Thursday, 14 July 2011: Change Your Paradigm

There are several things in this world that are labeled "conventional wisdom." It is our job to challenge those paradigms, because sometimes the facts and truth change. We can't go through life following the motto of "we've always done it this way." Take running for example. For a majority of my life the shoe industry has stressed buying shoes that attempt to "fix" your running mechanics by adding support, extra cushioning, and extra stability. What I've come to realize is that all these extras instill bad habits in my running mechanics causing me to heel strike, land in front of my body, and over stride. Even most running shoe clinics are geared towards making you run inefficiently by recommending shoes that try to "fix" your running mechanics. Never trust a gait analysis that only requires you to run in shoes. A true gait analysis will have you run barefoot and then compare it to how you run with shoes. And here's the amazing thing, your ideal gait should not change between running barefoot and running with shoes. If your gait changes, it's time to find a different shoe that minimizes the amount of cushioning.

I have to admit that it took my attendance at a Crossfit Endurance Seminar to truly realize how bad my running form had gotten over the years due to the reliance on conventional running shoes. I had to run barefoot and I could definitely feel the difference in my form and how much more relaxed I was. It also made my running easier since it felt so effortless. But I'm not ready to go completely barefoot all the time, there's just too many things out there that I can't account for. And it only takes one incident to put me out of commission. But once I made the switch to "minimal" shoes (Inov-8 F-Lite 230) my running form has drastically improved and become much more efficient. So what are you doing to change your outlook and paradigm?

And if you don't believe me, here's a short video from a smarter guy than me discussing the difference between barefoot and shoed runners:



ENDURANCE WOD:
12 x 200m w/90s recovery

CF WOD:
8min AMRAP:
7 Back Squat, 225#
7 Chest 2 Bar Pull Ups

RESULTS:
My posterior chain is completely smoked. The squats and cleans earlier in the week have finally caught up to me. The WODs today really didn't help either, but at least I know I'm forcing adaptation in my body.

Endurance: 37/36/36/35/36/35/36/35/36/35/35/34
1-3 were at 96BPM, 4-6 were at 98BPM, 7-9 were at 100BPM, 10-11 were at 101BPM, and 12 was at 102BPM. I could tell my body was fatigued since I increased the BPM, but had little change in split times. I really focused on a relaxed pull for every interval; trying to force the relaxation of the foot with each stride. I need to get my 200m splits faster, at least down to 32-35s. Guess I'll be living at this distance for a while.

WOD: 3 rnds + 5 pull ups
Since my posterior chain was completely smoked, the back squats were tough. I flew through the C2B pull ups, because I focused on smooth butterflies. Smooth is fast. I wanted 4 rounds, but the weight got too heavy and I didn't want to fail on any of my reps. I'm still happy with the results considering how much my posterior chain took a beating this week.