By David Stretanski There is much confusion and misinformation about the Pose Method and ChiRunning techniques; and they are sometimes stated as the same or similar. Although the Pose Method and ChiRunning bothsuggest engaging gravity via a slight forward lean and simply picking up your feet to keep up with your forward fall, there are many significant differences between these two running techniques. Here are just 3 Significant Differences between Pose Method® and ChiRunning®: Foot Landing: - Pose Method suggests running on the ‘forefoot’ or ball of the foot. This engages the muscles of the lower leg/foot to support the body’s weight. - ChiRunning suggests running on the ‘midfoot’. This midfoot could really be described as ‘fullfoot’ since the interaction with the ground is balanced across the whole foot. The muscles of the lower leg/foot are disengaged or relaxed as much as possible. The body’s weight is supported primarily by the structure of the lower leg/foot – and not by muscle. The statistics suggest that most running injuries occur at the knee and below. ChiRunning suggests a primary cause of this statistic is asking a relatively small part of the body to repetitively do a relatively big job. ChiRunning limits effort, stress, impact and tension in the lower legs/feet which can have a significant impact on this statistic. In addition, having a relaxed ankle ‘hinge’ may also limit resistance to your forward fall. In my experience, any tension in the ankle ‘hinge’ or bearing weight on the forefoot impedes my forward fall. [Approx. Pose Method (left) and ChiRunning (right) support phase positions] Leg Motion: - Pose Method suggests vertically lifting the heel *under* the body to the butt with an active ‘pull’ using the hamstring. If the heel lifts up to the butt, the knee and thigh also move vertically. - ChiRunning suggests allowing the knee to bend so the heel floats up *behind* the body. This motion requires little muscular effort; and with greater and greater levels of relaxation this motion will occur almost by itself. The knee stays low but does come forward slightly. For efficiency, ChiRunning suggests alignment in the direction you are headed. So there is limited effort and motion in the vertical direction when trying to move efficiently in the horizontal direction. Cadence/Speed: - Pose Method suggests increasing your cadence (“stride frequency”) to increase your speed. A quicker turnover requires more muscular effort to ‘pull’ your heels and legs in the vertical direction faster. - ChiRunning suggests keeping your cadence constant independent of speed. In ChiRunning speed comes as a result of your technique, a balanced/relaxed position and motion, and not by working that much harder. For efficiency, ChiRunning suggests a cadence between 85-90 steps per minute (on one side). Once you develop a comfortable cadence value within this range, keeping it constant will limit the feeling of additional effort as you increase your speed. — These are just three major differences between Pose Method and ChiRunning. There are a number of other differences; such as: knee angle during support phase (bent vs. soft), pelvis position and motion, arm position and motion, and hill technique adjustments to name just a few. Right or Wrong? Is either approach right or wrong? Not in my opinion. Each approach simply has its own unique risk vs. reward profile for each individual just like anything else in life. Both methods clearly help people avoid a heel strike and to run lighter. ChiRunning *might* be considered more focused on efficiency and injury-prevention by using more position and less muscle. Drills/exercises are used to body sense position and how to reduce effort, tension, stress and impact. Pose Method *might* be considered more focused on outright speed. Drills/exercisesappear to be more for developing muscle. When I was first looking into running techniques, I found the Pose Method first. In the end, ChiRunning was a better match for my goals which are primarily efficiency and injury-prevention. I simply decided that I was not willing to risk injury for speed. Yet I am faster now than I ever was before. I also found ChiRunning incredibly simple and natural; as if I was reconnected with that same instinct I had as a child when I took my first running steps. Whatever path you take, my advice is to simply be a student. Jim Rohn used to say “You don’thave to do everything you find out, but make sure you find out everything you could do”. With the facts, the decision is yours of course. Learn more about ChiRunning in this online video: ChiRunning Simplified! Efficient ~~~ David Stretanski is a holistic health, fitness and wellness coach – and Certified ChiRunning®/ChiWalking® Instructor. For more information on David, please see hisAbout Me, Contact page or his website at http://www.eChiFitness.com. ChiRunning® and ChiWalking® are registered trademarks of ChiLiving, Inc. Pose Method® is a Registered Trademark of Pose Tech Corporation. |
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
3 Significant Differences Between Pose Method and ChiRunning
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Baring Their Soles
Barefoot training is this author's secret weapon for improving movement efficiency, balance, and kinetic chain integrity in his athletes.
