Enlightened by a recent Mark’s Daily Apple post I wanted to share with all CF Intrepid blog readers since I know many of you enjoy running and would also find this information thought provoking.  Consider this…human beings have been running for millions of years but running shoes have only been around since the 1970′s.  It is true however that humans have protected their feet by wearing footwear such as moccasins or sandals, but these have minimal cushion and heel compared to modern running shoes.  Daniel Lieberman, an Evolutionary Biologist from Harvard University, recently published a study that has been getting a lot of publicity throughout the running world.  His study compared the foot strike patterns of people with shoes to those running barefoot and found, contrary to the what the shoe industry has brain washed us to think, that those running barefoot actually experienced less collision forces.  This is due to the way the barefoot strikes the ground decreasing the effective mass of the body that actually collides with the ground.  These videos should help conceptualize Lieberman’s findings:

Mark explains the truth that shoe companies are shielding us from:

There are objective truths out there, and the objective truth is that most people aren’t born with genetically defective feet. Everyone’s imperfect, sure, but for the most part we’ve all got the same basic equipment with the same basic biomechanics working under the hood. Unless you have a birth defect, no one is born with feet that “won’t work right” or that “require shoes”.

Sure Lieberman has associations with Vibram, producer of the Fivefingers, and they probably funded the study and its publication but his data is solid and it has CEOs of shoe companies scrambling for their “smoke and mirror” rebuttal.  At CrossFit Intrepid we encourage the use of weightlifting shoes when performing our heavy lifts and would ask you to wear some kind of foot protection when running around the block just because of the debris and rocks that could injure your feet, but it seems like the best compromise between barefoot and shoes is the Fivefingers.  Sure they look odd but ask Ruth, Marcus, Scott, or Elizabeth how theirs have worked for them and make up your own mind.  I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of achy knees and hips from the constant heel striking and overextended gait that running shoes enable.  I plan on looking into Vibrams for myself and would encourage you to do the same.  That being said, if you also choose to go this route or just go plain barefoot please ease into it.  This means don’t go for a 5 mile barefoot run just because you read here that barefoot is better.  If you’re like me and have worn shoes all our lives, the bones, connective tissue, and musculature support in our feet have adapted to the shoes and will need to adapt to the new stresses that comes with going barefoot.  In the end just don’t believe all the hype about the necessity of running shoes and find the right compromise for yourself.

REST DAY 02.07.10

No AM Class Tomorrow (Monday Feb 8th)