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After two weeks of flu and recovery I returned to back to regular working-out again a week ago – or so I thought…. During the two weeks of flu and recovery I ordered and had delivered a pair of Vibram FiveFinger Classics and I was eager to go running in them. If this sounds crazy read the first part of Barefoot running (pt1) – Run as you were designed to.
 Almost barefoot running The FiveFingers sure look funny and I have received a lot of looks and comments wearing them for walks in the neighbourhood. “Hey, have you taken up ballet dancing?” is one of many more or less funny remarks.
They are fantastically comfortable to walk in, like walking barefoot without worrying what to step on. You feel the surface you walk on, the Vibram sole protects you from any sharp objects and you have fantastic grip, also when wet. After the first few hours of walking in the FiveFingers it was somewhat strange to wear sneakers again – so heavy, clumsy and no feel at all. From a comfort only perspective I could wear FiveFingers only. Not sure if Vibram has an office design of them on their product development roadmap.
Running in FiveFingers
If you’re familiar with the concept of barefoot running you will know that the barefoot running technique is different from the technique wearing modern running shoes . In essence: No heel strikes, light landing on the ball of your foot and your calves act as springs to absorb the impact of the landing and pushing you forward into the next step. Check the videos and articles in the first part of Barefoot running in this blog for more info.
I set out along the river Vltava running south on the east bank on the asphalt walking and biking path. Maybe not the optimal surface for a test run but anyway. I felt really light running, no problems adjusting the technique to stretch out the foot to land properly, found that it came more naturally with longer strides, with shorter strides the heel tended to drop and it was more of a flat foot landing.
Continue reading Barefoot running (pt 2) – Killing me softly
Assuming that your pistols are now fast and accurate it’s time to put the leg explosivity you’ve built to the test in the burpee!
 Burpee - exploding out of the deep squat! The burpee is a great allround exercise to build aerobic and anaerobic capacity. You build stamina through the complex movement with three jumps, you build leg explosivity in the jumps and upperbody strength in the push-up phase of the burpee.
- Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart.
- Go down in a squat so deep that you can place your palms flat on the floor closely in front of your feet, you may need to balance up on your toes to be able to place your palms flat on the floor.
- With your palms flat on the floor jump back into a straight bridge, the starting position of the standard push-up.
- Perform a push-up.
- Once back at the top of the push-up, keep you palms firm to the floor and jump to place your feet closely behind your hands again.
- Remember to keep your back straight and explode upwards into a jump, reaching high with your hands.
- Land with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Repeat.
Check out the burpee instructional video on www.crossfit.com!
On June 1st, time yourself completing 60 burpees. Practice hard during the month and time yourself again on June 30th!
Good luck and remember to post your June 1st time, your progress and your June 30th finish time.
Being interested in MovNat I came across Barefoot Ted and had an eureka moment realizing that I have taken the completely wrong approach to running. I’ve taken the approach the $20 billion running shoe industry wants me to.
 Re-learn how to walk For the past 15 years or so I have weighed in at around 85-90 kg (14 stones) and I have always had running shoes with thick cushioning to reduce the impact of all my kilos striking the ground heel first.
On top of this I have twisted both of my ankles a couple of times through the years. Last time it to 6 months before I could run without ankle pain again, I now run with extra cushioned running shoes and for a while even taped the ankles to prevent further injury.
Actually, as a kid I was walking too much (according to whom?) on the ball of my foot and the local doctor gave me special types of clogs with high firm heels to reduce the ankle flexibility and force me to land on the heel. It really worked….
The modern running shoe was essentially invented by Nike in 1972, and the running shoe industry has become a $20 billion industry. Loads of money involved and loads of fancy new features introduced to the running shoes every year so the shoe makers can gain market share over the competitors.
Hmm.. makes my wonder…..
Didn’t people run before 1972? If they did, was the injury levels dramatically higher than now?
Are running shoes preventing or causing injuries?
Read this article and check this video, to get a quick intro to barefoot running.
I am convinced, it all makes sense, I will retire the running shoes, get a wooble board to start building up the muscles of the foot and ankle again and investigate if to buy Vibram Fivefingers , maybe Feelmax , or have a go at making Huarache running sandals.
More reading:
The painful truth: Are running shoes a waste of money?
The Running Shoe Debate: How Barefoot Runners are Shaping the Shoe Industry
‘No evidence’ on running shoe safety
The Pistol Fight is the fitness challenge of May 2009.
 Join the Pistol Fight! This is how the challenge goes:
A pistol is a one-legged squat, one legged raised in front of you and kept parallel to the floor while slowly squatting down one your other leg and then pressing up again.
Voila! Easy right?
On the first of May make as many pistols as you can alternating between your left and right leg. Practice like crazy for a month and on May 31st try again. Greatest improvement wins! You challenge yourself here so set a challenging but realistic goal!
Tips for the novice!
If you’re struggling with one pistol start with half-pistols from a chair.
- Sit on the edge of the chair with a straight back, extend one leg and position the other leg on the floor as close to the imaginary vertical line extending from head to butt.
- Extend your arms in front of you to aid balance.
- Toes and heel to the floor (avoid balancing on your toes) slowly press yourself up to standing and in controlled movement sit back down again.
- Repeat for the other leg.
When you master 10 half-pistols on each leg I suggest you start practicing aided pistols.
Continue reading Join the Pistol Fight – the May challenge!
Wonder if Axl Rose had the same kind of fun’n'games in mind that Erwan Le Core or Greg Glassman had in mind when they designed their respective fitness concepts?
