Taking the plunge with Vibram Five Fingers

Sometimes you see something so stupid that it just might work….

There’s a lot of hype surrounding these shoes so I was reluctant to take the plunge and buy a pair, however I was on the look out for something thin soled and light to replace my Nike aqua socks, and a piece of footwear more suited to the outdoor martial arts and kettlebell training I do.

When I lived in Aus I basically lived in flipflops for 9 months of the year and since returning I’ve noticed a real reduction in foot endurance and strength – a problem for what I like to do. These purport to the be the answer. Why?

The problem with your feet

Your foot is a collection of bones (26 in all), muscles (20) and connective tissue. Just like in other parts of the body the strength, endurance and resilience of these tissues, as well as the way they work together (function) declines when you don’t train them properly. Use it or loose it applies to feet. HOWEVER it doesn’t end there of course, your feet are the bodypart that touches the ground. In almost every sporting endeavor the feet are massively important – they are the base of power transmission. Get your feet strong and your whole performance if drawn up with it. Of course equally as important is foot health for every day getting around.

Shoes are the problem, necessary since we live in a hard tarmacked urban sprawl most of the time, shoes confine the feet trapping them and not letting it function properly. Freeing them in this way by using footwear that allows the feet to spread, the toes to function and the arches to support themselves, is like a gym for the foot.

Going barefoot

There’s an ever-growing band of people who are into feet, foot function and getting a close to nature as possible. Barefooting in it’s truest form is of course living with the absence of footwear where ever possible even whilst hiking and water skiing (check barefooters.org for more info on the lifestyle) however all that takes a lot of caution an conditioning to harden the feet up.  There are many people who want the foot health advantages in their urban lifestyle but without all the pain and calluses,  and of course the world being what it is there’s a whole load of companies lined up to sell their weird and wonderful creations to them! They include:

Dopie Sandals

Vivo (note the wide fit and minimal heal)

…both by Terra Plana.

Now, I doubt you’ll be amazed to find out that these can be pretty pricey (£30 and £75 +p&p respectively) and with little choice of retailer (again, bad for price) but they may just be worth it, of course the choice is yours… you could just go for these:

Well not quite those but you know what I mean (who would have thought Krispy Kreme are now doing footwear?)

Vibrams: Fitting and fiddling
Fitting seems to be a bit of a pain in the arse; you fit to your longest toe and If that happens to be your big toes then good for you, if it’s the second (like me) then you have to go for a large size and put up with a small gap at the back.

They definitely require a little more effort here than your normal shoe so if you need more information on the sizing of these little beauties then have a look at THIS great post by MC over at Begin to Dig

The proof of the pudding is in the eating so we’ll see how it goes.  I’ll update to add my thoughts here…..

UPDATES

DAY 4

Have been following the instructions and only putting them on for an hour or two for the first few day. Feet definitely feel like they have had a workout. Strangely though I am also feeling it through the front of the hips.

Did some kettlebells in them, no real change from other thinned soled shoes at the moment.

WEEK ONE UPDATE

Wore them to Hyde Park to see Neil Young. Held up well but still getting some bite in the Achilles region from the heal tongue/tab.

Toes have definitely started to ‘wake up’ I can feel them gripping when I walk and do kettlebells. This is especially odd when you feel you little toe working again.

Get out there and MOVE!

There’s a world of information out here in internet land but what exercise program should you follow? Which is best for  fitness and dropping fat the quickest? What SHOULD you do???…  Just MOVE!

Picture: Or Hiltch

In a world of information and the overload it brings, it is easy to end up doing nothing, hell, forums and chat rooms are full of people so busy discussing health and fitness they forget to do the important bit and actually act upon the information.

There’s a whole load of different ways to train out there but though the methods may differ the programs, packages and everyday practicalities have the same qualities. Look for

• Safety: injured isn’t a good way to get fit is it?
  
• Quality: this can mean a lot of things but what it doesn’t mean is slogging your self mindlessly
• Variety: yoga, weights, running, pilates, kettlebells… the list is endless. They are all just TOOLS in a toolbox. Do a variety of different tasks and ones that involve different levels of resistance, time and other qualities like flexibility.
• Progression: look to make things a little more challenging as you get fitter.
• Consistency: you need to repeatedly train to get the full effect, this doesn’t mean doing the same workout out day in day out or even for the same day each week but rather consistently training hard. This isn’t of course going to happen for most unless to have…
• FUN!: training should be challenging but also fun. Fitness is a journey not a destination. I want my clients to be healthy now, I want them to be healthy in years to come. Do what you like doing and enjoy the ride.

So what does this mean practically? How do you get these qualities into your training? Here’s some tips…

1) Join and gym with a partner or friend and try different classes and explore different section of the gym

2) Don’t confine yourself to weights only or cardio only – cross train

3) Use cardio wisely and get a variety: do short fast rows, longer runs, cycle sprints… mix it up

4) Join a sports club!

