Crossfit: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Part II

Read Part I of Crossfit: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,

In my last post, I discussed what I see as the positives of the Crossfit methodology.  Of course, nothing escapes scrutiny on my blog.  And Crossfit certainly has some glaring downsides.  So here is what I see as wrong with Crossfit programming as it currently stands.

Bad: Thinking that specialization is unnecessary for sports performance

When my friend Vanessa Runs recently completed the Spartan Race in Southern California, she commented in her race report that she was blowing past a ton of Crossfitters on many of the obstacles.  These Spartan-style races attract Crossfitters in droves because they are supposed to be a bunch of random obstacles thrown together.  Something that should be easy for those trained in the "unknown and unknowable".

Here's the thing.  These races are just big trail runs with obstacles that usually involve manipulating your own bodyweight over and around them.  So the people who excel at them are folks who train in those conditions, are lighter, and can easily move around their bodyweight.  People like...say...Vanessa who is a seasoned trail runner that also crosstrains with yoga (and who is probably a good 50lbs lighter than the average Crossfitter).  The people that don't necessarily excel at them are those that run once a month (probably not on a trail), train for these events by do wall-ball shots and burpees so that they are "prepared" for everything, and have never done an actual pullup in their lives....i.e. Crossfitters (but I bet they can "kip" about 300 pullups).



Holding this gigantic tennis ball is sure to train me for tasks that in no way resemble it!

I'm not sure where people got the idea that doing a bunch of random exercises could make you better than everyone at everything.  It could be because the Crossfit mainsite tells people that it is in the business of "forging elite athletes".  If by "elite athlete", Crossfit means "good at randomly cobbled together exercise routines"...then I agree.  Otherwise, I don't.  I do agree that Crossfit will shore up your weak areas and makes you more well-rounded.  But specific sports value certain aspects of fitness over others.  So if you want to be good at specific sports, you need to train for the necessities of that specific sport. 

If you play football, you need to be stronger and more powerful than Crossfit can make you.  If you're an endurance athlete, you need more cardio than you're going to do in Crossfit (which is usually once every 13 days).  Crossfit has done a decent job in addressing this with offshoot programs like Crossfit Endurance and Crossfit Football.  But don't buy into the hype that Crossfit will make you "elite".  Unless by "elite", you mean "good at exercise". 

Bad: Failing to listen to criticism and evolve

This last point is a common criticism of Crossfit.  There are other more nuanced ones concerning exercise selection, programming, and other things that only fitness nerds would understand or care about.  I'm not going to go through each point because I don't think folks much care about how a sumo deadlift high pull involves the same axis as the Hawkins-Kennedy Impingement Test (though if you care, here's a funny article about it...yes, I said funny), or the benefits and disadvantages of the kipping pullup.

What I will say is that the Crossfit culture has a tendancy to sweep these concerns under the rug instead of dealing with them.  The Crossfit culture tends to be very "us versus the world".  Criticisms are generally taken as "you just don't get it because you're not as elite as us" instead of "hmmm...that's a really valid point...perhaps I should do something about this."



Here's an example.  Yes, that is a baby strapped to that dude's chest while he does an overhead squat.  Yes, it was posted to the Crossfit website.  And no, Crossfit mainsite did not take the picture down in response to intense criticsm that Captain Child-Endangerment here could have caved in this baby's soft spot with that weight.  They left it up and defended him as elite instead of saying "hmmm...maybe this encourages dangerous practices that we don't endorse". 

The result?  Crossfit comes off as very close-minded and elitist...and even somewhat fascist.  Ask a Crossfitter sometime about why they do kipping pullups instead of regular pullups, and you'll no doubt get a response about how they are better for you because they spread the workload among more parts of your body thus allowing greater muscle recruitment.  No...it means that you can't do a fucking pullup to save you're life and you're cheating.  These folks have a boxed response because that's what they've been told.

There's actually an interesting website called the Crossfit White Papers that keeps track of this phenomenon and does a decent job keeping track of it all.  If you want a no-holds bar timeline of the behind the scenes intrigue at Crossfit, that is the site for you.

