23 June 2012

Barefoot running shoes in the gym




barefoot-shoe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So did I mention I am currently training on a 3 month joint mobility/yoga/bodyweight circuits program?

No, well it came about after I came out of hospital a couple of months ago (5 days stomach decompression after my small bowel decided to stick itself together). I was feeling pretty crappy; weak, beaten and humbled by life forces. I wanted to start training again but having not eaten for a week and been on such a vast amount of pain killers it was impossible for a few more weeks. During that time I contemplated where I wanted to go physically. Something I dont usually do-for me it has always been about training as hard as possible to get as fit and strong as possible to lift more, run faster, box for longer. My mantra to push myself when I was flagging on hill sprints or whatever was “Are you dead yet? no? then go faster”

I decided I wanted a body that didnt ache and grumble from all the sports injuries I carry, that I wanted a good base fitness and strength but that I really wanted to be limber and agile and quick and light over anything else. So I designed an experimental program to test on myself. Each month the exercises change but throughout the experiment the protocol stays the same.

I am training on a 4 day cycle: A rest day, a medium day and 2 hard days. Everyday I do joint mobilisations and yoga-these are the tedious sections for my mind and it takes a lot for me to focus on this type of training. I force myself to do it, today is day 33 and I am pleased to say I have made huge gains in this department, my yoga poses particularly. I can feel the benefits already walking around with a much fuller range of movement, I feel more limber and natural.

The two hard days are tough but very short. Last week I ramped up the exercises and introduced some different ones so my session is longer and harder. This really works for my psyche as I enjoy the nature of these very tough physical challenges. I can feel myself getting much stronger-it is a different strength from the gains made through weight training, more subtle and a general feeling of overall strength rather than the muscle soreness you feel in isolated muscle groups from weights.

This training doesn’t fatigue me, I don’t at all feel that I am doing too much. Its hard when I do it and then afterwards I feel fine and can get on with my day without feeling too tired. Historically when I was training hard this wasn’t always the case.

As the sessions are studio based I have bought a pair of minimalist shoes. Barefoot shoes. An oxymoron? No it is a thin skin of a shoe that covers your sole to protect it from the ground but still allows the foot to move and flex organically. I like the way the sessions are without equipment and so very natural feeling and I feel connected to the ground in these shoes. I have started using them a little for running in too, I would love to use them more for this but having taken about 3 years to completely fix my plantar after I injured it from running literally barefoot on road and other hard ground for years I have kind of been a little worried to risk it again.

Anyway lets see what happens, the shoes are quite disgusting looking and I may be too self aware to wear them in public! I am looking eagerly forwards to the next 51 days of my program and will report again soon.

 

7 June 2012

Make the change work part II: Understanding the seven stages of change




1.Disbelief:

You are still unconvinced of the need to change

  • Read about the health consequences of inactivity and obesity
  • Read inspirational stories of those who have successfully changed their lives
  • Speak to others who have changed successfully
  • Talk to your docotor about the health consequences of inactivity and the benefits of exercise

2. Belief but uncommitted:

You believe you should be more active but cannot get started

  • Visualise yourself as a new person: what you will look like, what you will weigh, what clothes you will fit into, how energetic you feel, how much younger you look. Contrast this with the old you.
  • Tally the health benefits: how exercise will reduce your chances of heart disease, diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, etc…
  • Visualise new social possibilities
  • Be realistic about the alternatives: TV watching, more work, watching life pass you by as opposed to active engagement and meeting new challenges

3. Active planning:

You are actively planning the new you

  • Set a start date
  • Set small, achievable goals even minutes a day, 3 to 4 days per week.
  • Make a detailed plan including scheduling your exercise time into your daily planner for at least the next 3 months.
  • Be specific; when, how long, and where you will exercise, what back up plan you have for bad weather or unforeseen events including heavier work loads, illness and holidays.
  • Enlist support; let others know that you will be exercising, see if friends want to join you.
  • Set goals. Think about training for short races or even a half marathon if your a runner.
  • Believe in your self and let nothing stand in your way. Its your life!