By Art Horne
Art Horne, MEd, ATC, CSCS, is Strength & Conditioning Coach and Coordinator of Care for men's basketball at Northeastern University, and is currently serving as the Interim Director of Sport Performance. He can be reached at: a.horne@neu.edu.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila earned worldwide fame by winning the marathon with a world-record time of 2:15:16. The attention focused not just on his remarkable feat, but on his remarkable feet--Bikila completed the marathon without wearing shoes or socks.
Some would say that event catapulted the concept of barefoot training into mainstream consciousness. But in reality, athletes around the world trained barefoot in various ways long before Bikila's accomplishment--in fact, you might argue that barefoot training is as old as athletics itself. Barefoot training advocates argue that "shod" (shoe-wearing) athletes miss out on many benefits, ranging from proprioception and motor development to recruitment of important muscles that remain underutilized and practically dormant inside rigid, restrictive modern footwear.
There is very little research providing clear answers on how best to implement barefoot work into today's training strategies. But as an athletic trainer and strength coach who has employed barefoot training with basketball players at Northeastern University for several years, I firmly believe it's well worth the time investment. In this article, I'll explain the concepts behind barefoot training, outline how I use it with my athletes, and discuss the benefits I've seen from having athletes bare their soles during workouts.
THEORY BEFORE PRACTICE
Anyone who has walked barefoot on a beach or grassy field can grasp the theory behind barefoot training and its athletic benefits. By letting the foot return to its primitive state, in which it must grip the earth to produce efficient movement, you can feel the engagement of intrinsic muscles of the toes, midfoot, heel, and ankle--muscles that receive little opportunity for strengthening in our shoes-required world.
The idea behind barefoot training is that developing these muscles improves foot and ankle function, while also providing benefits up the entire kinetic chain. Barefoot proponents point to increased proprioception related to the movement of the feet and ankles in time and space, lower impact forces due to reduced heel strike, higher efficiency in running as measured by lower oxygen consumption, and an increase in bone density throughout the foot and ankle.
Humans' relationship with shoes is a surprisingly complex one, involving both physical and psychological elements. For example, in a 1997 study, researchers had subjects repeatedly step onto and off of a box, each time landing on a pad made of material commonly found in shoe insoles. The material was the same each time, but the authors used different terms to describe the landing pad, and found that participants landed with greatest impact forces when stepping down onto surfaces described with words like "advanced technology" and "used in the most expensive sneakers."
The authors noted the natural human tendency "to be less cautious when using new devices of unknown benefit because of overly positive attitudes associated with new technology and novel devices." If that's true, it may mean today's athletes, who wear more and more advanced footwear and often receive custom tape jobs before each practice and competition, pay less attention than ever to the fundamentals of foot movement and function, possibly harming their performance and increasing their risk for injury. Barefoot training can help reverse those practices.
Consider a more specific example: High-top sneakers with stiff soles are worn almost universally in basketball, and many athletes wear ankle braces or tape underneath them, even for workouts. This practically ensures a weak and dormant foot and ankle complex. Kinematic data suggests that the hallux (big toe) requires 20 degrees of extension and the ankle needs around 20 degrees of dorsiflexion to allow for normal forward motion. Both those movement dimensions are commonly limited by basketball shoes, tape, and braces.
In addition, modern sneakers are usually built with some form of "air cells" or other shock absorbers or supports that raise the heel above its normal resting elevation during standing, planting, and running. For many athletes, this effect contributes to an adaptive shortening of the gastroc/soleus complex and Achilles tendon over time.
On the advice of our podiatrist, we have actually made lateral cuts to the bottom of many of our basketball players' shoes. The cuts extend from one side of the forefoot to the other through the full-length fiberglass insert, directly under the first metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint, basically running across the ball of the foot to alleviate manufactured stiffness and allow for normal big toe extension. We started doing this after several complaints of Achilles tendon pain and anterior knee pain, both of which were alleviated after normal foot motion was restored. Increasing natural foot mobility can also help athletes improve their movement mechanics.
FREE THE FOOT
When athletes perform activities such as dynamic warmup and movement prep with bare feet, they recruit the muscles of their feet and ankles and experience feedback and proprioception in the plantar surface of the foot. At Northeastern, we strongly believe this leads to better positional sense and may contribute to injury prevention and performance enhancement. For those reasons, we have implemented year-round strategies for our men's basketball players to promote the normal motion of the athletes' feet, toes, and ankles.
