ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

Barefoot Running

 

Don’t worry, you can keep your shoes.  No one’s going to tell you to go cold turkey.

Great training for proper running form, barefoot running involves more than simply taking off your shoes.  Nor is it a transition from shoes to minimalist shoes, such as the Vibram FiveFingers.  Here are a couple fun, good-sense-of-humor books to read in exploring a new direction – how your human body was designed to be one of the best runners in the animal kingdom.  A step by step transition towards a graceful way of moving all body parts from head to toe, allowing the foot to feel the earth’s rough terrain as friendly territory.

“Barefoot Running Step by Step”, by Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton and Roy M. Wallack.

Ken Bob will tell you all you need to know for how to run barefoot, checking it out as much (or as little) as you like.

“Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.

“Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science….Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons….that allow them  to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it.  Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence….”  This witty, fun-to-read, captivating, national best seller is the book that popularized barefoot running.

Athletic Performance – General

 

Feeling like you have to bribe yourself to get into any exercise or any sport?  Was the “no-pain-no-gain” philosophy drilled so deep into your psyche, that maybe you never even questioned it?  Did you feel humiliated by sports as a kid growing up?  Having trouble finding a sport that you like?

 “Body, Mind and Sport”, by John Douillard

Discover  the zone that athletes talk about.  The zone can be your starting place, instead of where you accidentally end up as a reward for pushing yourself through pain.