Nothing is more important for your health than regular physical activity, and music feeds the soul. Unfortunately, school sports and music programs are seeing drastic cuts due to tough economic times. Anne McCarthy, a runner and music teacher in the Edison, NJ public school system, is taking the lead in supporting music education in the classrooms, while promoting a more active lifestyle for the youth in our New Jersey communities. Her non-profit organization, Miles For Music, is hosting a two-part event on Sunday, March 11, 2012 at Johnson Park in Highland Park, NJ. To be held first, at 9:00am, is a 20K race open to all runners. Following that, at 12:00pm, will be a 1-mile walk/run event that is open to school teams with 10 or more participants.
Group training runs for this event will begin on Saturday, January 21, at Johnson Park in Highland Park, NJ. Joel Simpson, one of the event organizers, has informed me that there will be support for all different pace groups, and you will be guaranteed to have a running partner. The Saturday Training Runs will be supported by Raritan Valley Road Runners, the host running club for the event, and will start at Johnson Park Grove 2 Parking Lot at 9:00am. The Club also hosts 6:30pm Wednesday evening group runs in Highland Park at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, 19-21 South 2nd Ave, which offers another perfect opportunity to train for this event with other runners at all ability levels.
Please visit the Miles For Music website to find out how you can register for the individual race, register your school, sponsor the event, or volunteer your time and services. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in or sponsor this event, please forward this information to them soon. Registration for the 20k is due by March 8th if registering online (March 5th for mail-in registration), and schools must be registered for the 1-mile walk/run by Monday, February 27, 2012. Thank you for supporting this event!
What have you learned in 2011? Hopefully, you know more now than you did one year ago. The real question is, how much of what you think you know is based on fact? Much of the information below will challenge some personal beliefs and popular opinions on health and fitness. These links have all been taken from my fan page on Facebook, so they will look familiar if you’ve been following my status updates. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not a status quo type of guy. I simply refuse to let other people do my thinking for me, and I’m not afraid to question anything. It’s amazing what you can learn when you’re willing to admit that you don’t already know everything. If that desire to uncover the truth is a quality you admire and share, then please stick around in 2012. Anyway, it was hard to limit this list to only 10 items (9 articles and 1 video), but here are my top choices for 2011:
On the surface, the squat is a straightforward exercise. You lower the weight, then you drive it back up. Another way to put it is that you flex at the hips, knees and ankles until you reach your desired squatting depth, and then you extend those joints to return to the starting position. Of course, there is a lot more involved in the proper execution of a squat, and the specific movement required at each joint will depend upon the variation you’re using. You wouldn’t know that by observing the manner in which some squats are being performed, though. In particular, I’ve noticed that the hip drive technique is showing up in just about every squat variation, even the front squat.
Now, hip drive is an essential component of a low-bar back squat. If you’re not familiar with that term, hip drive is when you focus on pushing the hips up from the bottom of the squat, using the sacrum as a focal point to drive through. This prevents the knees from drifting forward and maintains tension on the hamstrings. Equally as important as using hip drive out of the “hole” is setting up this movement in the first place, by pushing the hips back when initiating the squat. This is all well and good for the low-bar squat, but not so good for the high-bar squat or the front squat.
The video in this post compares those three variations of the squat, and highlights the appropriate cues for each one. This wasn’t meant to be a fully comprehensive analysis of the biomechanics of the squat, so if you have any questions after watching the video, feel free to let me know…
The typical arguments in favor of barefoot running are far from convincing, in my opinion. The barefoot advocates certainly have a lot to say, but the simple fact is that there is no evidence that shoes are the cause of injuries, or that running barefoot will prevent injuries. The claim that a forefoot strike is most optimal for long-distance running is completely unsubstantiated. Where your foot makes contact in relation to your center of mass is more important than which part of your foot strikes the ground first. Heel-striking is not synonymous with overstriding, and correcting an overstride can easily be accomplished while wearing shoes. Furthermore, all of the elite runners wear shoes, and the available evidence suggests that the far majority of elite distance runners are heel strikers.
Despite all the indications that shoes are here to stay, I believe there is still value in devoting some time to barefoot training. To varying degrees, shoes limit the amount of sensory input our brains receive from our feet. The brain contains corresponding maps for each part of the body, and those maps will change in size and function depending upon how they are used. For example, a piano player will have larger, more efficiently operating brain maps for their hands than the average person who doesn’t regularly use their hands in such a precise manner. In The Brain That Changes Itself, author Norman Doidge comments on the effect of a lifetime of wearing shoes: “This leads us to dedifferentiate the maps for the soles of our feet and limit how touch guides our foot control.” This is the “use it or lose it” principle in action.
