Barefoot shoes and back pain...

I was in the gym yesterday, and one of the members came and started talking to me.

He was wearing some vibram fivefingers shoes.

Apparently we'd spoken about it a few months ago and he went off and looked into it a bit more, then ordered some.

Anyway, the guy's in his late 40's/early 50's and had been suffering with back pain for a long time.

But yesterday, he told me his back pain has almost completely gone since getting the barefoot shoes!

Something THAT simple!

It makes sense though.

Your feet are your foundations. The only part of you in contact with the ground.

If your feet are out of alignment (because of shoes or for any other reason), everything above them will be out of alignment too.

Set up a Jenga tower and take out the bottom brick first... see what happens.

If you don't look after your feet, then it will affect everything.

Ankles, knees, hips, lower back, upper back, neck, shoulders...

Your foundations need to be solid and functional for everything else above to work properly.

I'm not saying your back (or any other) pain will go if you just switch to barefoot shoes, but you stand a much better chance of fixing it if you do!

My favourites are Vivobarefoot - they have lots of options to choose from and they're worth the investment (and apparently, I'm out of touch with the cost of things these days so they're not that expensive compared to other, shit shoes either. I just haven't bought any regular shoes for about 10 years!)

If you use the link above, you can get 20% off your first order. On me!

I'd also sign up and keep an eye out on Sport Pursuit as they sometimes have them on there and they're the BEST price you'll find for them anywhere. I've had a couple of pairs from them as have many of my clients.

So free your feet and let me know how it feels!

Mark

P.S. A quick word of warning, if your feet are used to being in foot coffins, you may need to ease yourself into barefoot shoes as your feet will have to get used to them and strengthen up (a good thing!). So just don't overdo it straight away.

Start with short walks and wearing them (or being completely barefoot) around the house as much as you can.

Replace your squats with these...

You've probably heard me say before that squats ARE NOT the king of exercises.

Most people can't even sit into a full, deep squat so they certainly shouldn't be loading up the weight and doing it for reps.

I've seen too many awful squats over the years to count, and every time, I just wait for the "POP" and the scream, waiting for their back or knees to give out.

Luckily, I've only witnessed this once or twice, but for most, it's just a matter of time before it starts to take its toll in their bodies.

People don't tend to relate aches and pains to a particular exercise unless it happens whilst they're doing that exercise.

But that back and knee pain you have may well be from the squats you've been doing for years.

That's also a common argument: "It can't be that, I've been doing it for years without a problem"

It's a bit like someone claiming that smoking can't have caused any issues because they've been doing it for years without a problem... Or eating junk can't have caused any issues because they've been doing it for years...

You see where I'm going with this!

Just because something seems to be ok now, doesn't mean it's not adding a little more damage each time that'll build up over time.

Your body is quite resilient, but it can only take so much.

So what should you do instead of squats?

Something more natural.

An unloaded, bodyweight squat should be accessible to everyone with a little work and is definitely something to practice, but if you want to build strength or size in your legs, yes, you'll need to use some resistance.

My personal favourites for building stronger, ore functional legs, with far less risk of injury are:

• Sled Pushes (just load up a sled, and push!)

• Walking Lunges

• Step-Ups

• Multi-Directional Lunges

Essentially, pick a movement that you encounter in every day life, and add some resistance to it.

DON'T sit yourself on a machine designed to 'target' muscle groups because they almost certainly won't make you move in a natural way.

Try swapping these out in your training and replace the squats, leg extensions, hamstring curls etc.

See how you get on and let me know.

Mark

Walking is NOT enough

A lot of people think they do enough, despite not being happy with the results they're getting.

They wear a watch that tells them "well done, you've completed 10,000 steps today" and are then baffled why the weight isn't shifting.

WALKING IS NOT ENOUGH!

Unfortunately, constant 'activity' throughout the day is our baseline.

If you've done NOTHING for years, then walking may be a good place to start, but that's still just to get you back to baseline.

If you want to progress your health and fitness, you have to train for that.

 

Fitness-wise (i.e. cardiovascular health), walking just doesn't push you hard enough.

Up hill might be hard work, but just walking around hitting your step goal each day doesn't stress your body enough to need to adapt and get fitter.

If you want to IMPROVE your fitness, you have to push yourself harder.

It's the same as building muscle, your body won't build muscle in response to lifting a cup of tea a few times a day - you have to lift something heavy that challenges and stresses the muscle so that it will, in response, grow stronger, ready for the next time it faces that stress.

If you don't use your muscles enough, your body will offload any excess because it's not needed.

If you never stress your cardiovascular system, you'll LOSE fitness.

Studies have shown most people have lost about 40% of their lung capacity by age 50, and about 60% by age 80.

Why? It's not because of their age (or it'd be everyone, not just "most" people), it's because they haven't used it.

When was the last time you used your lungs to their maximum capacity? (We're talking all-out sprint for 200m+, run for your life type effort).

As soon as you're able to walk for more than half hour with minimal effort, you need to start adding intensity, not more "steps".

You need to create the stress for your body to adapt to.

What's the other thing we lose rapidly as we "age"? 

Strength.

So if you want to remain able-bodied as you age, this is the other thing you HAVE to be training.

