www.MichaelReid.ca

Barefoot Running Improves Running Mechanics - My Hypothesis

I am a big fan of training barefoot.  All the athletes I coach train barefoot when strength training.

They squat, dead lift, even do jumps and Olympic lifting all barefoot.

But back to my hypothesis, I believe that running barefoot automatically mimics bio-mechanically correct running and therefore barefoot running can be used to improve ones running mechanics by simply running barefoot.  It is really a quite simple and beautiful approach to coaching because the coach really does very little, just have the athlete run barefoot and they will almost automatically begin running with good running mechanics. 

Here is why, or at least why I think it works.  When you look at research on the bio-mechanics of running, particularly sprinting, you will see that the most efficient technique is to land on the ball of your foot with the contact with the ground being directly below your center of gravity.  When you run barefoot you must land on the balls of the feet because the other option of landing heal first will cause pain (which can be masked by wearing a running shoe).  It becomes an issue of pain avoidance but for a good reason.  If you land on the balls of the feet but the foot contacts the ground in front of your center of gravity, then this also will cause some discomfort but probably not as much as landing with a heal strike.

The same principle works for doing jumping exercises.  When landing, you always want to land on the balls of your feet first and you also want to be relatively quite and quick off the floor.  If you land poorly with a flat foot you will make lots of noise and it will be painful, plus you will be slower to get off the ground.

How do you work this into a training program?

• Do NOT start doing your entire running and jumping program barefoot.  You must start gradually with this.  Doing your weightlifting barefoot is a good start and just walking around the house barefoot if you don't already can ease your feet back into function.
• When running start slow, try to do 5 minutes of a medium speed jog while focusing on your technique.
• For jumping exercises, start with ankle hops or skipping rope.  After a few weeks start to add small box jumps and change of direction jumps.
• There should NEVER be any pain when doing any drills barefoot.
• Be aware of your environment.  I would suggest an indoor gym floor that is clean and free of small stones and other debris that could damage the barefoot.

There is even more to this story then what I have eluded to here but I will save that for another day.

Be Well,

Mike Reid

References:

Novacheck TF.  The biomechanics of running.  MotionGait and Posture 7 (1998) 77–95

Barefoot Training.  http://michaelreid.typepad.com/michaelreid/2007/10/bare-foot-train.html

When to Strength Train?

When I ask the question, "when to strength train", I am referring to if you should do it before or after practice or in a completely separate session.

Is this even important?

Really, the most important thing is to get the work done, right? 

Yes, get the work done and get stronger but you need to understand the potential consequences of your actions.

The main concern with doing your strength practice before your sports practice is that you may be increasing your risk of potential injury by fatiguing key stabilizers. 

Do it after sports practice and your strength training suffers.

So when should you do it? 

The best is to do your strength training in a separate session.  As an example, you could do your strength training in the morning with your sports practice in the evening.  For the professional athlete, this should not be an issue and this is what I routinely do with the pro basketball team I currently work with.

It also depends on what you actually do in your strength training session and how fatiguing the session is.

One of the things I have also done this year with the same pro basketball team, especially when the game schedule is very busy is to do several short strength training sessions right before practice.  So, instead of doing a 60+ minute strength program 2-3x/week, we would split that up and do a 30 minute session which includes a warm up and 1-2 exercises before every practice.  Is this fatiguing them?  Absolutely, but are they in a completely fatigue state when they leave the strength room or are they just feeling activated and ready to hit their sports practice hard?

The research:

Researchers from the US Army, looked at the effect of rotator cuff fatigue on shoulder joint mechanics.  They found that when the rotator cuff was fatigued (via strength training) the space in the shoulder decreased which could lead to more impingement type injuries.

Not good for the overhead throwing athlete (e.g. Water Polo, Hand Ball, Baseball).

The entire article can be downloaded for free here.

For another commentary on this research, you can go to Dr. Mike Reinold's blog.  It's a very good read  especially for all the sports medical geeks out there (like me!).

Be Well,

Mike Reid

Should Athletes Train Like Bodybuilders?

This is an article that was published by Paul Chek a few years ago which I have forgotten about and just recently came across again. 

A very good read and if you are an athlete who wants to get better at their sport then I highly recommend reading this.

"Bodybuilding was once focused on building not only beautiful bodies, it was about building healthy, functional bodies.  In fact, if you review old bodybuilding magazines from 1950 or earlier, you will find many of the top bodybuilders were also competitive Olympic lifters!  An excellent example of the athleticism that existed in bodybuilding, John Grimek (a multiple Mr. America winner) regularly demonstrated his ability to military press 285 lbs for reps!"

Should Athletes Train Like Bodybuilders?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLR09BTuQe0

The video below is an example of some very good training for your pulling muscles.  It is actually quite insane and you must watch the last exercise which is by far the hardest.

Be Well,
Mike Reid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTsPmi0Wy9k