Going Bare(foot) with Chris and Rebecca

Do you exercise with shoes on?

I always did, but thanks to a suggestion from Chris Roberts, a Wilmington area guy I met a few months ago at a networking event, I decided to try barefoot exercise and after two months I am loving it.



Chris and I were talking about P90X and he mentioned he'd done the Plyometrics workout that day. I said something about needing really good foot support for that (I usually wore some old school, highly air shocked Nikes). Chris said, no, that he always did Plyometrics as well as most other exercise barefoot.



So we talked about it a bit and I realized that dancers and gymnasts workout and perform barefoot so obviously it wasn't a totally crazy idea. So the next day I started doing my P90X  sessions barefoot.


I also recently also started taking exercise classes in our neighborhood in addition to my early morning P90X workouts. I regularly take Zumba classes and sometimes (depending on how I'm feeling from P90X) I'll take a Pilates class. The Zumba instructor and folks all wear special Zumba shoes, though some wear regular cross trainers. I thought about it and after a few classes started doing Zumba barefoot.


And I love it! I do get some funny looks and more questions about why I'm not wearing shoes and doesn't it hurt my arches and aren't I afraid of slipping. I do pay attention to the very smooth gym floor  and to that end I'm also working to toughen up the soles of my feet a bit by walking on safe rough surfaces outside a bit most  days, but I love how my feet and toes seem to be more actively involved during exercise. (Don't have as many socks to wash either, lol).


Yesterday after I got home from a Zumba class I posted about doing it barefoot on Facebook and how  another  barefoot participant was in the room. Turns out she's always been a dance exerciser and never wears shoes either. I got a fast response from another Wilmington area friend, personal trainer and kickbox instructor Rebecca Verlangieri, who commented, "I love working out barefoot. Its become a common misconception that we cannot." And then she sent me a couple of links to articles and sites that address the health and rightness of working out barefoot:

http://corefitnmotion.com/

http://movnat.com/

So thanks to Chris for waking me up to barefoot exercise and to Rebecca for added support and the web links.

I've also noticed a bunch of my friends around the country talk or write about some nearly-barefoot athletic footwear called Vibram 5 Fingers and more recently in magazine ads and on websites I've seen loads of ads for the New Balance NB Minimus line.

(Btw, I don't work for or get anything for mentioning Vibram or NB products, I just think they're interesting.)

Here's a little more about each line:

Vibram Five Fingers -

The most noticeable feature of the Vibram Five Finger line is the individual toe pieces. Here's what Vibram says, "Our revolutionary design makes feet healthier by allowing them to move more naturally and freely.
The typical human foot is an anatomical marvel of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised." Website: www.VibramFiveFingers.com




NB Minimus -

I read somewhere that the NB Minimus line is based on the Vibram Five Finger design, but I don't know that nor does New Balance mention it. Here's what they do say, "Inspired by barefoot running and designed to be used with Good Form Running principles, NB Minimus introduces an entirely new running experience. A challenge for experienced runners. A great starting point for beginners looking to develop good form. NB Minimus offers the comfort of a running shoe in a minimal, low-to-the-ground package."
Website: http://www.shopnewbalance.com/minimus

Both companies offer men's and women's shoes in a variety of styles for different athletic or lifestyle purposes. Loads of color combinations, too.

Back in the day when I was reviewer-boy I'd get busy contacting the vendors to get some product to test and write about. Now, however, I'm hoping I can get a pair for my birthday or Christmas (hint) or may even eventually buy some myself. I'd love to try both styles, actually, but that's reviewer-boy talking. I think either would be cool to compare to barefoot exercise (and since winter's coming, even in temperate southeastern North Carolina, I don't think I'll be going barefoot outside too much). Oh, and if anyone is so inclined, I like the red and black combinations (can you tell? lol).

Mix It Up, Baby! Multi-Plane!

Dear You,

Don't do just one thing.

Should be simple, right? Makes sense, right? 

Well, if that's the case how come some people do only one form of exercise, consistently, persistently, day after day. And in many cases, they think they're getting great exercise, all they need.

Nuh-uh, it doesn't work that way. 