Now, because Crossfit is ultimately a local phenomenon, there are some great box gyms responding to criticism of these methods and making positive changes.  For example, many are recognizing the importance of absolute strength and adjusting their programming to have a strength bias. 

And some do....

Ugly: Downright dangerous practices

This...



There are so many things wrong with this video.  Let's name them shall we?  Like why are obvious newbies to Crossfit doing high skill Olympic lifts?  Why are they doing it with an axle instead of a normal bar thus making an already difficult exercise ten times more difficult?  Why is the coach allowing them to blow their fucking vertebrae off with horrible form and with a weight they obviously can't handle and then drop it wherever they please?  And then filming it like it's something worth putting Youtube (by the way...thanks for putting it on Youtube). 

This isn't just a random incident.  This is one result of something that is symptomatic of Crossfit.  It is common to sacrifice many things for intensity and results.  This video illustrates a few of those; like form, exercise selection, and weight selection.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.  Crossfit tends to push the same practices over and over despite warnings that they shouldn't.  High repetition box jumps are proscribed despite reports of ruptured Achilles tendons as a result.  Ridiculous "hero" workouts (usually workouts of insane difficulty) and ultra-long WODs are frequently proscribed despite reports of widespread overtraining and injury by those that attempt them.  Those are just a few examples. 

Again, there are many local gyms that are aware of these concerns and make safety a top priority.  But for as many gyms as there are that do that, there are a handful that make all of these program missteps.  Why don't all gyms have the smarts to realize the error of their ways?  Probably has something to do with my next point.

Ugly: McCrossfit-ization

Why did something like what happened in the above video happen?  I don't know about the gym in question personally, but if I were to guess I'd reckon it had to do with the way Crossfit is taught at the local level.  All that is required to become a Crossfit coach and open a gym is to become Level 1 Trainer certified and pay an affiliation fee.  The Level 1 Training course (which I will be attending) is $1000, and lasts for two days.  There is a test at the end of it with an 80% passage rate.  The affiliate fee is $3000 per year.  So $4000 and two days of your time and you too could be a Crossfit trainer!

Does that scare you?  It scares me!  With the surging popularity of Crossfit, gyms are popping up all over the world with no attempt at quality control from Crossfit HQ.  As with everything in Crossfit, there are certainly a number of gyms that are top quality, and have very knowledgable staff.  But the possibility exists also that the only training a coach could have is a two-day seminar.

Now the Level One class is very thorough.  But I don't think it gives you everything you need to successfully coach someone, or even own a gym.  It takes more than two days to learn that stuff.  Not to mention, folks who are only indoctrinated in the Crossfit method can't think critically about their programming and how to improve it.  They don't know any other way.  They don't know why something is right or wrong.

And if you take away that knowledge, I think you take away the best part of the Crossfit system.  Crossfit came about by being creative and taking the best of many different methods of exercise.  I fear that this rapid and easy spread of the Crossfit method is going to snuff out that creative fire that initially made the Crossfit system so great.

So how can you tell if the gym you are thinkng about is a McCrossfit, or the real deal?  Your best defense is to research the gym you are thinking about joining.  Look at the qualifications of the staff members.  Talk to the trainers and see if they know their stuff.

Hope this series gives you the tools you need to make an informed decision about whether or not to start doing Crossfit.

Crossfit: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Part I

Crossfit is one of the most polarizing trends in the fitness community. Folks are either active Koolaid drinkers, or consider it to be the worst thing to happen to exercise since the Thighmaster.



They don't call it Cultfit for nothing!

Crossfitters get a lot of crap for their methods. I've heard folks call Crossfit everything from the best thing to happen to fitness since sports bras (you gotta admit, that was pretty awesome), to ineffective to downright dangerous. Some of those criticisms are BS, and some is well-deserved. My opinion is that Crossfit is an incredibly effective system of exercise, if used correctly. I wouldn't be getting certified to train using its methods if I didn't believe in it.

