Quick Running Tip: Better Acceleration

I have a confession: I hate running. I really do. Although I've always been a decent sprinter, anything beyond 400-meters was just exhausting. And when I was done with my 1.5-mile runs, my legs were usually shot.

After a couple of years of enjoying spaghetti legs immediately following squadron PT, I decided to look into different ways to move forward more efficiently. As far as acceleration was concerned, I discovered that there are basically two ways to propel yourself forward when running: Active and passive.

Now I was presented with a dilemma: I wanted to give my poor legs a break, but which do I use? Both have their advantages and disadvantages, so I had to do a little more research to find my answer.

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Quick Running Tip: Use a Shorter Stride and Faster Cadence

As an ex-heel striker, I've developed my fair share of bad running habits. Two of these bad habits were a long stride and a slow cadence. Unknown to me at the time, my stride and cadence were making my running so inefficient that I could barely finish the 1.5-mile run in a respectable time without feeling like I was going to pass out.

The solution to my problem turned out to be fairly simple: Shorten my running stride and speed up my running cadence.

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Quick Running Tip: Use Minimalist Running Shoes

Before the 1970s, athletic shoes had thin soles, no support, and zero heel drop. (1) Then, Nike popularized running shoes and an industry was born. (2) Dazzled by multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, we've become convinced that our feet need lots of support and cushioning to run effectively. But the belief that the modern running shoe is superior to your own two feet is slowly changing with the popularity of minimalist running shoes.

What is a Minimalist Running Shoe?

What started as a weird fad has exploded into a movement now backed by solid science. (3) As a result of this growing popularity, minimalist running shoes have suddenly been embraced by many everyday runners.

To give you an idea of how popular minimalist running has become, Vibram (the company who created the modern minimalist running shoe) had to ramp up production of their FiveFingers “toe shoes” just to keep up with demand (from 2006 to 2009, their annual minimalist shoe revenue jumped from $430,000 to $11 million dollars!).

The Vibram FiveFingers is an example of a minimalist running shoe.

Because of its rising popularity, other shoe companies are marketing their own minimalist shoes that aren't quite minimalist. To identify a true minimalist shoe, look for the following qualities:

• Minimal heel-to-toe drop (<=4mm). 
• Thin sole (3-6mm).
• Little to no support for the foot. 
• Large toe box (or individual boxes for each toe). 
• Typically light (<7.5 ounces) 

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Increasing Your Push-ups and Sit-ups: Grease the Groove

For some individuals, increasing the number of push-ups and sit-ups they can do seems impossible. But I have stumbled across a simple and relatively easy technique that anyone can use to increase their strength in any exercise: Grease the groove.

As far as your PT test is concerned, this technique can allow you to possibly double the number of push-ups and sit-ups you can do in one minute in as little as six weeks! And you can do it at work while in uniform.

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Do You Need PT Help?

As it happens, I have some free time to do research. So, if you have any PT-related questions (e.g., walk test prep, building basic push-up and sit-up strength), send them to my email at rapidpt@hotmail.com. I'll do my best to get an answer ASAP!

Bryan

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The 30-Day Diet Challenge

On my Mayo's Mind blog I've just completed my 30-day diet challenge, which attempts to help you figure out which foods are hurting your body and causing health problems and which are not. Ultimately, you will be able to create your own personalized food sensitivity list.

Why should you care about food sensitivities? Not all food sensitivity reactions are obvious, such as coughing, hives, or a swollen throat. Some people may have one or more of the following symptoms when problematic foods are eaten:

• Abdominal pain
• Allergies
• Asthma
• Constipation
• Emotional instability
• Excess body fat
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Heart burn
• High blood pressure
• High blood sugar
• Indigestion
• Irritability
• Mental depression
• Mental fog
• Migraines
• Muscle weakness
• Overweight
• Stomach Ulcers
• Underweight
• Weakened immune system

Often, people suffering from these symptoms will not associate them with food sensitivities. Instead, because they cannot find the true cause of their symptoms, they may just suffer in silence, using supplements or drugs to get some temporary relief. This prompted me to put together this 30-Day Diet Challenge.

When it comes to your PT test, diet sensitivities can prevent you from performing as you expect. It can also cause inches to be added to your waist due to chronic stress and bloating. Accordingly, cleaning up your diet can have a HUGE impact on your PT score.

To read more about the 30-day diet challenge go to my Mayo's Mind blog. Then you can take the diet challenge to see how your PT scores improve!

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Should We See Obesity as a Disease?

Recently, the American Medical Association (AMA) recognized that obesity is a disease. This decision was actually the exact opposite of the recommendations made by the AMA's own investigating committee. What was the AMA's reasoning? To try and stop the growing epidemic of obesity by changing the way doctors and insurance companies view those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30.

For sure, obesity is starting to get out of hand. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that obesity affects over 500 million adults and 40 million children under the age 5 worldwide. This represents about 10 percent of the population. The WHO also believes that obesity is now the fifth leading cause of death (globally) and is strongly associated with degenerative diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. (1)

The age-adjusted rate of obesity in the US (in 2008).

Like many other bloggers, I'm happy to hear that the medical community is taking obesity more seriously, but am also conflicted about the decision to see obesity as a disease.

The rest of this post as been moved to my Mayo's Mind blog.

Should We See Obesity as a Disease?

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