NEW YEAR'S RESOLVE

NEW YEAR'S RESOLVE

No, not that kind of 'resolve', although I'm sure this particular 'morning after' product will be selling triple time this January 1st!

It's the other kind of resolve that I'm talking about, the one that has much longer lasting effects than a sachet of funny tasting powder…in fact your resolve for 2012 could and should last a lifetime.

Never has there been a better time, a more important time, never before have we known exactly what we need to do and how to get it done.

Our western world's health and fitness levels have never been worse yet we have amazing opportunities to be the fittest and happiest that we have ever been…all we need is a little help. As they say, it's not what you know but who you know - if you want to live a certain lifestyle you need to surround yourself with likeminded people and find inspirational guides and coaches to help you achieve your health and fitness goals.

What are those goals? How about more energy? A lean body? Less headaches? Less stress? More happiness? Less aches and pains? More strength? More 'get up and go'? More time with your family?

Pretty much all of our western world's complaints come down to a couple of simple words.

Nutrition and Exercise.

Get these two elements right and you can do 'N' 'E' thing!

Let's break these down even more and turn the clock back to when all that mattered was hunting, gathering and surviving - we would have eaten far less than today but what we would have eaten would have been mostly fresh, raw, organic veg, fruit, nuts and seeds with the odd bit of fresh, lean game meat or fish…and we would have spent hours each day walking, running, swimming, climbing and jumping in order to find this food.

Our bodies and minds would not have been stressed by worrying about how to negotiate the morning rush hour or meet our work deadlines or by consuming huge amounts of processed toxic foods. Instead we would have had the life that today's professional athletes strive to replicate. A clean diet with plenty of varied and functional exercise with lots of necessary rest, probably lying in a hammock in the sun! (With one eye open for predators…)

While life in 2012 is very different from hunter/gatherer times, we can still be extremely fit and healthy and life a long and happy life.

Nutrition and Exercise.

Make 2012 the year you learn two new skills:

1 - How to EAT clean.

2 - How to RUN efficiently.

So what are you waiting for? All you need is the right help from the right people…and a little RESOLVE!

www.barefootrunningcoach.co.uk

Facebook - RAW Fitness Concepts

ONLINE TECHNIQUE COACHING CLINICS

ONLINE COACHING

Due to popular demand I will be starting an Online Technique Coaching Clinic in January 2012 - this will open up the benefits of good running biomechanics to the everybody, not just the few that live near a barefoot running coach!

Email if interested otherwise watch this space!

NUT ROAST RUN

Nut Roast Run

My vegetarian version of the turkey trot! And nothing like it to clear your head after a five-year-old induced 5am start followed by a morning constructing all his toys!

Focused on technique today, table football shooting technique as well as my running tech - posture, rhythm and relaxation the key to both sports. I tried explaining the technicalities of foosball to my son but it all ended in tears - I tried to lose, honest!

I guess all those evening foosball comps during my many snowboard seasons have hardwired my brain - interesting how skills and habits stay with you even if you don't use them for a while.

The problem with the skill of running is that so many of us spent so many years running with the wrong technique that now we have to re-wire our brain with the new skill…and it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time, means slowing down and focusing on that posture, rhythm and relaxation…thank goodness I don't have to teach my son how to run - he's lucky enough to have spent his young life barefoot or in VIVOBAREFOOT shoes so he has a great running technique. In fact he delights in reminding me that he has already won two triathlons while his Dad can only dream.

So anyway, my run was awesome, I now feel alive and ready to tuck into my nut roast and RAW veg Christmas lunch. Power food for the afternoon table football tournament!

Running is a SKILL

Here are several examples of why most of us need to learn how to run again. It's definitely not as simple as just taking off your shoes or putting on a pair of minimal or barefoot shoes.

The following video shows joggers wearing Five Fingers that are heel striking and barefoot joggers that are over striding.

The majority of the techniques on show here will result in injury and are definitely not biomechanically efficient.

Running is a skill - contact the Barefoot Running Coach now to learn how to run faster and further with fewer injuries.

Elites

Recent converts to the barefoot technique include Elite Triathletes Neil Eddy, Michael Birchmore and Matt Pullen - proof that runners of all abilities can improve their biomechanics and benefit from an efficient technique.

