voice in your life. The gentle voice within you is interested in only one thing, helping you become THE-BEST-VERSION-OF YOURSELF!

Whether you call it your “conscience” or give it some other name, we all have this gentle voice within us. It is our true self, directing us toward our essential purpose. It is... THE-BEST-VERSION-OF-OURSELVES talking to us!

Take a moment to think about it. When was the last time you obeyed that gentle voice within you and it made you miserable? When was the last time the gentle voice within led you to become a-lesser-version-of-yourself? It may lead you to the pain of discipline and self-sacrifice, but always in the quest to help you embrace more fully THE-BEST-VERSION-OF-YOURSELF.

It is only when we ignore the gentle voice within that we find ourselves in places of misery and quiet desperation.

What we must do above all else is to learn once again to listen to the gentle voice within us. Only then will we have the peace that we all seek, but that only a rare few ever find.

Excerpt from “The Rhythm of Life”