That being said, I think that the Crossfit, like any fitness system, has its good and bad parts.  I thought I would use this post to illustrate those points to help my readers decide if it's the right system for them.  First...the good.  Enjoy!

Good: You're only as good as your diet

Of course, you can go about any fitness routine with whatever diet you want.  But everyone should realize that the greatest limiting factor in any fitness program is your diet.  If you want to lose weight, it doesn't matter how many miles you're running or weights you're lifting if you go out and eat a bucket of fried chicken right afterwards.  Similarly, you're not going to perform as well if you eat that bucket of chicken before you work out as you would if you ate...say, a salad.  Crossfit recognizes this, and puts nutrition into proper focus in its programming.



This is the Crossfit fitness pyramid.  You'll notice that nutrition is at the base.  As in...without good nutrition, you can't really do much of anything in health and fitness.  And vice versa...good nutrition will help you achieve success in all areas important to the program.

Good: The Paleo Diet

I don't just like that Crossfit puts diet where it belongs in the scheme of things.  I also like that they promote one of the best diets for the type of training they use.  The official diets of Crossfit are the Paleo Diet and/or the Zone Diet.  They didn't just do that because these are fad diets, or because the Zone Diet wanted to put its products in Crossfit gyms.  These diets are recommended because a good portion of the exercises done during a Crossfit workout involve some manner of strength training.  And anyone who knows anything about strength training knows that in order to make muscle and strength gains, you need protein...protein...protein, and calories...calories...calories.  The standard recommendation for the amount of protein needed to sustain muscle growth is 1-2 grams per pound of bodyweight, and around 3000-4000 calories for an 180lb male.  You also need to limit your carbohydrate intake so that all of those calories you consume don't go on your body as fat. 

Sound like any diet you know?  How about one that allows unlimited consumption of meat, veggies, fruit, and nuts, but forbids consumption of starchy carbs and processed foods (and one...by the way, that will make you really, really hungry for calorie dense food all the time)?  Whatever your opinion of the paleo diet, you can't deny that it resembles the diets of most strength athletes.  Of course they usually have also do more complicated things and take supplements.  But as a quick, down and dirty intro to strength training nutrition, you can't beat the paleo diet in terms of simplicity and effectiveness.

Good: Defining fitness as more than "aerobics"




















When I posted this picture in my "You Run Too Much Bro" article, I was surprised at the comments I received about it.  Putting aside the fact that the sprinter on the right used performance enhancers, I found it interesting how many of my readers defended the marathon runner on the left as a better model of health and fitness than the sprinter.  I wasn't surprised though.  In our modern fitness culture, we've come to look at aerobic conditioning as the ultimate test of fitness.  How else do you explain the crowning of Mark Allen, the triathlete, as the world's fittest man at one point?

While I agree that Mark Allen is certainly one of the world's fastest endurance athletes, I disagree that this makes him the "fittest".  Maybe I'd agree if in addition to a fast Ironman time, he also had impressive bench press numbers, a huge vertical leap, and a killer 40m sprint.  Since he's a fan of the Maffetone Method (on which anaerobic work like weightlifting is a no-no), I'm guessing they ain't that great. 

Crossfit would view a guy like Joe Decker as far more fit than Mark Allen.  Someone who might not be able to go as far or as fast, but is more well-rounded.  There's a lot more to fitness than just endurance.  There's speed, stamina, strength, power, and balance just to name a few.  A good Crossfit athlete has decent stats in every category of fitness, though he may not excel in any particular one.

Whether or not being an athlete that "specializes by not specializing" makes you good at everything or good at nothing is another question.  What's important here is that Crossfit has done a great job pointing out that fitness isn't one-dimensional. 
 
Good: Fitness takes hard work

Whatever your background, be you an elite or an amateur, you can expect one thing about your first Crossfit workout.  Unless you're used to high intensity interval training, it's going to be the toughest thing you've ever done.  You will be sucking wind.  It might even hurt.  Maybe a lot. 

I'm not saying that because I'm cocky about Crossfit.  It's because it's hard for anyone to do maintain a high level of effort at the intensity required by a normal Crossfit workout.  If you don't believe me, just watch Jillian Michaels get annihilated by her first WOD.  She's supposed to be pretty fit right? 