During evaluations at the beginning of the year, each player undergoes goniometric testing of the ankle, knee, and hip, traditional movement screening (including jumping and landing measures), and an examination of their feet for existing pathologies or mechanical challenges. This is essential, because certain foot-related conditions can make barefoot training counterproductive and even dangerous.
For example, athletes with excessively high arches are excluded from our barefoot work, because most physicians agree that high-arched feet require support to prevent excessive plantar stress and decrease injury risk. In addition, we exclude athletes who have experienced a stress fracture or other serious injury, or have had surgery on the foot or ankle (such as fixation of the navicular bone). To let these players' feet strike the ground repetitively without support during barefoot training would produce injury risks that outweigh any potential benefits.
Some believe that excessive pronators must have firm support from custom orthotics during all activities, but it's been my experience that these athletes do very well in a progressive barefoot program. In fact, I've found that symptoms such as anterior knee pain typically seen in pronators are often resolved when barefoot work is added to their overall training plan. Nonetheless, it's always best to consult a physician, preferably a podiatrist, if you have doubts about the safety of barefoot training for a particular athlete.
BARE ESSENTIALS
Before beginning our barefoot program, we hold an educational session to introduce the athletes to this strategy and explain what they should expect. We tell them it's normal to feel some residual foot soreness after training in bare feet, especially if they've never trained this way before.
However, we note that if the soreness lasts for more than a day, if it's accompanied by sharp or shooting pain, or if it leads to sudden knee or back pain, they should see us for an evaluation, which might lead us to discontinue their barefoot program. These symptoms may indicate an unresolved previous injury, such as a stress reaction or fracture.
For those with normal soreness, we recommend general soft tissue work, such as plantar fascia rolls on a tennis or field hockey ball and basic warmup activities such as ankle mobility drills, static gastroc/soleus stretching, and general dynamic movement patterns. We tell them their foot muscles have been dormant for years in their shoes, so this new engagement and mobilization will be fatiguing--but it shouldn't be seriously painful. If it is, we want to know right away so we can determine the cause.
One of the first priorities when implementing barefoot training is to find a workspace with the right type of surface. Synthetic turf is the best choice, and we are fortunate at Northeastern to have two indoor surfaces (a field house and a turf area located in our weightroom). Since much of the benefit of barefoot training comes from athletes' ability to use their foot muscles to "grip" the ground and feel feedback from a soft ground-foot interface, synthetic turf is far superior to a gym floor or weightroom mat.
So what does the barefoot portion of a workout actually look like? For us, it begins with cold stretching, including plantar fascia rolls, foam rolling, and standard static pre-workout stretches. We'll then put the athletes through a series of simple dynamic movements and agility ladder drills such as skips in all directions, butt kickers, spidermans, toe kicks, inchworms, and shuffles in all directions.
Next come mobility drills, such as lunges in various planes, hurdle walks/duck-unders, single-leg reaches in multiple planes, and various balance activities such as one-quarter jump-and-lands on one or two legs, hops, balancing on one leg with eyes closed, single-leg chopping patterns with core balls, and light bounding.
We also use our barefoot training time as an opportunity to develop the core with a number of upright standing exercises, such as partner anti-rotation, cable chops, and resisted lumbar cable extensions. By placing the athletes in positions that imitate live basketball action but without the usual support of their shoes, we enhance the sport-specific foot and ankle sensory system. And by improving the foot's tactile feedback and gripping strength, we provide benefits not only for the foot and ankle complex but all the way up the kinetic chain to the knee, hip, and lumbar spine.
At the end of a barefoot session, stretching and recovery includes strap stretches and foam rolling. We also use light jogging in the cooldown portion of some workouts, along with locomotion patterns such as walking with toes and feet pointed in, out, and up, walking on toes, shuffling in circular patterns, and backward jogging and running.
In addition to our traditional cooldown modalities, we also employ yoga during some sessions, particularly in the summer and the early preseason. This allows additional opportunities to stretch and maintain tissue quality while providing a refreshingly different type of ground-foot interaction.
The most striking thing about yoga work with our players is the extent to which they struggle to maintain the balance necessary for even basic poses such as the warrior series, high lunges, extended triangles, and downward facing dog. But improving balance is part of the reason we use barefoot training in the first place, so as they make progress in yoga, we know they are adding a new dimension of awareness and proficient mobility that will transfer to the entire kinetic chain.
