And The Emmy Goes To… Fitness or Fiction: The Truth About Diet and Exercise

By admin | Published: September 19, 2011

Well, I guess a book can’t win an Emmy but if you looking for a well written, evidence based report on diet and exercise, then check out my buddy Brent Brookbush’s new book “Fitness or Fiction: The Truth About Diet and Exercise.”

It’s well worth the $15 on Amazon and has good stuff in it for fitness professionals and those looking to learn more about diet and exercise and how they relate to your goals. Brent has poured of 6 years of effort into this book! It has been a labor of love and you will benefit from his efforts.

There is too much garbage and hype out there and this book will boil down what you can glean from research, not just opinion. Arm yourself with the knowledge in this text as it will come in handy with your clients or your own health and wellness program.

Enjoy this beautiful fall day!

Thanks for checking in,

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist

Have you seen my SMR DVD?
http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00Z43XTB

AthleticShoulder.com
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Have You Ever Lost a Loved One? What About IDEA World 2011?

By admin | Published: August 22, 2011

We have all experienced death on some level. Whether it be by a heartbreaking story you heard about from the media or by losing a friend or loved one. Exactly one week ago my Mother In-Law died from stroke. She was at Tufts Hospital at the Michael Neely Neuroscience Unit. This unit was brand new and had been opened for only about a week when she was admitted. Everyone at this unit was spectacular, from the surgeons to the case managers to the nurses. I believe that she received the finest care on the planet. The facility was sparkling and spotless with the latest technology.

The week was a bit of a whirlwind. While I was out in LA at IDEA World 2011 when I heard the news about my Mother In-Law’s stroke.

A Great International Convention!


I was torn, leave to be with my family and abandon the three presentations that I had for IDEA, two of which were video recorded to make products through IDEA or stay. My family comes first and after several conversations with my wife, she encouraged me to stay in LA unless things took a turn for the worst. I got home Sunday night and by Monday, things did get worse and the end came with my Mother In-Law surrounded by her four daughters at the hospital. She was only 57.

The week was spent with family, consoling and comforting each other. There’s so much that needs to be considered. What I did enjoy was learning more about her and her life. I knew here for 20 years, but I only saw a small part of her life. I was honored to be asked to deliver the eulogy at her mass and hearing the stories and memories from her friends and family was amazing.

So does this post have anything to do with fitness or corrective exercise? Well, over 34% of the US population over the age of 20 is clinically obese. An adult suffers a stroke @ every 40 seconds in the US. The statistics go on and on and on…. Read this article about our amazing blood and metabolism http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/05/fathoming-metabolism?page=0,0

We need to get people moving and doing it regularly. It can literally change and save lives.

Thanks for reading this post,

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist

Have you seen my SMR DVD?
http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00Z43XTB

AthleticShoulder.com
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Barefoot Training Part-3

By admin | Published: August 7, 2011

Hi guys,

I hope you had a chance to read parts 1 and 2 of this series;

http://ericbeard.com/2011/07/05/perform-better-show-review-barefoot-training-mark-verstegen-part-1/

http://ericbeard.com/2011/07/29/barefoot-training-part-2/

If not dive in anyway! I am continuing on with the topic of barefoot training. I am in the middle of sharing my experience sand will dive into the anatomical adaptations that take place when transitioning from a supportive to a minimalist training shoe, or if you even should.

As the bottom of my foot got better, (I of course kept with my joint mobility for my lower extremity issues and core stability work etc.), I transitioned to the Vibram Five Fingers KSO model.

My feet and low back rejoiced instantly! I felt better in my KSOs than I did barefoot because to the proprioceptive feedback that my toes were receiving from being individually wrapped. I wore them inside and outside, at work and when working out, for hours on end. Then….they started to smell. You can machine wash them and air dry them, which is nice, but if you don’t use something like Dr.Scholls’ Odor Destroying powder, they smell can be a bit much. Mind you that I was wearing these shoes 8-10 hours a day. If I were wearing them just for workouts, this probably wouldn’t have been an issue. I did all of my workouts in them, unless I forgot them and just had my Chucks with me. I even brought them to China where I did some work with the Swing for the Stars program that is associated with the Chinese Tennis Association. This was my fourth time working with them. I worked with them twice in the US and twice in China. I am excited to head back again this October. Anyways, I wore them all day everyday on the tennis court with them and felt great. I even played soccer with the coaches for an hour with them on.

Yeah...it was like this when I kicked it....when I actually touched the ball that is...