Bob Harper's CrossFit Challenge

Crossfit doesn't just smoke people during these workouts just for the sake of kicking their ass.  They do it because study after study has shown that high intensity interval training is way more effective than standard aerobic or strength training alone.  You're going to see great results with Crossfit, and you'll see them doing workouts that only last 5-20 minutes instead of an hour-plus. 

The thing is...it's not one of those gimmicky workouts that promises incredible results in a short time, or the normal moderate intensity cardio regime handed out as the way to go by popular fitness culture.  It's hard...fucking...work.  You don't get results by doing the eliptical machine for 30 minutes, three-times a week in the "fat-burning zone" until you glisten (not sweat...because that would be too hard).  You get it by throwing down and actually exerting some real effort. 

And since all Crossfit workouts are done full-blast, you don't have a choice but to work hard.  It just happens.  When you're done...you'll lay on the floor for a bit to stop the room from spinning, and then go check out the class schedule for tomorrow. 



Good: Cutting out the crap

I've been doing Crossfit-style workouts since 2008.  So it's been almost four years since I did a single tricep kickback, or bicep curl, or one-legged calf raise with my eyes closed on a tightrope (okay...haven't done that one..but it sounds cool).  I wouldn't argue that assistance exercises like these don't have their place.  But the average gym rat doesn't need them.  When they do them, they spend all sorts of time isolating muscles that they don't even have.  What's the point of being able to do pec flies with 100lb dumbbells if you can't even do one pushup?

You won't do any of that garbage with Crossfit.  Instead, you'll be fed a blend of compound and olympic lifts, bodyweight gymnastic exercises, and high-powered cardio work.  The exercises used by Crossfit are taken from many different disciplines, and chosen because of the high neuroendocrine response caused by performing them.  You are going to make better progress doing squats and Olympic lifts than you will doing leg extensions and preacher curls.

The exercises are also highly functional.  For one, they have good carry-over into a sport-specific context.  Doing Olympic lifts for example will give you great upward explosive power for things like football and rugby.  They also can mimic real-life activities in many ways.  For example, doing a medicine ball deadlift feels a lot like how you would pick any odd-shaped object off the ground. 

Good: Developing fitness community

A lot of people I know don't work out at the gym regularly because they feel alienated there.  A modern gym, especially it's most recent incarnation in chains like Anytime Fitness, is just a warehouse of workout equipment.  People go there to do their own thing, and seldom interact with one another.  Even in a fitness class, people do their workout...they just do it at the same time as everyone else. 

That might be fine for some people, but I don't think it's fine for most.  We are social creatures.  And one of the finest expression of that social nature is through sports.  That's why sports generally involve more than one person.  Sport and fitness can be hard sometimes.  But we are more likely to participate, and even work harder, if we share in that hard work with others.

If you want to see what real fitness community looks like in a strength training setting, go to a powerlifting gym sometime.  You'll usually see a group of not less than five people working out together.  Not just spotting each other, but encouraging each other and challenging each other (or having a bro-session).



Of course, you need five people just to lift the weight off you if it crushes you.

That sort of thing happens sporatically at gyms all over the place...if you have a bunch of like-minded friends who are also members of your gym.  Well...at a Crossfit gym that's everyone, all the time.  Everyone is doing the same workout.  Everyone is competing against each other and encouraging each other.  Crossfit gyms have Christmas parties and potlucks.  They celebrate their members' birthdays.  The owner usually knows everyone by name.  How many other gyms do you know like that?

Of course, it's not all good news.  MGBG don't play that game.  So read Part II: The Bad and the Ugly of Crossfit for the whole story!

Rules are lame...

Rule #11: ALL RULES MUST BE PUBLISHED ON WOOD PLANKS. RULE #12: NO CORRECT GRAMMAR REQUIRED. RULE #13: NO FUN EVER!