As our athletes grow more comfortable with barefoot training, we gradually get them out of their shoes more and more often. For example, after regular conditioning sessions, weightroom workouts, and sled work, we might have them perform cooldown and stretching in bare feet on our indoor turf to keep the foot muscles engaged and maintain the strength gains they've made.
One question we have considered at length is how much barefoot training athletes should perform. We believe that once they've been evaluated and introduced to barefoot work, they should do as many training activities unshod as is practical. In our conditioning program, the barefoot portion of a workout typically takes between five and 20 minutes--so while it's certainly not the bulk of training, it is a significant part of the broader program.
I've seen demonstrably positive results from incorporating this type of training into athletes' workouts on a regular basis. Since we first implemented barefoot work in the summer of 2007, we have noticed a significant drop in episodes of anterior knee pain, ankle sprains, and low back pain among our basketball players. In fact, during the 2008-09 men's season, no one missed a game due to an ankle sprain or any form of lower extremity pain. I'm confident that our barefoot protocols contributed to this success.
Is barefoot training the secret to solving all foot, ankle, and gross movement problems? Certainly not. But with the outcomes we've witnessed, we won't be dropping it from our training program any time soon. After all, why would humans have such an incredibly complex mechanism as the foot if it wasn't intended to move freely?
Sidebar: STAYING SAFE
While barefoot training is a safe way to enhance foot strength and functionality, like every training activity it carries some risk. Here are a few pointers on how to minimize the chance of injury:
• Before every barefoot training session, inspect the surface for sharp objects, such as broken glass, pieces of metal, or anything else that could cause cuts or puncture wounds.
• Athletes with a wound on their foot should not train barefoot, especially if they cannot keep the wound covered with a secure bandage. Diabetic athletes should be especially cautious, as they have an increased tendency to develop foot ulcers.
• In most cases, athletes should not go barefoot in the weightroom--the risk of dropping a plate, dumbbell, or other piece of equipment on an exposed foot is too great. There are just two exceptions in our facility: during prep work when no one in the weightroom is handling free weights, and while I evaluate squatting technique, because it is beneficial to see the unshod foot as it moves during squats.
• As mentioned in this article, athletes with high arches and those with pre-existing foot or ankle conditions usually should not go barefoot, as they may need cushioning and/or orthotic support at all times to avoid injury. When in doubt, consult a podiatrist.
• As with any new form of training, the body requires an adaptation period. When introducing barefoot training, start with just a few minutes of light stretching and movement prep at each workout, and gradually add greater challenges as the athletes grow more comfortable.
We welcome your feedback on this article. Please e-mail us at: tcfeedback@momentummedia.com
By Art Horne
Art Horne, MEd, ATC, CSCS, is Strength & Conditioning Coach and Coordinator of Care for men's basketball at Northeastern University, and is currently serving as the Interim Director of Sport Performance. He can be reached at: a.horne@neu.edu.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila earned worldwide fame by winning the marathon with a world-record time of 2:15:16. The attention focused not just on his remarkable feat, but on his remarkable feet--Bikila completed the marathon without wearing shoes or socks.
Some would say that event catapulted the concept of barefoot training into mainstream consciousness. But in reality, athletes around the world trained barefoot in various ways long before Bikila's accomplishment--in fact, you might argue that barefoot training is as old as athletics itself. Barefoot training advocates argue that "shod" (shoe-wearing) athletes miss out on many benefits, ranging from proprioception and motor development to recruitment of important muscles that remain underutilized and practically dormant inside rigid, restrictive modern footwear.
There is very little research providing clear answers on how best to implement barefoot work into today's training strategies. But as an athletic trainer and strength coach who has employed barefoot training with basketball players at Northeastern University for several years, I firmly believe it's well worth the time investment. In this article, I'll explain the concepts behind barefoot training, outline how I use it with my athletes, and discuss the benefits I've seen from having athletes bare their soles during workouts.
THEORY BEFORE PRACTICE
Anyone who has walked barefoot on a beach or grassy field can grasp the theory behind barefoot training and its athletic benefits. By letting the foot return to its primitive state, in which it must grip the earth to produce efficient movement, you can feel the engagement of intrinsic muscles of the toes, midfoot, heel, and ankle--muscles that receive little opportunity for strengthening in our shoes-required world.
