Lucy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cereta) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lifting_heavy_things2010-07-02 08:39 am
cereta) wrote in lifting_heavy_things2010-07-02 08:39 amWeekly post: What did you do?
You know the drill!
cereta) wrote in lifting_heavy_things2010-07-02 08:39 am
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I worked on my pull-up! Now I can do one again, I would like to be able to do more than one!
Not sure if it falls within the "lifting heavy things" remit, but today I went to the park and tried Tabata sprints for the first time ever (OMG).
While I was there, I progressed from "handstands against walls" to "handstands against trees."
I feel like I'm regressing to a childhood I never actually had (when I was a kid, I was far too mal-coordinated and terrified to dare try any of these things).
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But it was actually kind of fun.
I can now report that running on turf in barefoot shoes is pretty awesome, and my sometimes-cranky knees seem to be okay with it so far.
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I mean I'm kind of pissed off b/c I just spent 200$ on a pair of Saucony Paramounts and my shins were still twinging, but running forefoot and bam! Could've used that 200$ to do something useful, like I dunno - eat.
And oh man, my Tabata squats at Crossfit ended up as 'Tabata squats with copious amounts of verbal abuse hurled at grinning trainer'. Amusement was had by all. Or at least by him.
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Vivo Barefoots, but DO NOT buy any this year -- they switched the factories making the soles, and ended up with a lot with very stiff, non-barefoot-y soles. Apparently this is a Known Issue and will be fixed by the end of the year; I'm thanking my lucky stars my old ones are holding out.
I've heard raves about the Vibram Fivefingers if you're okay with the separate-toe thing (and if your toes fit them). And there are a bunch of websites on barefoot running if you want reviews of different brands.
This is my first venture into running, but I walk a lot (no car, enjoy walking) and switched to barefoot shoes because my knees were much, much happier with them.
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http://www.livingbarefoot.info/2010/05/minimal-inconceivable/
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I have heard about the Fivefingers! My concern mainly with those is fit (tiny heel and ridiculously wide feet here) and the complete lack of cushioning - I have no doubt that biomechanically they're probably the most 'barefoot' shoe of all, but I really doubt that the calves and ligaments in my feet are strong enough to race semi-long distances in two/three months wearing them without completely shattering my legs. I'm hoping that even if Saucony's jumping on the barefoot + running = profit! bandwagon, as long as the forefoot has enough padding and the sole has flex, it might work as a transitional/speed shoe. I've tried Nike Frees before, and the forefoot's just so un-padded that impact shockwaved up everything and worsened my shin splints, and the heel's still pretty thick.
I've heard good things about Newton shoes too, but I've got a feeling that if they run close to 200$ in the US, they're gonna run at least 275$ (!) before tax up here in Canada. One good thing about the Kinvaras is that the forefoot drop from the heel is about the same as the Newtons - I think 4mm? - which sounds promising.
I've never heard of Vivo shoes, though - are they an American brand? and if you wrote a writeup that would be awesome and no doubt informative!
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Can't comment on running, but what I found was that switching to the Vivos (which are very very minimalist) forced me to shift my gait completely when walking. I found that if I walked as I'd normally walk in shoes, it was uncomfortable as hell; if I reset my brain to think I was walking barefoot on a hard surface (most of my walking happens on London pavements), I rolled through my feet in a different way and it became fine.
(Apparently there's some interesting research suggesting that barefoot walking produces less impact on the joints, for that reason.)
I tried barefoot shoes initially because I was trying to correct the alignment of my legs while walking to fix my knee problems, and found that it was easiest to do when I was wearing an ancient pair of shoes with very thin, flat soles. The barefoot shoes turned out to be even better, and my knees are now fine a good 95% of the time.
It'll be interesting to see how the shoes work for occasional sprints on turf, but indications so far are positive.
So, yeah, I suspect it depends whether you want to try a full-on "barefoot" mode, which will probably require shifting your running gait quite a bit and is generally a big change. Or go for a shoe that encourages forefoot landing but has enough cushioning where you want it.
Individual choice, individual needs, YMMV, etc.
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Rock on with the pull-ups and handstands. That's awesome.
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OH HELL YEAH *g*.
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Oh yes this. Although for me it's not really trying to be good at the specific exercises I was bad at, but more about realizing that I can be successfully athletic by doing things that work for me, instead of the stuff on the PE curriculum that didn't.
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So true. No more ball games! No more endless running in circles!
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