I dare to call myself fit. Spent my late teens in the gym, Muscle & Fitness was my bible and Arnold Schwarzenegger my God. My early twenties was all about martial arts, mixing Jiu-jitsu with western boxing and thai-boxing. The last ten years has seen my fitness level decline radically but I have tried to keep a decent level by periodically running, swimming, boxing and lifting weights.
The thing is, since I no longer have an ambition to become the next Schwarzenegger or Bruce Lee and I only exercise to feel good and to be able to manage daily activities without being limited by my level of fitness, I can’t push myself to give 100% in any specific sport. I want to have fun through-out the session and I do that by keeping a high level of variation.
In addition, back in the gym-rat days I found that although I could bench-press or squat heavy weights there was little use of this strength outside of the gym. It wasn’t easier for me to carry two heavy bags of groceries to the 5th floor than for the next guy. For this reason I loved martial arts, a lot more functional use of my fitness.
Over the last few years the concept of functional training has gone from rough military fitness training to branded mainstream movements.
I find the CrossFit and MovNat to be the two most exciting concepts in this area.
Continue reading “Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun ‘n’ games.”
 The concept of information is tricky since the scientific definition of the word is very different from the common, every day, use of the word. In science (information theory) information is a measure of the uncertainity of an outcome, i.e. a measure of the number of possible underlying combinations of data that a message could represent. In every day use of the word is an expression for manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds knowledge the the receiver.
I’ll put the concept of communication into perspective and discuss the framework and related concepts like information, exformation, incitation and excitation.
Information theory is a confusing concept. In science it is developed in the telecommunication industry and only concerned with the cost of transmitting information, totally excluding the meaning of what is transmitted.
A core characteristic of communication is that it is transmission of information in a reduced state. A popular example of this is the famous exchange between Victor Hugo and his publisher after the publication of Les Miserables in 1861. After completing the Les Miserables Hugo left Paris for vacation. Being curious about the reception of his book he sent a letter to his publisher only writing “?”. The publisher answered with “!”. And indeed the Les Miserables was a success. Despite the very limited information exchanged they both understood each other perfectly.
Continue reading Do I make myself clear?
Instinctive Drives is the most impressive personality tests I have come across (and I have done quite a few).
What I find so appealing wit the I.D. assessment is that is going in depth on why you have behave in certain ways, what motivates you, what are your instinctive drives, and then gives you practical and sound advice how to make the best out of your strengths and potential pitfalls.
The profile report is looking at four areas, your drive to Verify, to Authenticate, to Complete, and to Improvise. Each drive rated from 1 to 9, 5 being neutral and 9 indicating absolute strength.
- Verify: The drive to Get It Right. Being strong in Verify means that you probably need to understand the objective of something before acting, you prefer written documentation so you can study it in detail and you check and make sure things are on the right track to Get it Right!
More on Verify.
- Authenticate: The drive to Make It Real. If you’re strong in this drive you are likely to mean what you say, you expect things to happen as promised, you deliver sustainable solutions that are fit for use and purpose, and you are good at visualizing outcomes to Make It Real.
More on Authenticate.
- Complete: The drive to Keep It Whole. “Completers” are the kind who want clear expectations and make a detailed plan to ensure that they deliver to expectation and in time. They make sure they have time to finish the task in time (or they may not even start) and deliver solutions that fit well in the bigger picture to maintain harmony and Keep It Whole.
More on Complete.
- Improvise: The drive to Make It Possible. If you’re strong in Improvise you are driven by passion and excitement and you make quick decisions based on your gut feel. You probably take risks since you naturally say ‘yes’ to new ideas. You thrive in an fun environment with loads of things happening and you are good at inspiring others since you often make a strong and positive first impression. Since you’re very optimistic your natural response to a challenge will be: Make It Possible!
More on Improvise.
The personal report you receive after taking the assessment is supplemented by a “manager report”, a one-pager with tips for your manager (partner, friends, etc) on how to leverage your strengths and how to avoid making you stressed and vulnerable .
The I.D. assessment is developed by Australian company Link-Up, founded by Paul Burgess, I recommend that you read more about Instinctive Drives on I.D. Central where you also can order online access to take the test.
Me? ID:6673
How to get you started getting things done instead of just pushing into uncertainity?
 Get organized There is an established concept called Getting Things Done, GTD. This is the 101 on GTD!
The concept of GTD has as many variations as users for the simple reason that we all are wired differently. Nevertheless there are some “best practices” to get you started, implement it and refine as you get used to it.
For many David Allen is the man to look up to when it comes to getting things done (GTD). Although the principles of GTD is a lot of common sense David Allen has structured the approach and boiled it done to three main models. He has even registered Getting Things Done and GTD as trademarks.
His version of GTD is summarized by himself as follows (from his book “Ready for Anything”):
“Get everything out of your head. Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up — not when it blows up. Organize reminders of your projects and the next actions on them in appropriate categories. Keep your system current, complete, and reviewed sufficiently to trust your intuitive choices about what you’re doing (and not doing) at any time.”
The principles of GTD are used by numerous companies in the time management business and all aim at giving you a system for managing tasks so that they are prioritized correctly, actioned in a timely fashion, none is dropped and you sleep better at night!
Continue reading Enough excuses – stop procrastinating now!
A brief and inspirational narrated slide show on Inspirational Leadership by Carmine Gallo, presented by Business Week.
Checkout Business Week for more interesting content.
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