NEW BOOK Giveaway Contest, Running Barefoot for Human Survival, Expires 02/21/21 Noon EST

PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT BY POSTING IN THIS THREAD! THANK YOU!

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Running Barefoot for Human Survival

By Sidy Diallo


Sidy Diallo, the author of Running Barefoot for Human Survival would like to give away a copy of his book to one lucky winner! Depending on your location, you may receive a paperback, an audio download, or an Amazon eGift Card to purchase the book. We will work with the winner on the details. If you are not the winner after this contest has run, please consider purchasing a copy of Running Barefoot for Human Survival to support a fellow BRS member and barefoot runner.



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“Running Barefoot for Human Survival” is about the author’s experience of the transition from sedentary lifestyle to barefoot running, his understanding of the vital importance of long-distance running for humans and why the COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call to act before it’s too late.

When he points out that humans are perfect barefoot runners or that our ancestors efficiently ran and walked barefoot for three million years, many people counter in good faith that “we’ve evolved,” “only some individuals can run barefoot,” “we have different biomechanics,” etc. It’s easy to understand what they mean. Sadly, while our lifestyle has significantly evolved, our bodies have not. That’s what Harvard professor of anthropology Daniel Lieberman calls “dysevolution,” which is the cause of our current problems, including the unprecedented health crisis. Find out more.

In other words, the hunter-gatherer body we inherited from our ancestors is not designed for the current dominant lifestyle based on physical inactivity and permanent access to abundant food, hence the increasing aggravation of chronic diseases and the resulting vulnerability to pandemics, the worsening of the global warming and air pollution, and the acceleration of the depletion of natural resources. And our response is usually to treat symptoms, instead of the causes of these problems. Unsurprisingly, by ignoring the causes, we not only limit the awareness and the willingness to solve the problems, but aggravate them.

Understanding how we got into this vicious cycle is the key to get out: Our ancestors developed long-distance running abilities and the technique of persistence hunting so that they could catch enough animals to satisfy their high needs for energy because of the increased brain, their comparatively more frequent procreation—female chimps typically give birth only once every five years—, the practice of breastfeeding, etc. This also explains why they developed an irresistible appetite for energy-rich food, high in fat and sugar, which was a competitive advantage for hunter-gatherers, but turned into a serious problem when food became abundant and procuring it no longer required persistence hunting or any other kind of physical activity.

Since we can’t change our bodies, we should readapt our lifestyle to our bodies, by adopting practices that would bring us closer to the way our ancestors lived, especially the modern equivalent of persistence hunting, that is barefoot long-distance running. “It’s a question of how alarmed we have to get before we act,” warned Professor Lieberman. Hopefully, it won’t be too late by then. Hence, it’s about saving not only the planet and some species, but also Homo sapiens, arguably the most forgotten endangered animal species.

Paradoxically, it’s more comfortable and healthy to adopt in the 21st century the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

But it’s neither about deserting our homes and heading back, for instance, to the African savanna or the European caves—many of them are underwater anyway—, nor about hunting and killing animals—we now have abundant food. It’s about adopting the best practices of our ancestors so that we get a chance to survive in the destructive world we’ve created.

Sidy started in 2001 with muscle strengthening and cardio workouts in a gym club in Managua, Nicaragua, and he later stopped accepting champagne and any other alcohol, even in official or diplomatic events. He kept exercising when he moved to France, to Australia and to the United States where, after seeing near his residence in Lincoln Park thousands of runners of the 2008 and 2009 Chicago Marathon, he concluded that if so many people can do it, everyone can do it. So he joined them for the 2010 Chicago Marathon. He did the race wearing the full conventional outfit, plus an ankle brace and a knee brace for additional protection, which didn’t work. He decided in 2015 to get even closer to our roots, so he started to walk and run barefoot, which he keeps doing as much as he can, weather and circumstances permitting.

He completed in ten years, in 88 countries over the seven continents, 297 marathons and ultramarathons, including 48 marathons in 2013 and 72 marathons along with three ultramarathons in 2020. These races also include a 90 km barefoot ultramarathon on asphalt, in South Africa—the 2018 Comrades Marathon—and 88 barefoot marathons over six continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania.

Find out more: https://www.sidy42k.com/running-barefoot-for-human-survival.html


RULES OF THIS CONTEST:

1.) You must post to this thread.
2.) This contest is for BRS members only. You must be a registered member in order to post to this thread.
3.) If you are a non-donating member of the BRS, you may post one time. Posting more than once will void your entry. If you have made a monetary donation to the BRS this year, then you may post once PLUS one time for each toe you have accumulated for the current calendar year. (You may post all toe-entries at once or you may spread your posts throughout the contest.) To increase your chances of winning, please consider making a donation by visiting the Donate Button on the home page. Thank you!
4.) We will use a random number generator to select the winner.
5.) This contest ends at Noon, EST, on Sunday, February 21, 2021.
6.) All winners are asked to write a review of their prize and post their review in the Gear & Footwear Forum, the Product Review Forum, and your own personal website should you have one, within two to six weeks of receiving your prize.

LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!
 
That looks like a book I would enjoy also.
I have often said that we humans seem to love our band aid solutions rather than look to root causes of problems. If you can count the number of podiatrists in your local area on you hands then you probably have plenty of bad fitting shoes keeping these people in business.
If you have lots of low back problems you probably have long commuter traffic jams in your city keeping people stuck in their metal coffins (I think it was Jack Kerouac who coined that phrase) for hours on end and weakening their back muscles and causing disc issues.
Regards

Neil
 
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Congrats to our lucky winner, #4, Tedlet! We will be contacting you soon.

Everyone else, please consider purchasing a copy of Sidy's book to show your support for a fellow barefoot runner and to thank him for his generosity.
 
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