The idea behind barefoot training is that developing these muscles improves foot and ankle function, while also providing benefits up the entire kinetic chain. Barefoot proponents point to increased proprioception related to the movement of the feet and ankles in time and space, lower impact forces due to reduced heel strike, higher efficiency in running as measured by lower oxygen consumption, and an increase in bone density throughout the foot and ankle.
Humans' relationship with shoes is a surprisingly complex one, involving both physical and psychological elements. For example, in a 1997 study, researchers had subjects repeatedly step onto and off of a box, each time landing on a pad made of material commonly found in shoe insoles. The material was the same each time, but the authors used different terms to describe the landing pad, and found that participants landed with greatest impact forces when stepping down onto surfaces described with words like "advanced technology" and "used in the most expensive sneakers."
The authors noted the natural human tendency "to be less cautious when using new devices of unknown benefit because of overly positive attitudes associated with new technology and novel devices." If that's true, it may mean today's athletes, who wear more and more advanced footwear and often receive custom tape jobs before each practice and competition, pay less attention than ever to the fundamentals of foot movement and function, possibly harming their performance and increasing their risk for injury. Barefoot training can help reverse those practices.
Consider a more specific example: High-top sneakers with stiff soles are worn almost universally in basketball, and many athletes wear ankle braces or tape underneath them, even for workouts. This practically ensures a weak and dormant foot and ankle complex. Kinematic data suggests that the hallux (big toe) requires 20 degrees of extension and the ankle needs around 20 degrees of dorsiflexion to allow for normal forward motion. Both those movement dimensions are commonly limited by basketball shoes, tape, and braces.
In addition, modern sneakers are usually built with some form of "air cells" or other shock absorbers or supports that raise the heel above its normal resting elevation during standing, planting, and running. For many athletes, this effect contributes to an adaptive shortening of the gastroc/soleus complex and Achilles tendon over time.
On the advice of our podiatrist, we have actually made lateral cuts to the bottom of many of our basketball players' shoes. The cuts extend from one side of the forefoot to the other through the full-length fiberglass insert, directly under the first metacarpophalangeal (MP) joint, basically running across the ball of the foot to alleviate manufactured stiffness and allow for normal big toe extension. We started doing this after several complaints of Achilles tendon pain and anterior knee pain, both of which were alleviated after normal foot motion was restored. Increasing natural foot mobility can also help athletes improve their movement mechanics.
FREE THE FOOT
When athletes perform activities such as dynamic warmup and movement prep with bare feet, they recruit the muscles of their feet and ankles and experience feedback and proprioception in the plantar surface of the foot. At Northeastern, we strongly believe this leads to better positional sense and may contribute to injury prevention and performance enhancement. For those reasons, we have implemented year-round strategies for our men's basketball players to promote the normal motion of the athletes' feet, toes, and ankles.
During evaluations at the beginning of the year, each player undergoes goniometric testing of the ankle, knee, and hip, traditional movement screening (including jumping and landing measures), and an examination of their feet for existing pathologies or mechanical challenges. This is essential, because certain foot-related conditions can make barefoot training counterproductive and even dangerous.
For example, athletes with excessively high arches are excluded from our barefoot work, because most physicians agree that high-arched feet require support to prevent excessive plantar stress and decrease injury risk. In addition, we exclude athletes who have experienced a stress fracture or other serious injury, or have had surgery on the foot or ankle (such as fixation of the navicular bone). To let these players' feet strike the ground repetitively without support during barefoot training would produce injury risks that outweigh any potential benefits.
Some believe that excessive pronators must have firm support from custom orthotics during all activities, but it's been my experience that these athletes do very well in a progressive barefoot program. In fact, I've found that symptoms such as anterior knee pain typically seen in pronators are often resolved when barefoot work is added to their overall training plan. Nonetheless, it's always best to consult a physician, preferably a podiatrist, if you have doubts about the safety of barefoot training for a particular athlete.
BARE ESSENTIALS
Before beginning our barefoot program, we hold an educational session to introduce the athletes to this strategy and explain what they should expect. We tell them it's normal to feel some residual foot soreness after training in bare feet, especially if they've never trained this way before.
However, we note that if the soreness lasts for more than a day, if it's accompanied by sharp or shooting pain, or if it leads to sudden knee or back pain, they should see us for an evaluation, which might lead us to discontinue their barefoot program. These symptoms may indicate an unresolved previous injury, such as a stress reaction or fracture.