I mean a full on game on a grass soccer field. My foot wasn’t even sore from kicking the ball or cutting and changing direction. I was in love a quick word about agility work in these type of shoes, it might be a bit much for the 1st MTP and the nail there. Depending on the volume and intensity of agility work, you may want to training in something other than the Vibrams for that. Adidas has model out there that I have not tried but Verstegen was touting…but he is sponsored by Adidias He didn’t give the hard sell, he just shoed the shoe and talked about suing some mid level performance shoe for agility training. Something more than a Chuck and less than a traditional cross trainer.
The Chinese tennis players and coaches were intrigued by my Vibrams. Someone over there even offered to buy them right off of my feet…that was a little gross, but they wanted them for research purposes, not to wear themselves. I agreed and bought myself a new pair when I got back to the states. I still have those black KSOs and use them if I am doing some sprinting outside on grass or gym based workouts. I have done some light running in them on the pavement with no ill effects but I feel as though I would not tolerate to much running on pavement with this model. The Vibram Bikila is what I wear when I present, the KSOs are too ratty now.

I will also work out in them when I am on the road, but try to keep them looking sharp since I wear them “on stage”. They are more built up on the bottom than the KSOs so you have more protection from the pavement, rocks, sticks and other unpleasant things to step on. I like how much more I can feel with the KSOs, especially on grass. I remember playing fetch and chase on a soccer field last spring with the KSOs on and I swear it was pure joy to run on grass with theses things on. I would through the dog’s toy in one direction and as he went to chase it I would sprint the other way with one of my son’s. The dog would haul down, get the toy, then chase us down. A great workout for all of us and a ton of fun. I can’t ever remember feeling so good running before that. I always had football cleats on in high school or college or some sort of cross trainer holding my foot together into an inflexible block instead of something letting it move free.

I actually thought something that I never thought I would….I am enjoying running. I don’t tell too many people this since I usually give runners a hard time by poking fun at them. I have even started doing some sprints outside or inside on a treadmill once a week. I told my wife a couple of weeks ago that I was going for a run at 9:30 at night and she looked at me like I had three heads and said “Why? I thought you hated running?”. My response was… “I’m going to do some sprints.” Of course I ran to the field after I did my flexibility and core stab work at home.

So what else do you need to consider when transitioning from an over-built, pronation control shoe to a minimalist trainer? I need to dive into some anatomical adaptations and I am just out of gas for the night.

Thank you for reading!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist

Have you seen my SMR DVD?
http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00Z43XTB

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard

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Posted in arch supports, barefoot training, Corrective Exercise, fascia, flexibility, repetitive strain injuries | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Barefoot Training Part-2

By admin | Published: July 29, 2011

Friday Night Blog Post? Why not? I started this on the plane the other day…

I have been on the road a ton lately. Just this last week I have made two trips to Arizona and one to Denver. They were all good, productive trips. I had some very productive meetings at NASM corporate in AZ and attended a very helpful performance management training course alongside many of the managers from the Mesa office as well. I had a great time in Denver. I shot some footage for NASM TV, taught a corrective Exercise Specialist Workshop for NASM and got to see some friends for dinner Friday night. I even shot some video footage for the CPT Assist eTeach course Saturday night. Needless to say I was wiped out by the end of Saturday! Leading the workshops for NASM has been one of favorite parts of my “jobs” over the last ten years. More specifically, I have really come to enjoy teaching others.

As I shared to my Corrective Exercise class in Denver as well as on my NASM TV shoot, my first opportunity to educate other professionals came when I was working as personal trainer for 24 Hour Fitness in Aurora, CO.

Where it all started...

I’ll save the long story for another day, but knowing that I have made a contribution to others makes me feel amazing. They may use the information for themselves or to help their clients, it doesn’t make a difference to me. At the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in Chicago, I had a packed house for the hands on session.

I had a blast in Chicago and Providence!

I mean people were spilling out into the hallways. It was awesome. The title of my session was “Save Your Back: get Your Butt in Gear.” After my hands on breakout session a woman came up to me with tears in her eyes. She had pain radiating down her posterior and lateral hip for some time and could not find relief despite seeing several medial professionals. She was overjoyed that she was experiencing relief. All I taught the group to do was NASM’s four step Corrective Exercise (CEx)process- Inhibit, Lengthen, Activate and Integrate. I focused on the lumbo-pelvic hip complex and threw in my own wrinkles to the stretching and activation section, but it was NASM CEx straight up. To be able to provide someone relief from pain is a great feeling. I home that she keeps up with her program and can in turn pass the techniques and system on to others.