Citizens, I am friends with a lot of bloggers. Specifically running bloggers. If you haven't figured it out from my website already, when fitness bloggers decide on their goals, they generally write about them. Lately, I've been reading a lot of posts where my various friends are sizing up their chances of completing an ultra marathon. Ultra marathons by the way are the new marathon. All the cool kids are running them. The newest kids looking for an invitation to the ultra clubhouse are my friend Trisha Reeves, and my friend Chris Van Dyke.

Also, as to be expected when dealing with a goal as big as an ultramarathon, some of my friends have been having doubts about their ability to finish one of these bad boys. Now doubts are to be expected with this sort of thing. Any new fitness challenge can be an incredible obsticle. Your doubts are your mind's way of self-preservation. I think having and expressing one's doubts is healthy.

I was moved to write this post because of how some of the doubts were expressed. I'll use Trisha as an example, both because I think she's an awesome writer and I want to drive traffic to her site (Internet celebrity bump!). Also because she so eloquently articulated the doubts I want to talk about (here's her post).

Trisha's goal is to complete a 50K after having only completed the half marathon distance. This goes against the unwritten rule of race progression. First you do a half marathon, then a marathon, and THEN an ultramarathon. Right?

Well Trisha's anxiety didn't just come from her attempts to leapfrog the established order of things. She was also worried because her training didn't seem to stack up to that of others looking to run the same or similar races. These folks seemed to easily be knocking off the required long runs on their ultramarathon training plans, whereas she was struggling. I assume that her thinking went: "If I can't imitate the runs prescribed by an ultra marathon training plan, I won't be able to finish an ultra marathon".

Those are the rules right? If you want to run a marathon, you must do at least one 20 mile run in training. And you have to do 400 meter intervals 3x a week. And you need to have run at LEAST one marathon before you attempt an ultra. Right? THESE ARE THE RULES PEOPLE!

The thing is, for every unwritten rule about this fitness stuff, you find a whole bunch of exceptions. How about Bookis and Barefoot Ted (from Luna Sandals), who have both run 100 mile races afte training no more than 5-10 miles a week? Or how about Vanessa Runs, who just completed an 100 mile race before even completing a 50 miler?

When it comes right down to it, the rules of the fitness world aren't much different than the rules on the picture above. I found this sign in front of a park I took my daughter to last week. I took one look at the rules on the sign and proceeded to break every single one (except for the skateboard one...I forgot mine at home). And my daughter and I had a blast.

Sure, I know why the rules were put there. It's because some kid of some helicopter parent at some point did one of these things and got a bobo. Then instead of accepting the fact that kids occasionally get hurt, helicopter parent went to the PTA or whereever you go to complain about stupid shit and threatened to sue. Then the PTA overreacted, bought a pack of two by fours, and got to carving some ridiculous rules.

Same thing with running rules. They were made by people who came before you, by people who think they know what's best for you. These folks had good intentions in writing the rules. They were designed to give you the best chance of success in that fitness goal based on those people's experiences.

But with fitness, what's good for them isn't necessarily good for you. When it comes to your body, you are an experiment of one.

So how do you decide if you're ready for a challenge like an ultra? The only tool you need when it comes to considering a fitness goal is one I learned from Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Work Week. It goes a little something like this:

1. Get a goal, the more ridiculous the better
2. Imagine what complete and utter failure in going after that goal would look like
3. Assess the probability of complete and utter failure actually happening

When it comes to a goal like an ultra marathon, complete and utter failure is a DNF (did not finish). Maybe that's because you just get tired and crash. Maybe you get injured. Either way, you end up drinking beer and eating ultra food in the med tent and meeting some really cool people. I wish I could DNF right now!

What's the chance of you completing an ultra? Well that's an individual question only you can answer. It depends on your level of fitness. But if you even have an inkling that you can do it, you should sign up. That's because once you make the commitment to do something, you're more likely to do anything you can to make sure you succeed. So the likelihood of complete and utter failure actually goes down.

Here's some things that shouldn't factor in. First, ultras are long. And yes, running a distance of 31+ miles will be difficult. It's going to hurt. Maybe a lot. You know what hurts worse? Not trying in the first place.

