BF and Pilates - a project

[Jennifer Gwirtz]

khyricat: Classic Pilates is

khyricat:

Classic Pilates is one of those things that works well together with a more three-dimensional practice. It sounds like a lot of barefoot runners lean towards yoga. I've always been one of those super-hypermobile people who constantly needs to stabilize, so I have to be careful in yoga classes. I miss them, though!

Many Pilates people right now are building on the "classic" repertoire to make the practice more multi-dimensional, which is a good thing. I count myself as one of them.

Can I ask what is it about the barefoot running to you that helps keep you feeling good? Do you think that it was your new core strength or was it something else that also happened to cause the increase in strength?

I was an ergonomics person in the early 2000s (in addition to all the other job description creep I had at that time) so I was constantly dealing with peoples' workstations and really, as long as they were sitting at those 90 degree angles, there's be no improvement in their pain.

Oh, and I knew of a guy there who would work while walking on a treadmill. He literally had a desk built that fit over the place where the fitness panel once was. I think he had another station where he'd sit, but he avoided it because of back problems.

 

[Jennifer Gwirtz]

stomper wrote:Jennifer,For

Jennifer,

For the relationship of "twist" to running, you might want to check out the ideal "chirunning" form. It involves a tai-chi like rotation between the hips and torso. In tai chi the hips are often held steady while the torso above twists. In chirunning the torso is steadier while the hips rotate. (My interpretation only).

More generally, one of the ideas that you're putting forward is that it might be difficult to regain strength in certain areas if you've been in shoes or inactive for too long. I think that might be true in the sense of pure athletic performance. I was largely inactive in my teens and twenties and know I'm never going to get back to the sheer potential I had then.

However, IMHO there is a GIANT factor that can make up for it: improved perception and skill. After doing various martial arts, especially grappling, and barefoot running, my body is much more aware of what's going on in any situation, and it can react far better than it did when I was 18, without a lot of conscious thought from me.

I think anything that challenges the body to feel and react is a really positive thing for people anywhere. I especially like grappling because, while it exercises the core (generally defined), it encourages you to relax and use your whole body as a sensor of balance and pressure, not just your eyes or hands. But if one isn't up for that, going barefoot, in what seem like "impossible" conditions, is good too.

Thanks for the suggestion. Chi Running was suggested to me before, so I spent some time today reading and checking out some videos on Chi Running. It sounds interesting, and I'm wondering if it's possibly also linked to a practice called Aston Kinetics. Judith Aston has a brilliant movement/bodywork/fitness practice which is all about how the body reacts to gravity, and where walking relies on a very small forward lean, and the mobility of the ankle. It's a pretty complicated system, though. It's something I've studied on and off for ten years or so and I'm just getting the hang of it. Chi Running seems much simpler, which could be good, or not. Accessible, though, which is definitely a plus.

I'm not sure about the arm positioning, though. I'm going to see about getting a book. I'd like to try it, too.

I'm mainly saying that in the US we live in a culture where in many places we drive three blocks because there are no sidewalks, where people are told that they have to clap on shoes from the moment they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night. The idea that we can just leave our homes and walk a while to get somewhere is weird, if not transgressive.

I agree completely with your comment on "perception and skill." What kinds of martial arts do you enjoy?

I had an interesting conversation a while ago with a friend, a multi-black belt in several disciplines, about the differences between contact improvisation and sparring. They're similar with the focus that they require, except that one seems to be cooperative and the other competitive. She suggested that they'd have similar results for different types of people.

I'm not saying at all that it's necessary to go back to teenage potential. Kids are strong and they heal well, but they're often not in a headspace to go farther into things. Adults have depth. So many kids are also losing their fitness levels very early these days, which seems incredibly sad to me.

Can you speak more about grappling? Do you run barefoot as part of martial arts training?

 

[Jennifer Gwirtz]

Barefoot TJ: That's a lot of

Barefoot TJ: That's a lot of running for an 8-year-old! Wow! Good for her/him.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

It's not that often we do

It's not that often we do this, with the weather and school and everything. He wants to go out with me this evening though.