2012 will see a paradigm shift in the running world with the realisation that we have forgotten how to run since the advent of cushioned running shoes.

Every runner from the beginner through seasoned amateur to champion elite can move one step closer to their optimum performance level by perfecting the skill of running and using a barefoot shoe.

To book your PB for 2012 contact the Barefoot Running Coach now!

How to combat the effects of festive feasting

It's that time of year again - festivities galore, rich food a plenty and free flowing alcohol. Throw in plenty of lazy days being couch potatoes and suddenly you have a recipe for disaster...in terms of fitness.

So what's the answer?

Well there are many alternatives to the above debauchery but one simple addition which would counteract some of the damage being done is to RUN!

But not the kind of running that you may be used to - the vast majority of people that think they are runners are actually not, in fact they are joggers. So what's the difference? Huge. Jogging is a hybrid form of locomotion and not at all natural. Apart from being very injurious due to the shock of landing on your heels, it is also metabolically very efficient.

What does that mean?

In simple terms, jogging is a speeded up version of walking - walking is a very efficient way of getting around in as much as it doesn't burn very many calories and doesn't increase your metabolism (i.e. the speed at which you burn calories). Thus jogging doesn't burn many calories!

Conversely running (with a biomechanically correct technique) will boost your metabolism and burn a shed load of calories even when you are crashed out on the sofa recovering from yet another day of Christmas dinner left-overs.

So your best option if you are planning to switch over to the dark side for a couple of weeks is to learn how run the barefoot way and practice all through the festive holidays.

If that's not gonna happen, at least you know that you have a plan to fall back on. If things go awry with the mince pies just get in touch with your nearest VivoBarefoot Certified Coach in the New Year and make 2012 the year you finally get lean and reveal your six pack!

For more details on boosting your metabolism through improving running technique, contact Jonno now!

Running Re-evolution

Word has it that all the big (and small) running shoe companies will base next season's shoes on barefoot or minimal designs.

The re-evolution is well and truly happening and now is the perfect time of year to improve your running technique with a Vivobarefoot Coach. Plenty of time for your body to adapt to the new skill before the next run/triathlon season...get ahead of the rest and shock them with PB's in 2012!

Contact the BRC now for clinic availability.

Running Technique

Whether you advocate being barefoot in all walks of life or sometimes barefoot and the rest of the time in a barefoot shoe, technique is still the key factor.

And more often than not it's the missing link preventing us from walking and running at our most efficient level.

A lifetime of having our feet restricted by tight and supportive shoes means that we both walk and run incorrectly - we are so used to operating this way that just taking our shoes of is not going to automatically correct our gait. Sure it will help but the number of people out there still complaining of injuries proves the point.

For example if you are a heavy heel striker in cushioned running shoes, just taking them off and running barefoot or in a barefoot shoe can result in further injuries unless your technique is biomechanically correct.

So take a huge step in the right direction and have a session with a VivoBarefoot Certified Technique Coach.

Falmouth Mob Match

Today was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a road race in barefoot shoes.

This time last year I was struggling with major calf issues due to a poor running technique - little did I know but back then I was an unskilled forefoot striker, forcing my foot to land forefoot which does little to help technique but in fact does plenty to over-strain your calves and Achilles tendons...

So to finish today's Mob Match with fresh and uninjured legs in a faster time than last year is a RESULT!

Bring on next season's Cornwall Triathlon Series!

Do you have niggling running injuries? Have you technique analysed and corrected by a certified Vivobarefoot technique coach.

Latest Client Feedback

Hi Jonno,

Just wanted to thank you for for barefoot clinic and share my experience with everyone else!

I've been running for about 2 years now and also just started triathlons (I'm a late developer, I hated school sports). About 6 months ago I heard about barefoot running after visiting a physio but had no idea how to actually do it. I spend a lot of time barefooted at home so naively assumed I'd be fine running barefoot so off I went.

One of the recent local races was on the beach so I thought "here's my chance for my first barefoot race". I did ok, I came 10th overall but this was entirely a product of pigheaded resilience and nothing to do with correct technique. Needless to say I was in pain for the whole of the next week which wrecked any further training.