For those with normal soreness, we recommend general soft tissue work, such as plantar fascia rolls on a tennis or field hockey ball and basic warmup activities such as ankle mobility drills, static gastroc/soleus stretching, and general dynamic movement patterns. We tell them their foot muscles have been dormant for years in their shoes, so this new engagement and mobilization will be fatiguing--but it shouldn't be seriously painful. If it is, we want to know right away so we can determine the cause.
One of the first priorities when implementing barefoot training is to find a workspace with the right type of surface. Synthetic turf is the best choice, and we are fortunate at Northeastern to have two indoor surfaces (a field house and a turf area located in our weightroom). Since much of the benefit of barefoot training comes from athletes' ability to use their foot muscles to "grip" the ground and feel feedback from a soft ground-foot interface, synthetic turf is far superior to a gym floor or weightroom mat.
So what does the barefoot portion of a workout actually look like? For us, it begins with cold stretching, including plantar fascia rolls, foam rolling, and standard static pre-workout stretches. We'll then put the athletes through a series of simple dynamic movements and agility ladder drills such as skips in all directions, butt kickers, spidermans, toe kicks, inchworms, and shuffles in all directions.
Next come mobility drills, such as lunges in various planes, hurdle walks/duck-unders, single-leg reaches in multiple planes, and various balance activities such as one-quarter jump-and-lands on one or two legs, hops, balancing on one leg with eyes closed, single-leg chopping patterns with core balls, and light bounding.
We also use our barefoot training time as an opportunity to develop the core with a number of upright standing exercises, such as partner anti-rotation, cable chops, and resisted lumbar cable extensions. By placing the athletes in positions that imitate live basketball action but without the usual support of their shoes, we enhance the sport-specific foot and ankle sensory system. And by improving the foot's tactile feedback and gripping strength, we provide benefits not only for the foot and ankle complex but all the way up the kinetic chain to the knee, hip, and lumbar spine.
At the end of a barefoot session, stretching and recovery includes strap stretches and foam rolling. We also use light jogging in the cooldown portion of some workouts, along with locomotion patterns such as walking with toes and feet pointed in, out, and up, walking on toes, shuffling in circular patterns, and backward jogging and running.
In addition to our traditional cooldown modalities, we also employ yoga during some sessions, particularly in the summer and the early preseason. This allows additional opportunities to stretch and maintain tissue quality while providing a refreshingly different type of ground-foot interaction.
The most striking thing about yoga work with our players is the extent to which they struggle to maintain the balance necessary for even basic poses such as the warrior series, high lunges, extended triangles, and downward facing dog. But improving balance is part of the reason we use barefoot training in the first place, so as they make progress in yoga, we know they are adding a new dimension of awareness and proficient mobility that will transfer to the entire kinetic chain.
As our athletes grow more comfortable with barefoot training, we gradually get them out of their shoes more and more often. For example, after regular conditioning sessions, weightroom workouts, and sled work, we might have them perform cooldown and stretching in bare feet on our indoor turf to keep the foot muscles engaged and maintain the strength gains they've made.
One question we have considered at length is how much barefoot training athletes should perform. We believe that once they've been evaluated and introduced to barefoot work, they should do as many training activities unshod as is practical. In our conditioning program, the barefoot portion of a workout typically takes between five and 20 minutes--so while it's certainly not the bulk of training, it is a significant part of the broader program.
I've seen demonstrably positive results from incorporating this type of training into athletes' workouts on a regular basis. Since we first implemented barefoot work in the summer of 2007, we have noticed a significant drop in episodes of anterior knee pain, ankle sprains, and low back pain among our basketball players. In fact, during the 2008-09 men's season, no one missed a game due to an ankle sprain or any form of lower extremity pain. I'm confident that our barefoot protocols contributed to this success.
Is barefoot training the secret to solving all foot, ankle, and gross movement problems? Certainly not. But with the outcomes we've witnessed, we won't be dropping it from our training program any time soon. After all, why would humans have such an incredibly complex mechanism as the foot if it wasn't intended to move freely?
Sidebar: STAYING SAFE
While barefoot training is a safe way to enhance foot strength and functionality, like every training activity it carries some risk. Here are a few pointers on how to minimize the chance of injury:
• Before every barefoot training session, inspect the surface for sharp objects, such as broken glass, pieces of metal, or anything else that could cause cuts or puncture wounds.