There is a vast amount of information available on running, however, much of it can be conflicting. For example, shoe companies will promote the benefits of wearing footwear with as much cushioning as you could ever want, yet recent research seems to support the claim that running barefoot will provide optimal results. The proponents of barefoot running have raised some excellent questions about running technique, particularly regarding foot strike.
In view of current trends, should you try to change your running technique? How important is your choice of footwear in determining how your foot strikes the ground? Should you ditch your shoes for good, or just replace the ones you currently own? Is minimal footwear the way to go? These questions and many more will be covered in the upcoming free event:
Foot Strike Seminar
Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Time: 7:30 pm Location: Westfield Running Company Address: 123 Quimby St. Westfield, NJ
I’m pleased to announce that I will now be offering Small Group Training to the masses! This will appeal to anyone who wants to take part in a serious training program with their friends or teammates. This will not be styled after the typical group training or class format, where a potentially large number of participants perform cookie-cutter workouts with minimal variety and/or limited access to equipment, with the goal of simply showing up each week. Rather, the training will resemble that of competitive collegiate and professional sports programs in design, purpose and intensity, with the goal of making consistent progress. Each group will benefit from having a program designed specifically for them, and with group size being restricted to five persons, every client will receive the individualized attention they need.
Programs will be offered on a monthly basis, with a minimum commitment of two days per week. There is also the option to train three or four days per week, depending upon your actual goals and availability. Since this is a new service, I’m offering $100 off each month of Small Group Training purchased by December 1, 2011, with no limit to the number of months. Sign up now to reserve your preferred time slots! If you have any questions, feel free to submit them in the comments below, via the contact form or using the contact info on the graphic shown.
Are you drinking enough fluids? How much is enough? According to doctors, mothers and nutritionists everywhere, 8 to 13 glasses of water per day is absolutely essential for health and optimal function. If you exercise or participate in sports, then your trainer or coach may recommend drinking even more fluids before and after, as well as at regular 15-minute intervals during practice, training or competition. The emphasis is not merely on RE-hydration, but on PRE-hydration, the assumption being that any amount of dehydration is deleterious to performance and potentially dangerous to your health. I, too, shared this belief until I considered compelling reasons to question what is generally accepted as stock and standard protocol. It turns out that popular recommendations for fluid intake not only contradict what takes place during actual athletic performance, but may also introduce unnecessary health risks associated with overhydration.
Barefoot running has taken off in popularity recently, aided in part by the research of Daniel Lieberman out of Harvard University, and the sales of Born to Run, written by Christopher McDougall. Unfortunately, I think there has been a tendency to blindly adopt and recommend barefoot running without considering all the available facts, or without even considering that some facts are simply not available at present. As stated on Lieberman’s home page:
“Please note that we present no data on how people should run, whether shoes cause some injuries, or whether barefoot running causes other kinds of injuries. We believe there is a strong need for controlled, prospective studies on these issues.”
That’s about as honest as you can get. Personally, I interpret that as a caution against jumping headfirst into barefoot running before considering any potential drawbacks, or any possible contradictions with simple observation. My bias is not against barefoot running, per se, but rather against the implication that everyone can and should run barefoot as much as possible. Specifically, I have a problem with a couple of the claims that are often made: that barefoot running will reduce the risk of injury, and that it is the best way to achieve optimal performance. In line with the quote from Lieberman’s website above, I don’t presume to be able to prove or disprove anything, but I do intend to highlight some thinking points that I believe are worth discussing.
There are more choices than ever before when it comes to running footwear, and toning shoes are among the recent trends that have gained in popularity. Do they really offer any benefit over traditional running shoes? Obviously, any company selling toning shoes will confidently state that to be the case. They stand to profit handsomely by convincing you, the consumer, that you will be better off with their product. Before you make any decisions, though, consider just a couple of the claims being made by the toning shoe proponents, and whether they stand up to even a basic level of scrutiny.
There’s just no other way around it. If you want results, then you have to put a little hustle in your muscle. Through the end of May, I am running a promotional offer of 10 personal training sessions for $400, for new clients only. To make an appointment, fill out the contact form or see contact information below.
Nothing is more important for your health than regular physical activity, and music feeds the soul. Unfortunately, school sports and music programs are seeing drastic cuts due to tough economic times. Anne McCarthy, a runner and music teacher in the Edison, NJ public school system, is taking the lead in supporting music education in the classrooms, while promoting a more active lifestyle for the youth in our New Jersey communities. Her non-profit organization, Miles For Music, is hosting a two-part event on Sunday, March 11, 2012 at Johnson Park in Highland Park, NJ. To be held first, at 9:00am, is a 20K race open to all runners. Following that, at 12:00pm, will be a 1-mile walk/run event that is open to school teams with 10 or more participants.