5) Most importantly…. develop and active hobby or one that involves activity when you’re doing something else. I do Aikido, you may choose cycling, walking, gymnastics, parkour…. JUST DO SOMETHING!

With obesity on the rise you can’t afford to become part of the statistics. Remember health, vitality and fitness is not found in an infomercial product or the latest slimming pill, it a lifestyle. You have to internalise that want drive and desire to stay fit – but remember it is a lot easier when you’re having fun at the same time.

Training, overtraining and recovery Part 1

What is this ‘overtraining’ that people always go on about? What are the symptoms, how does it hamper your training and decrease health, how at risk are you and what can you do about it?

Training

We train the body in order to acquire skill, adaption and/or and condition the body for our chosen task be it rowing, bodybuilding or Olympic lifting. The training stimulus needs to be sufficient in order to requite the body to make an adaptive response, this response, most of which happens between periods of training for periods of similarly structured training (such as a ’strength day’ or session) gives us our heightened performance.

The fact that the greater portion of the adaption happens away from training in the days or hours between bouts of training effort is important, away from training you have to supply the conditions in which the body is able to recover and make these physiological adaptations. A good example of this is the specialised diets athletes use but it may also include increased hours of sleep as well as other things such as recovery session featuring mental relaxation drills and/or very low intensity, often repetitive physical work a good example of the combination of these methods is swimming or yoga but it can also include walking in the country or popular with many athletes; golf.

In recent years attention has turned to more effective methods of recovery. As especially top level sport becomes more ‘professional’ there is an increased training and competition load and also more money riding on results, in short more work is needed more often with more riding on the quality of performance. Failure to use s proper training plan of which sufficient recovery is an integral part is a big issue.

Overtraining

Overtraining can be described as the point at which repeated stress has out competed the individuals ability to recover and this is expressed in a variety of ways effecting the physical, physiological or psychological performance of an individual.

Really ‘overtraining syndrome’ is actually quite rare, many report that they are overtrained or that they fear overtraining may be an issue but the fear is groundless, either way whilst training naturally gets a great deal of attention the recovery aspect of the picture is also very important and one we must pay sufficient attention to. Symptoms include;

• Reduced performance in practice or competition
• Lack of enthusiasm of training
• Lack of general motivation
• Heavy limbs

There are other symptoms but these can alter dependent upon your discipline (see below) and on a biochemical level there may be observed a disturbance in the hormone profile such as reduced testosterone, reduction in immunocompetence and increased muscle breakdown by products.

Overtraining is usually nuroendocrine in nature, the autonomic nervous system comes ‘out of whack’ with the endocrine system responsible for hormone regulation. The autonomic nervous system includes the Parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems the first is calming (rest and digest) and the second is stimulatory (fight or flight), when overtraining is seen it usually starts in one of these two systems

Overtraining: Parasympathetic, more common in endurance sports

Overtraining: Sympathetic, more common in sprint type sports

When overtraining takes place the systems responsible for keeping the body functioning within normal parameters are knocked out of kilter for example parasympathetic overtraining, caused for example by too many long runs can cause a reduction in resting heart rate whilst sympathetic overstraining can cause an elevation in resting heart rate and there are other mirror image examples. Whilst for example a low resting heart rate is seen as a goo thing but if due to overtraining it is a sign of a greater problem.

Training smart as alluded to above and of course proper recovery methods are huge drivers of whether or not someone will suffer. I’ll go over these in the next posts.

NEXT: Part 2: structuring your training for best recovery

Training smart for the over 40s.

Better recovery = better results AT ANY AGE….

The ‘Blonde Bomber’ Dave Draper in his 60’s visit his site HERE

I recently wrote a small article for the folks over at MuscleTalk on the subject of masters training or training for those folks the other side of 40. Whilst there’s a certain disadvantage to being older with regards to recovery from training, intensity and duration of your weight training (or any other types of training like running) there’s a definite need to sit back and decide on how to train smarter and recover harder.

Training smart: making the most of your training cutting the wheat from the chaff and making the most of a reduced amount of training and using advanced warm up techniques to improve training.

Recovering hard: recovery is when you increase your fitness and strength levels, it is when you grow and adapt and where you burn fat. Whilst your time in the gym is the spark for change it is during the recovery period that the major changes happen. The article looks at nutrition, sleep, stress, soft tissue techniques like foam roller work.

Check it out now over at MuscleTalk: http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/Masters-Training-and-Recovery-A-Primer-m3362049.aspx

In Print in Febraury

I’ve two articles in print and in your newsagent this month…

‘SHOCK AND AWE’:

CrossFit is rapidly growing on popularity both here and in the States, this hardcore training regimen is used my SWAT ans Spec Ops solidiers and by a ever larger following of serious enthusiasts. I talk to the people that designed it and also those who citisize it in this 6 page feature. I also go to a CrossFit gyme ( www.crossfitwyreforest.com ) to be put through my paces…

and….