• Athletes with a wound on their foot should not train barefoot, especially if they cannot keep the wound covered with a secure bandage. Diabetic athletes should be especially cautious, as they have an increased tendency to develop foot ulcers.
• In most cases, athletes should not go barefoot in the weightroom--the risk of dropping a plate, dumbbell, or other piece of equipment on an exposed foot is too great. There are just two exceptions in our facility: during prep work when no one in the weightroom is handling free weights, and while I evaluate squatting technique, because it is beneficial to see the unshod foot as it moves during squats.
• As mentioned in this article, athletes with high arches and those with pre-existing foot or ankle conditions usually should not go barefoot, as they may need cushioning and/or orthotic support at all times to avoid injury. When in doubt, consult a podiatrist.
• As with any new form of training, the body requires an adaptation period. When introducing barefoot training, start with just a few minutes of light stretching and movement prep at each workout, and gradually add greater challenges as the athletes grow more comfortable.
We welcome your feedback on this article. Please e-mail us at: tcfeedback@momentummedia.com
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
TRAIN SMART: THE LYDIARD METHOD
On page 12 in Lydiard's "Running to the Top" Lydiard says he often tells young people, "Look, last year, you ran the best race of your career. Everything went right and you performed at your very best. Now, if you know why that happened and you put your training plan together properly to reproduce that peak performance again on the day of the first race you want to win this season, then I would say you know something about training. Until you can do that, you don't know a damn thing about it. You are just a good athlete who, one day, without realizing why it is happening, will run a good race."
I've had some good races, and some bad ones, same as almost everyone. Of my five marathons, I only feel like I executed two correctly, even though my preparations were fairly similar through four of them. Looking back over my logs, there are certainly clues and footprints, weeks when I commented on how bad I felt, or sometimes days when things really clicked. I can't tell you why in most cases, and I realize I'm that (not so) young person Lydiard is lecturing.
I thought when I started this that I would be doing great if I could just follow the numbers and times stated in the marathon schedule in "Running to the Top" or the Introduction to the Lydiard System link I posted on the right. That's what I'd done with Pete Pfitzinger's plan and others before it.
But a funny thing happened along the way. The person (Arthur Lydiard) who invented the plan, and those like Nobby Hashizume, who worked with Lydiard for 25 years, and still others who were either coached or infuenced by the plan started saying the same thing- the schedule is only a starting point, it's only numbers.
I've mentioned my reliance on numbers as indicators of my condition before, and I guess I when I first started with Lydiard I thought "If I put X amount of effort in, times Y in miles, plus Z in duration, it would equal a sub-2:40 marathon. I'm not the only one who has this misconception. In the famous Lydiard/Daniels Letsrun thread Nobby is asked about what is and isn't the Lydiard Method. His response:
What People Say the Lydiard Method Is:
* Running 100 miles a week
* Dividing the season into blocks
* Special hill training (Hill Circuit)
* Pogo-stick-jump-like sprint drills for distance runners
* Unique shoe-lacing system
* Actually, it is all of the above
What the Lydiard Method is NOT:
* Long Slow Distance (LSD) and no speed
* Quick and easy fix
* Magic formula
* Short-cut to the top
* One-thing-fits-all program – you have to understand the principle and apply to yourself
* “5 ways to break the world record in a month” – it does not exist!
What is the Lydiard Method?
* Perfect combination of Aerobic and Anaerobic training and to arrange all elements of training in a balanced way so you can peak on the day that requires.
* To develop sufficient stamina to maintain necessary speed over the racing distance.
_______________________________________________
The last two sentences say it all, and Nobby's description of what the Lydiard Method is not is just as telling. I'm certainly not on my way towards a degree in physiology, but I am starting to take a more active role in trying to figure out the "why's" and "how's" of the different phases of the Lydiard Method.
So it's not a plug-and -play program, but that's good news-especially to those who want to try the Lydiard Method but are scared off by the numbers. Lets face it, for many of us 100 mile weeks are not in the cards, either by desire or design. Lydiard, through his own trial-and-error found that figure optimal for his "boys", but some people do much more while others get by on much less. The Running Times article on Lorraine Moller and her coaching shows one of her athletes making remarkable strides on less mileage. So if you're thinking of trying the Lydiard Method, be prepared to do a little homework. Like most good things, the more you put into something, the more you get out of it.