 

[khyricat]

Honestly I don't know.. I

Honestly I don't know.. I also started a new job where I am on my feet more and climbing lots of stairs, though I noticed the first benefits before the job started.. but I was also unemployed during that time.. so it could have been an increase in overall exercise, but the timing was when I started running bare.. so I figure that had to be at least part of it.. I've also COMPLETELY given up my orthotics (I wasn't wearing them much anymore, but at least occasionally still doing so until I started running bare and started looking at minimalist shoes as well.. though I still wear my cork insoled NAOT's on occasion...) Which were supposed to HELP with the back pain, but it appears that giving them up was a MUCH bigger help to me than anything else.. as long as I also went to 0 differential shoes... (My naots are close, and I also have Merrell Pure Gloves). In the house I never wear shoes and never did.. barefoot/feet covered in handknit socks are it.

 

[Jennifer Gwirtz]

Honestly I don't know.. I

Honestly I don't know.. I also started a new job where I am on my feet more and climbing lots of stairs, though I noticed the first benefits before the job started.. but I was also unemployed during that time.. so it could have been an increase in overall exercise, but the timing was when I started running bare.. so I figure that had to be at least part of it.. I've also COMPLETELY given up my orthotics (I wasn't wearing them much anymore, but at least occasionally still doing so until I started running bare and started looking at minimalist shoes as well.. though I still wear my cork insoled NAOT's on occasion...) Which were supposed to HELP with the back pain, but it appears that giving them up was a MUCH bigger help to me than anything else.. as long as I also went to 0 differential shoes... (My naots are close, and I also have Merrell Pure Gloves). In the house I never wear shoes and never did.. barefoot/feet covered in handknit socks are it.)

Khyricat:

Something similar happened to me when I left off my orthotics. My feet were so soft, flat and pronated that when I went into the podiatrist, he actually laughed at them. He made these 3/4 length hard orthotics that he called my "skis." My back got worse, then my knees joined in. I trashed them last year, along with my old sneakers. As long as I keep my feet in shape and the rest of me keeps moving, everything feels just fine. I do find, though, that just walking and running on my bare feet don't keep them strong. I have to roll them out, use an elastic band or some of the movements I've been working on and make sure my ankles stay mobile. I'd like to think that other people are better off than I am and can just go out and run.

Do you do exercises or mobility work for your feet as well?

 

[khyricat]

your story sounds familiar..

your story sounds familiar.. though I'd been wearing orthotics on and off for more than 20 years.. I'd go entire stretches of time without them just because I didn't want to, but I'd wear them when I was on my feet a lot.. and not barefoot, I've always loved to be barefoot.

I don't do foot specific exercises, but I stretch my body a LOT, including poses that use my feet with both yoga and stretches my old running coach had me do years ago... and of couse all the running.. and when I sit for long periods, part of moving my legs is using my feet.. pointing toes, flexing feet, and using them to walk my legs out and back together (I knit AND I vanpool to work- 2-3 hours a day in the van)

 

[Jennifer Gwirtz]

Thanks for sharing. When I

Thanks for sharing.

When I wore the orthotics, they made my feet feel good and after a while I found that I couldn't be barefoot at all, even though wearing them made the rest of me feel so bad. My initial transition out of them was tough, but worthwhile.

I knit, as well. At some point I'm going to try to figure out toe socks.

 

[jschwab]

I had an interesting

I had an interesting experience that really made alot of these concepts very clear. I busted my gut (tore my ab muscle) a little over a year ago. At first, maybe it was just very stressed and weak, maybe already torn a tiny bit. Immediately after stressing it - felt like overnight - my arches fell and I started overpronating and I needed orthotics to keep going without developing serious tendonitis. Previous to that I'd been running in minimalist trail shoes with no issues, hardly any support. Eventually, I really did it in and tore the muscle badly away from the bone during a race. I used barefoot running as part of my recovery plan. As soon as I started healing all those problems went away, and I developed arches again within a couple weeks of treatment - it was like one of those time lapse nature shows. It was interesting, within that 4 month span to experience the complete destruction of my core's ability to keep my gait smooth and neutral and how of the systems in my legs that promote a healthy gait just got destroyed.

 

[khyricat]

Jschwab - very interesting

Jschwab - very interesting tale.. thanks for sharing.. I know PT's who told me years ago that core strength would help my back issues, they also wanted me in orthotics, interestingly enough it was LOSING the orthotics and continuing the core exercises that cured that finally...

Jennifer- I knit a LOT of socks, I've done gloves with fingers, but never toe socks, but then I don't like wearing toe socks.. I would be happy to help someone figure out toe socks, and there are patterns on Ravelry, but since I HATE anything between my toes, I haven't been tempted. I only wear handknit socks all winter long here in MI.. and when I wear socks in the summer soo.. even to run. actually especially to run, the wool socks feel so warm in my minimalist shoes.

Amie