Again, stress your body so it keeps hold of the muscle and strength it has, and also builds new muscle tissue and gains strength, instead of losing it as you get older.

YOU DO NOT LOSE STRENGTH OR FITNESS BECAUSE OF YOUR AGE - YOU LOSE IT BECAUSE YOU DON'T USE IT!

So to get the results you want, you just have to find or make the time and get it done.

Make sure you're doing the right things.

Look at the things people tend to lose as they get older (strength, speed, fitness, mobility) and work those! It's that simple!

And if you're already lagging in any of those, then get to work asap!

MoveBetter.Club can help 

The 2nd most common question I get asked...

Once people know what I do for a living, the immediate question I always get asked is...

"How do I lose this" (*usually pointing to a belly or bingo wings)

The standard answer that everyone believes to be true is to “eat less and move more”, but unfortunately, it’s not that simple anymore.

When we lived a natural lifestyle, and everything else was as it should be, then yes, eating less and moving more would have been all it would take to lose some excess weight and be healthy. 

A simple calorie deficit. 

That said, if we were living a natural lifestyle we wouldn’t have any excess weight to lose – there’s a lesson there!

These days there’s a LOT more that needs to be done to ensure health as well as weight loss.

For starters, focussing on “weight” isn’t the way to go. It means very little by itself.

ALWAYS measure body fat percentage alongside weight, otherwise you’ve got no idea what it is you’re weighing.

It’s body fat we want to lose, not weight.

The trick is to make sure that the “weight” you’re losing is coming from excess body fat and not muscle tissue, and for that, you need a bit more than a simple calorie deficit.

Eating junk ‘as long as you’re within your calorie target’ is not a good way to go. (So curly wurly’s and jelly aren’t good just because they’re “low points!”)

Neither is “Dieting” without strength training.

Those are two sure-fire ways to make sure you keep hold of body fat and lose muscle (and the strength that comes with it). Your “weight” might go down, but you’ll still look (and feel) soft with no definition. Certainly not “toned”.

On top of that, because weight loss doesn’t automatically equal health, there are other factors you need to consider to ensure better health alongside your fat loss.

Rest, recovery, sleep, hydration, daily activity levels, stress management, macro- and micro-nutrients, breathing and other lifestyle factors should all be taken into account and optimised.

Here are my top 5 tips for healthy fat loss:

1.     Strength Train – You won’t get big and bulky, but you’ll maintain muscle tissue and strength. Don’t avoid the weights in favour of cardio.

2.     Focus on Body Fat Percentage, not weight – As I mentioned above, this is what you really want to lose, not weight. So unless you’re measuring your body fat, you’ve got no idea if you’re making progress or not.

3.     Create a reasonable, but not excessive calorie deficit – A few hundred calories a day below your Total Daily Energy Expenditure [TDEE] (you can find a calculator online to find this out) is enough. Any more and you risk losing more muscle and less body fat.

4.     Sleep well – Create a sleep routine that gets you 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night.

5.     Hydrate – Make sure you’re fully hydrated with water!

 

There are plenty of other things you can (and should) do, but these will get you started and it’s a lot better than just “eating less and moving more!”

Remember, if you focus on “weight” loss, your health will likely suffer, but if you focus on health, you’ll lose “weight” (bodyfat) along the way.

I cover everything you need to do in order to drop body fat whilst improving health at www.MoveBetter.Club check it out for more details.

 

 

Mark

The most common question I get asked by strangers...

The most common question I get asked by strangers (seriously, this happens at least 2 or 3 times a week!) is this:

"Martial Arts?"

Sounds weird I know, but because I train differently to everyone else in the gym (i.e. not going from machine to machine), people automatically assume I must be training for something specific. 

Well...

I am.

I'm training for LIFE.

Better movement and movement-based training is NOT reserved solely for athletes training for a specific sport.

YOU ARE AN ATHLETE.

You need to be able to move your body well, with balance and strength, all day every day, for the rest of your life.

And if you're not training for that, then you're only going to get worse at those things as you age.

You don't "get old" because of your time on this planet, you get old because you stop moving like a young person.

Your chronological age doesn't have to dictate your ability to do stuff.

But if you're not doing those things, you will lose the ability to over time.

Use it or lose it.

Training on machines will build strength in those specific exercises - you'll get strong "on that machine", but that doesn't translate to being able to move and function well.

If you train movements, human movements, then you're strengthening the movement patterns that you use in every day life.

Think about it - what use is your 100kg bench press if you can't climb the stairs?

What use is a 200kg Deadlift if you can't kneel on the floor to play with the kids?

How are your tricep push-downs going to help you carry the shopping in one arm and a child (your own child, I hope) in the other?

Stop training "exercises" and start training movements.

That's my aim. I'm not training for martial arts (although many years ago that was my main hobby), I'm training for better movement and resilience.

That's also my aim with my coaching business. I help people improve their health and Move Better

If you want to get started with training like a human, get in touch and we'll get you started.

It's also the primary focus of MoveBetter.Club, so if you're not ready to invest in coaching just yet, I'd definitely recommend you check it out to get started.

To better health and movement!

Mark