Training: 22 miles, 2:30:32, 6:51 pace, very tough one today after too much yardwork yesterday. I need to have more respect for what the hill-work is taking out of me. Ran the first half at an ambitious 6:46 pace, so I faded pretty bad. Next time I'll start slower (and go back to 2 gels instea
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
HOW TO REDUCE AND AVOID COMMON RUNNING INJURIES
Efficient form and lightweight shoes are the keys to staying healthy
By Danny Abshire, co-founder, Newton Running
Do you think a running shoe with a thickly cushioned heel pad and rigid medial post can keep you from suffering common running injuries such as plantar fasciitis, iliotibial band syndrome or shin splits? Think again.
Recent research and news reports are confirming what those close to the sport have known for years: running shoes with thick midsoles, extensive anti-pronation devices and large heel crash pads don’t prevent injuries.
The key to preventing running injuries is to run with lightweight shoes and efficient, low-impact running form. Running in heavy, overbuilt running shoes can put more strain on a runner’s body, reduceproprioception necessary to engage proper form and make a runner’s feet and lower legs overwork braking and propulsive muscles and connective tissue — a combination which can actually make a runner more prone to common overuse injuries.
A recent study at the University of Newcastle in Australia concluded there is no scientific evidence to support claims that running shoes with elevated heel crash pads and elaborate anti-pronation systems prevent injuries in runners. The findings have been published in the March 2009 edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
“Since the 1980s, distance running shoes with thick, heavily cushioned heels and features to control how much the heel rolls in, have been consistently recommended to runners who want to avoid injury,” Dr. Craig Richards, one of the researchers, said in a press release announcing the results of the study. “We did not identify a single study that has attempted to measure the effect of this shoe type on either injury rates or performance. This means there is no scientific evidence that [those shoes] provide any benefit to distance runners.”
Dutch researchers have previously found that between 37 and 56 percent of recreational runners become injured at least once each year. The most common maladies are found in the feet and lower legs, but others include pelvis and lower back injuries.
“Not only can we no longer recommend a shoe [with an elevated heel and pronation control system], but the lack of research in this area means that we cannot currently make any evidence-based shoe recommendations to runners,” Richards said in the release. “To resolve this uncertainty, running shoes need to be tested like any other medical treatment, in carefully controlled clinical trials.
“This will ensure that only running shoes with proven benefits can be marketed and sold as therapeutic devices. Until this occurs, health professionals will not know whether the distance running shoes they are recommending are beneficial, harmless or harmful.”
A recent story in the London Daily Mail confirmed what the Australian report suggested in an excerpt from a new book called “Born to Run” by journalist Christopher McDougal. That story referenced Dr. Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, who offered the startling conclusion that: “A lot of foot and knee injuries currently plaguing us are caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to overpronate (ankle rotation) and give us knee problems.”
To run efficiently, you have to understand your body and how it naturally moves across a surface with as little muscular force as possible. The tenants of good running form include running with short strides and a quick cadence, landing lightly on the midfoot/forefoot area (the ball of the foot, but not the toes), and quickly lifting your foot off the ground instead of pushing off with excessive muscle force. A slight forward lean and a relaxed arm swing are also key components.
To illustrate what Newton Running calls the “Land-Lever-Lift” technique, take the simple test of running barefoot across a smooth floor. More than likely, you’re naturally going to land lightly at your midfoot/forefoot and quickly pick up your foot to start a new stride. Your body doesn’t allow you to land on your heels because it isn’t engineered to accommodate the blunt force trauma of repeated heel striking. Unfortunately, most contemporary running shoes have been designed for running form that demands heavy heel striking and dampens the afferent feedback which allows the foot to sense the ground.
Two of the biggest mistakes distance runners can fall prey to are 1) excessive heel striking that causes abrupt braking of forward momentum, and then pushing off too hard with the toes to start the forward motion again; or 2) using only propulsive muscles,(the calf group, hamstrings and Achilles tendon) by running too far up on their toes like a sprinter and not using the body’s natural cushioning system. Each of those form flaws puts too much vertical movement into every stride, and that leads to inefficiency and considerably more impact, muscle and tendon stress on the body.
Danny Abshire is the co-founder of Newton Running, a Boulder, Colo.-based company that makes shoes that promote an efficient midfoot running gait. He has been making advanced footwear solutions for runners and triathletes for more than 20 years.
Moving to our New Store Update
The move is under way, we started yesterday, and shooting for completion by the 17th. The website now has the new address on it, and will have new content about our opening in the new location. Stay tuned!
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