 

You have me on a cross country flight with a full battery, so I have some time to give you a nice solid post! Okay, back to barefoot training. Last post I wrote about progressing sensibly from a supportive shoe to a minimalist shoe if there were no injuries or congenital conditions that made barefoot training contraindicated. During Mark Verstegen’s lecture at Perform Better, he even gave a history of minimalist shoes and provided pictures of the best minimalist shoes on the market today. He cited a research study that compared 186 pairs of feet. He compared the feet of people who did not wear shoes to the feet of people who did wear shoes. If you want to read the study, search for “J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1905, Conclusions Drawn from A comparative Study of Barefooted and Shoe-Wearing Peoples, Hoffman, M.D.” Hoffman found that the barefoot group had more separation and straightness to their toes with the toes being the widest portion of the foot. Verstegen also included a picture of a Bronze Herculaneum Statue that depicted a runner and the adduction to the great toe (the big toe) is much more prominent than what I see with my clients, patients and athletes today. For those who wear shoes, especially something like a cowboy boot, women’s high fashion shoes or anything with a small and restrictive toe box, this is basically going to compact the tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges.

Look at that big toe...and it only ges worse from here

This can happen in men’s professional shoes and kids sneakers too. The shock absorption of the foot is all but eliminated. The rich amount of proprioceptors in the sole of the feet are shut down. Imagine walking around with a canvas bag tied tightly over your head all day. How well would you be able to process information?

I magine a rope around the bag...

All of the ground reaction forces that should be stored and released throughout the kinetic chain and propel someone through the gait cycle are now forced to be transmitted to the knees, hips spine and beyond. Ambulating now requires more effort and places more stress throughout the human movement system. Think of all of the professional basketball players in the 1900’s. The all wore Chuck Taylors, Converse All Stars. Chucks basically were and are just a shank of rubber with some canvas and a lace. It did not have arch support and had a wider toe box than most shoes seen today. It also did not have an elevated heel. This let the calve sit at it’s natural resting length and kept the pelvis better balanced. I have a pair that I wear during when performing yard and house work and a pair that I wear in public. The public ones are cleaner and more respectable. The house work ones have paint stains and are much grungier. For $35-$40 they are worth every penny. I used to train clients in them and work out in them too. I have to admit, lifting, kettlebells, core and flexibility were more comfortable than agility or cardio with them on. I wanted to slowly bridge the gap from the Asics 2150 pronation control show than I had been wearing for a year or so, and a minimalist shoe like the Vibram Five Fingers.

And the Chucks were a good cheap option. My feet felt so comfortable and cozy all wrapped up in my Asics. The arch support felt good from ankle to hip….but the elevate heel aggravated my sacroiliac joint and low back to no end. I could just feel them tightening up as the day went. At the time I had a standing desk, so when I wasn’t training clients I would work standing up. So being upright with those shoes was not a good fit for me. Notice I said for me…

I did try a minimalist shoe back in 2005 when Nike came out with their Free 5.0. They launched the shoe at IDEA World and I happened to presenting a Speed Agility and Quickness for Youth session for NASM there. I saw the shoe, bought a pair. Like them so much that after three days at the show, I went back and bought a second. I still have the newer pair! What happened, because I had some 1st MTP, ankle and LPCH issues that were unresolved is that after a week or so I started getting some aches and pains and slowly moved away from them. I put them on every now and then, but the 5.0 still has too much of a heel for me. Their 3.0 is even lower and the 7.0 is even higher in the heel, so they provide their customers with some choices which is nice. Nike toe boxes tend to run on the narrow side as well and I did feel a bit restricted through the toes as well.
From there I went to a New Balance tennis trainer that had minimal arch support and a very low heel. I liked these. Unfortunately, the discontinued the model and I could not find a second pair anywhere and I eventually had to move on. I found some funky orange Teva walking shoes that I tried for a while. I still have them somewhere. A physical therapist that was helping me with my joint restrictions in my big toe and ankle thought that I needed some more support so I tried some over the counter shoe inserts called Superfeet. They run about $30 and have three versions that range in level of support. They were decent.

Another physical therapist that I saw thought that I needed even more support and convinced me to go with the Asic 2130. This worked great for the foot ankle as I mentioned and I matriculated to the newer 2150 model from there.