I met Jonno before the race when he commented on my bare feet and explained he was a coach. After talking to him at the end of the race I booked in for his analysis clinic which we split over 2 seperate days (wrecked calfs prevented completing it on day one).

You'll be astounded, I certainly was! After the first video analysis I was ready to quit running altogether, in trainers I wasn't even a particularly efficient heal striker let alone a pro barefoot runner! Thirty minutes later and after several stretches, drills and a clear explanation about biomechanics the person on the second video was unrecognisable from the first. By the end of the second session I was much happier about what my body was trying to achieve and could replicate most of it most of the time.

It's maybe a big ask to completely change your running style in a few hours and expect to be able to do it straight away but its worth sticking with. I now notice a big change in my efficiency even if I do now have to think what I'm doing with my legs but that will soon change with a bit more practice. I'm looking forward to next season when things become automatic again having had a winter to practice the new technique.

I think if you want to make the transition to barefoot running then this clinic is a must. Running in bare feet and barefoot running are two very different things and as an unskilled barefoot runner (like I was at the beach race) you're likely to do yourself more harm than you are to gain any of the reduced injury benefits you will have heard of about barefoot running.

The Vivobarefoot shoes are also excellent, they look good and the transition to them from your 'normal' heavily cushioned, arch supported shoes isn't anywhere near as difficult as you might think.

Thanks again,

Will

St Michaels Spa and Hotel

Spent today spreading the Barefoot word with the guys at St Michaels Spa at Gyllyngvasse Beach, Falmouth. We are taking bookings for Barefoot Clinics at the spa so if you fancy a holiday in a beautiful part of Cornwall at an amazing hotel and would like to transform your running technique, contact www.stmichaelshotel.co.uk for more info.

Official VivoBarefoot Coach

Officially now registered on the Vivobarefoot website as a Certified Technique Coach.

Check out http://trainingclinic.vivobarefoot.com/jonno-gibbins/

Running Injury?

For two years, since starting to train for triathlons, I had recurring calf problems. I call them cramps but they could be more spasmodic and very painful and sometimes just annoying aches. Sometimes it was the gastroc and sometimes soleus. But there was always a problem.

I visited several sports therapists, had my running gait analysed, changed my running shoes and had calf massages every week.

Everyone had a different opinion as to what my problem was - reasons ranged from too much snowboarding and thus oversized medial gastroc, to too long a big toe or mis-firing glutes!

I spent a lot of money for all that advice and many times wanted to quit running. But I loved triathlons and was getting good results, despite having to hobble round many events.

Then finally I met Lee Saxby. Lee is the world's best barefoot running coach and after a couple of hours under his watchful eye I learned that my technique was completely messed up and that is why I had calf injuries. By the end of the session I was running with a comfortable and efficient technique - since then I have been totally injury free with zero calf problems!

I am now also a VivoBarefoot Certified Coach, having been taught by the best in business. Running is a natural form of human locomotion and we should all be able to enjoy it fully without injury - invest in a clinic with the Barefoot Running Coach and run for life.

Why Barefoot?

I'm asked all the time, "Why barefoot? Surely it hurts?"

The human foot is designed to be bare so in theory no it doesn't hurt. Of course decades of being encased in a shoe means that most feet are not hardy enough to run around on pavements and trails. In time they would adapt no problem but Barefoot Running isn't all about being barefoot - just throwing away your shoes and running is not sensible nor practical.

Barefoot running is about the technique and this can be perfected wearing barefoot shoes - ie shoes that allow the foot to behave as though it were bare.

Barefoot Running Coach is not about baring your sole and joining the hippie nation - instead we are offering you a lifetime of efficient running, fewer injuries and enjoyable running, either barefoot or in barefoot shoes.

So yes, that's why we are 'Barefoot'!

To Run or not To Run?

Barefoot running is the future - and the past!

As humans we are designed to run, yet 80% of runners are regularly injured and many more dread the thought of 'running'.

How can that be if we were 'Born to Run'?

Pretty simple really. Running is a skill and thanks to the proliferation of cushioned running shoes we have forgotten how to run correctly.

So whether you want to run totally barefoot or in barefoot shoes, the first step is to re-learn the techniques that we took for granted as children. Then enjoy a lifetime of efficient and injury free running!