‘BUILDING THAT WINNING BODY’:

In this first part of 5 for FIGHTERS MAGAZINE I discuss the fundamentals that you have to keep in mind when planning to strength and conditioning routine, a routine that will build strength and the conditioning to keep to charging all the way through the fight..

Services and Clinics: Is Drew the nutritionist & coach for you?

I am available for consultation on the internet, in clinic and in the gym, however, before you read too much further please note Nutritionists remain UNREGULATED In the UK. Before putting your health in someone’s hands be sure you know as much as you can about them.

For more information on my background please go to my homepage: www.drewprice.co.uk

For now here are some details on me

Qualified

I have over 4 years of relevant university education, I hold a BSc in Biochemistry (Uni. of London), a Masters in Nutrition (Uni. of W Sydney) and am also certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Experienced

I have over 5 years experience working with a diverse range of clients from FTSE 100 senior executives, professional athletes and those with chronic disease both here and in Sydney. Day to day I work in tandem with doctors (GP’s a specialists), physios, surgeons and other respected medical professionals.

Fully registered

I’m a Registered Nutritionist (British Nutrition Society). Registered Nutritionists are the ONLY type of nutritionist trusted to work withing the NHS. I am also a Register of Exercise Professionals Advanced Instructor Level 3

I get asked to consult on a wide variety of issues and have been involved be involved in variety of projects. Three main areas I deal with are clinical/health nutrition, sports nutrition and lifestyle change.

Questions, situations and issues I regularly work through with clients include (in no particular order)

Clinical/Health

• IBS
• Safe lasting weight loss and gain
  
• Colitis
• IBD
• Food hypersensitivity
• Menopause & Andropause

Sport Read more..

A bad back, not chicken legs!

TRAINING LEGS WITH A BAD BACK:

Many people suffer from bad backs but what do you do it you want to train legs and have a problem squatting and deadlifting?

Well obviously the first thing to do is find out what the problem is and take measures to imporve the situation, this usually means a trip to either the doctor or (sports) physio. After that then follow their advice.

However there are things you can do to take the strain off the back whilst training AND increase the training effect on the legs. Depending upon the nature of the problem, single leg movements may well be a good choice.

UNILATERAL MOVEMENTS = THE SMART CHOICE

By working one leg at a time you train the body as it naturally functions (remember walking and running are movements on one foot) you increase instability as well as also greatly reducing the load you need to carry.

Pistols
These are great: no external loading of the spine and very very tough. Remember it you do a pistol with you bodyweight this is like putting you bodyweight on your back and doing a normal squat – in fact it is more like bodyweight plus 20% as one foot is less stable

Two options here you can either pistol squat in a doorway using it for stability, to it wil no hands or also use a weight:

Read more..

Bump: Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale body, diet & training article

You’ve seen the film now get the body… but not without a little hard work!

With the arrival of the new Bond film Quantum of Solace, I thought I might take the chance to bump the blog I posted on Craig’s training for the Bond film which includes both the workout Daniel Craig did for Casino Royale with his trainer Simon Waterson, the training he was reported to have done (and why this may not be the whole truth) and the physical training and ‘real’ James Bond 007 might do (SWAT, Spec Ops etc).

As well as including hardcore conditioning workouts and training for a more muscular body it also include the Bond Diet as well.

Find the blog HERE

Or go directly to the article HERE at James Bond Lifestyle.

GOOD foods and BAD foods

Is the term good food and bad meaningless? And what does that mean for the so

called super foods?

Many ‘nutritionists’ bang on and on about ‘good’ foods and ‘bad’ food. In my opinion they’re just plain wrong to do this.

The reason is simple: how can any food be good or bad when you don’t know how much of this is being eaten? Is one greasy burger eaten in a fast food place going to effect my health or fitness a year later? No clearly not.

By demonising certain foods you take the focus off the really important factor:

WHOLE DIET.

Yes a good whole diet won’t contain that many ‘bad’ foods but on the flip side you can put together a very poor diet that is based on exclusively ‘good’ foods, yes even (*shudder*) ’superfoods’.

It bares repeating:

There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods just good or bad diets

Diets can be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending upon if they’re suitable or unsuitable for your health and fitness levels, your goals and finally your lifestyle.

The Omnivores 100: strange foods from around the world

The Omnivores 100 is a blog doing the rounds at the moment. It goes like this: below is a list of 100 foods from around thew world: ‘good’ foods, ‘bad’ foods, weird and wonderful foods. You copy and paste them into your blog and mark down the ones you have eaten (bold) and ones you wouldn’t consider eating (crossed through) and blog it.

So which ones have you eaten?

I’d consider eating any of the ones below but in bold are ones I have actually tried:

(run cursor over the names for some definition or examples)

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
Read more..

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