Until I said enough is enough with the stinking elevated heel! The reason that these pronation control shoes need the heel is that they need a place for the arch support to “sit” in. That is one of the reasons that the Superfeet did not help out my Tevas very much. The Tevas were flat from heel to toe, there was no “drop”. So the arch support had minimal support underneath it and did not have the desired effect. I knew that, but thought it was better than nothing. I also ran into some plantar fascia pain, yes plantar fasciitis, last year while transitioning to my Chucks. I saw a podiatrist to try and find out more about my 1st MTP and ankle restrictions. He started off well talking about the global effect of foot ankle issues and the potential negative impact of wearing shoes with an elevated heel. He recommended Spenco arch supports which I found on Amazon for less than @$10.

<iframe src=”http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=ericbecom-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000FPKUZ0″ style=”width:120px;height:240px;” scrolling=”no” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ frameborder=”0″></iframe>

They seemed to help in my Chucks some, so I stuck with them for a couple of months. Then he ended one of our appointments by saying that I had some pathologies in my feet and I would eventually have to have surgery…I disagree, so I never went back.

If you haven’t seen this, there is some amazing info on this DVD I put together. I used some of these techniques to help with my foot pain
http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00Z43XTB

That’s all for tonight. I’ll be back for part 3 soon! Thank you for reading!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard

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Posted in A-Team, achilles tendonitis, arch supports, Corrective Exercise, Eric Beard, fascia, foot pain, joint mobility, NASM CPT, nasm live workshop, runner's knee, runners, running injuries, running shoes, self myofascial release, shin splints | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Perform Better Show Review: Barefoot Training – Mark Verstegen Part 1

By admin | Published: July 5, 2011

I want to start by saying I enjoyed reflecting on the freedom that we have in our country thanks to the brave men and women that have felt so strongly in their patriotic beliefs to have fought for our country. Thank you for our liberty!

The Perform Better Functional Training Summit is really one of the best. I am going to chronicle my experiences one presentation at a time over the next few weeks. I’ll start with Mark Verstegen and his barefoot training talk. Mark is one of the top performance coaches in the game and has some beautiful facilities in his Athlete’s Performance locations.

The way Perform Better lays out their Summit is each presenter has a 75 minute lecture and 75 minute hands on breakout session that accompanies it. There are up to four sessions that run in each time block and you have to make some tough decisions because there are a plethora of good choices most sections. For you Three Amigos fans…a short 1 minute clip (click on the text)
Do You Know What a Plethora Is?

If you are going to talk about barefoot running, you have to throw out;

Click on this picture for a link to the paperback version of the book for less than $10.

These are what I used to step down from a traditional overbuilt running shoe, or sneaker as we call it where I’m from;
A true classic and you can’t go wrong for under $40. Better than buying a $100 shoe and have to stop wearing them after two weeks because your feet and knees are killing you! I wanted to go slow and Chucks have been a hit in the Kettlebell training community for a couple of years. There is no heel and a relatively comfortable toe box. There is also zero arch support. That is pretty much the point.

I actually went with the KSO Model that will show if you click on the picture. These run @ $80 but have been worth every penny. The KSO’s have a more minimal approach so the proprioceptors in the feet get a fair amount of information and the toes can move independently of one another.  They tend to get pretty smelly but you can machine wash and air dry them. Dr Scholl’s Odor Destroyer works well from what I have heard.
I just picked some up, and it works decent on my KSOs, but I have had them for a long time so the odor damage has been done. I do have a newer pair that I will use the powder with from the start. My wife gave me the Vibram Bikila that is built up more on the bottom than the KSO. Mine are black and gold. They are great for outdoor running, trail running etc.
I wear these when I present because they are in better shape than my KSOs.
I also picked up perhaps my newest favorite yet mid-June when I needed something to wear to a trip to Disney World in Florida with my family. I wore my Chucks there last year and alternated with Chacco sandals, which are pretty awesome.
My friend actually did some work with their organization before they really got going a few years ago, so I have had a pair for a while. So I alternated between the Chacos and Chucks and they did the trick, but I was looking for something with no heel, like the Chucks, and a wider toe box like the Chacos. So after reading and researching for a while, I went out and picked up a pair of the New Balance Minimus Trail Runners. What a great call! The lightest show I have ever worn, only a 19 millimeter heel and very flexible toe box. They help up to the pounding in Disney and have traveled well. I fly frequently and a breathable lightweight shoe is important to me that has no heel and let’s the foot work like it should. They look sharp too. The fitness version of these are a bit ugly to me.

Well I have been typing for a while and I have said almost nothing about Verstegen’s lecture or hands on! I am tired now so I guess I will get into that info in my next post. Until then…

Have an awesome day!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist

http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00Z43XTB (My Self Myofascial Release DVD!)
AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard

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