4. Active engagement:

You are currently engaged in a training routine

  • Keep a training journal
  • Reward yourself every week, it could be a good movie, concert or another activity you really like
  • Maintain a positive attitude towards your progress
  • Be consistent
  • Dont worry if you miss a session, make it up the next day

5. Image creation:

You are not only training, you are creating a new image for yourself. You see yourself as a “walker” or a “swimmer”

  • Visualise this paradigm shift. You should be trying to define yourself by your actions-you are a “tai chi practitioner”, you are a “marathoner”.
  • Subscribe to magazines or journals that reinforce your new image.
  • Seek out others who are involved in similar activities

6.Image maintenance:

You have a new self image and only severe setbacks such as illness or injury will deter you from keeping up your training.

  • Make a backup plan for setbacks
  • Continue to refine your goals.Are you training for fitness only? Would you like to set a weight loss goal? Would you like to enter a competition?

7. The new you:

You are a new person

  • Expand your horizons by seeking more knowledge about your fitness pursuits.
  • Help others to become whole by introducing them to your techniques.
  • Consider writing about your experiences.
  • Maintain your training diary

 

4 June 2012

Turkish fitness and food exploration




Some of you may be aware of Brightonfit’s first fitness holiday in September. As part of the preparation for this holiday I went to Turkey last month.

So I just got back from a whistle stop tour of Turkey’s “turquoise coast”, cupping the south westerly corner of the country. The agenda ranged from measuring mountain running routes through to sampling local cuisine, primarily for the alpha phase of extraordinary fitness holidays yet mindful this was just a launch pad for future Turkish forays!

My top tip for an off road Turkish visit would be don’t bother looking for a map. They don’t exist. As one guide book said “asking for a map in Turkey only makes you look suspicious!”  My advice would be to instead do one of three things; EITHER find a walking fanatic who has written a little booklet of local walks with sentences in it like “upon approaching the tree with the red bark you will see a rise in the land line at which point turn immediately left down the ravine until you come to the third great boulder….” OR find a walking fanatic who has painted daubs of coloured paint onto rocks along a route he/she has mapped out and hope that when you are in the middle of nowhere, disorientated by the glare of the midday sun as you realise you are starving and without food, that you will find the next painted rock before you wring your sweaty socks out for a drop of moisture to drink….OR finally and perhaps most sensibly with hindsight would be to get a local to guide you.

And so it was that I drank my own sweaty sock drip.

The other surprising local oral delight was salad for breakfast. It didn’t seem to matter whether you were staying in a 2* pension or a 5* boutique hotel there was always some variant on a cucumber, tomato and olive breakfast. Most places would pad this out with eggs and toast, and there was always a selection of home made jams with huge chunks of “jammed” fruit floating in jellied suspense. After a week I began to suss a good salad requires kitchen love: you must peel your cucumber, roughly chop your home grown vine tomato, pick both black and green olives from your grove and serve with both virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and of course a freshly squeezed orange juice comes as standard. In fact “kitchen love” more commonly known as good cooking with fresh ingredients and no fuss was king in Turkey wherever I went.

Of course there were the obligatory British ambassadors sporting lobster red shoulders and patriotic tattoos who were catered for amidst the natural beauty and calm of the country in small but all to frequent pockets of plastic fantastic. Fortunately the tell tale signs of blackboards advertising happy hour outside bars and gift shops with wrist band stands outside them gave away the trash and you could drive by quite easily…..in stark contrast the photo for this blog entry was taken after about 3 hours of trail running/trekking having not seen a soul for the whole time. A lot of the place is covered in national parks and/or has no road access which makes for idyllic secret hideaway beaches and a fabulous natural escape.

My main objective this visit was to lay some foundations for future trips which was successful, I made some good contacts and stayed in some very contrasting areas and accommodation, in so doing picked up a little about the culture, tourist trade and geography. But the focus was most definitely on trip 1 in September: Whether you choose to hike/climb for a couple of hours to get to paradise beach or take the boat option you will deposit yourself on what is essentially a deserted beach with turquoise crystal clear water. My only complaint would be the lack of 100% sand coverage as this coast line seems to comprise 50% shingle. That aside the sheer mountainous drop in the background and the amount of sweat involved in getting here almost overrides that! Of course once we are there its up to you whether you relax and soak up the rays or carry on sweating to the beat of my shrills.

A slower session is planned in an disused church. In fact its a little more than just a church as it sits amidst 500 abandoned stone houses in a ghost village, latterly adopted by UNESCO as a peace village. I came across this whilst in the woods above Kayakoy where we will be staying and ran down into it out of curiosity. The church would have formed the centre of the village and is cavernous and dark thus providing welcome shade and cool. We will perform a primal fitness circuit once there before we loop around and down to the tarmac civilisation.

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