In fact, if you only do one form of exercise, especially if it's single plane exercise like spinning, treadmill running, stair climbing, or working out with weight machines, even if you vary the frequency, duration, and intensity, you "Hamay strengthen one set of primary and secondary muscles just fine, but because they operate only on one plane of movement, other secondary muscle groups in particular are liable to injury.

I'm not a medical guy or a certified personal trainer  (used to be the latter, but not now), but it doesn't take much knowledge, sophistication to understand that if you only practice running forward, for example, that the muscles to run backward won't get strengthened. ("Ha!", you say, who wants to run backwards anyway? Okay, then how about moving quickly sideways, think that might be useful sometimes?)

Anyway, I  could go on and on with plenty of obvious examples, but the point is you need to mix up your workouts if you want to maintain your optimum fitness or even just to kind of stay in shape.

So not only do you need cardio (daily, please!), strength training,  flexibility, and stretching, for the best overall effect you also need to vary what you do in each of those categories, and realize, that  just because one type of cardio exercise or one weight machine may be your favorite or the most convenient, you could be fooling yourself into thinking your getting adequate workouts and, even worse, you could be setting yourself up for injury.

So mix it up, try different stuff, frequently. You're less likely to get bored, you 'll be less likely to plateau in your conditioning, you could very well have a lot more fun, AND you'll improve your overall fitness and injury prevention levels.

And don't just take my word for it, ask a real trainer or health professional.

In fitness and health,

Should I Work Out Every Day? Yes. Should You?

My commitment to myself and my health is that I will work out every day.

It may sound odd that I speak of myself and my health as two entities because indeed my health is inextricably part of who I am. However, I can ignore my health, I can abuse it, I can maintain it, and I can improve it. Because the sense of each of those states is one entity doing something that effects the other, it works for me to consider them separate entities.

Having established that duality, it's more clear for me to see how I have responsibility for my health. Health isn't something that just happens. Like happiness or success, my health is directly affected by my actions, my thoughts, and my state of being.

I'm highly conscious that my mind can, will, and in the past has worked against my overall good, and that includes my health. It's easy for me to use my mind to justify having a second piece of pie, or not trying something new, or skipping something I know is good for me.

I don't go through life all tightly wrapped and controlled (at least I don't experience myself that way), but I am aware that I can slide into behavior patterns that, if observed objectively, are clear signs that I'm not being a good steward of my personal health. For example, skipping exercise two days in a row easily slides into weeks off, having extra helpings at dinner or two desserts for lunch one time can become every day practices - I can even trick myself into a twisted sense of "living in the now" to justify each instance of neglect or overindulgence.

So, for me, working out everyday is the  best course. I don't need to do the same type of workout every day (in fact, of course, that's not good for you either). So some days I'll work on strength training, other days cardio, some times flexibility with stretching or Yoga, I'll do plyometrics, or pilates, or Zumba or ride my bike, or whatever. The point is, not to skip.

Because here's what I've learned about how my mind will work against me. If I take a day off from exercise, then  automatically my subconscious learns, "Ok, a day off is part of Bruce's exercise routine."

Can you see the trap I set for myself? Since my subconscious (just like yours if you're human) is trying to protect me and tends to resist change or effort or struggle or pain, if I give it permission to consider days of no exercise as good for me (i.e., part of my exercise routine), then my subconscious, I've figured out, will continuously try to influence my conscious mind to take a day off because working out is work and it can be hard and it does take me away from other cool, fun, or necessary stuff I could be doing, but since days off are part of my exercise routine anyway (see how devious my mind works? .... as does yours), then I'll suddenly realize that I've gone four days, or two weeks, or three months, or even years without working out. And that I know is not good for me.

Sometimes the only way to break that pattern is for something bad to happen. Like a doctor telling me I need to lose weight, or some bad blood test results, or seeing myself in the mirror and thinking, "Huh? How did I let myself get like that?"

Granted, often the wake up call that moves me back to good habits is somewhat (or all) related to vanity and self-esteem, but in that case I'm served well if I'll re-establish a good habit.

So that's why I work out every day. Your minds (conscious and subconscious) may work differently, but I've learned I need to take charge of my actions and my conscious mind or otherwise my subconscious mind will work against my health and well-being.

I am fascinated  to hear your thoughts on this. Has anyone else reached the same conclusions about working out daily or more generally about keeping up good habits not only for your own good but also to harness the potential self-destructiveness of your subsconcious?