Quit letting other people tell you what you're capable of citizens! You are all able to do amazing things! Get out there and do something crazy!

Cheers!

Want a good beginner strength training program? Ask "The Steroid Guy".

Yelling = motivation

Why did I post this video? Well, for one...it's funny. But if you can see past the 'roid raging, the Steroid Guy actually has some really good advice. The world of strength training has become ridiculously complicated. There's P90X, Crossfit, Crossfit Endurance, Insanity, bootcamp, kettlebells, and so on. And that's just the stuff I could think of before I got bored. Even if you're experienced in weight training, it's hard to know your head from your ass. I can't imagine what a beginner must feel like.

I tried to distill some of the essential parts of a good weight training plan in my posts in my series on crosstraining. Based on the number of emails I received afterwards, I can tell that even I made it too complicated. And it's really not. That is...after you wade through all the bullshit.

I saw this video and...after I stopped quoting "The Jersey Shore", I realized that 'Roid Guy did a good job explaining (or yelling) what good strength training is really about. Especially when he screams this line:

"FIRST YOU SQUAT, THEN YOU DEADLIFT....THEN YOU HAVE TO DRINK A GALLON OF MILK A DAY!!!!"

Best advice ever. No really....let me explain.

Folks, if you're a newbie to the strength training game, you are pretty lucky. Your body is so unadapted to lifting heavy things that pretty much anything will improve your strength. You could sneeze hard and grow muscle. That's why folks proclaim so many exercise programs to be "the best thing ever" after doing them for a few months. Every strength program can be the best thing ever because if you've never weight trained before, your body is so weak that any muscle contraction will cause growth.

When I first started weight lifting, I just went out and started lifting things without much direction as to what I was doing. I pretty much just did whatever weight machine that I could find that was next to a pretty girl in some kind of spandex getup. And I gained a ton of strength (and a few phone numbers). Then after a while my gains became hard to come by, and then stopped entirely. Looking back, I wish I would have used that prime period in my training to do something more focused and effective. I likely would not only gained more strength, but set myself up for greater success down the line.

And you certainly could do the same thing too and gain strength. Or do any of the programs I mentioned above and do the same. Here's the thing. If given the choice, would you rather do some random program, or the one that is considered the most effective for developing newbie strength?

If your answer is the former, I would urge you to also start pounding sand. Folks like you make my head hurt.

If your answer is the later, then the program I would recommend is the Starting Strength Workout by world-reknown weight coach Mark Rippetoe.




And it's ridiculously simple. It's built around things that I've been harping on over and over for the past couple of months. Compound exercises, low reps, high weight....repeat. The stuff that involves the maximum muscle recruitment and provides the maximum neroendocrine response for maximum gains. That's it. No fancy stuff here.

Here are the workouts:

Workout A:
3x5 back squat
3x5 overhead press
3 sets strict pull-ups to failure

Workout B:
3x5 back squat
3x5 bench press
5x3 power clean OR 1x5 deadlifts

Alternate between Workout A and Workout B on non-consecutive days (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and so on). Start with a weight that you can use for all proscribed sets, but find challenging on the last set. Increase your weights by 5lb each workout. If you can't lift a particular weight for all of the reps, drop it down 10-20lbs and start the progression again. Repeat for 6-9 months, or until you are no longer able to regularly increase your weights.

If you don't put 30-50lbs on each of your max lifts, I'd be surprised.

This advice applies regardless of what sport you are into, or what your goals are. This is literally the best beginner workout I know of, regardless of goal. Even if you only want things like muscular endurance, speed, or explosive power, you really can't have much of any of those things without crazy, freaky absolute strength.

But MGBG! Shouldn't I do bicep isolation exercises? Or do some situps for my core? Or stand with one foot on a bosu ball while juggling kettlebells? Well, if you don't have any biceps, then what the hell are you going to isolate? You'll get plenty of bicep strength from your pullups. And why are you so concerned with strengthing your stability muscles when your big muscles are weak as hell? You'll get a decent amount of midline stability from doing all these exercises with proper form.

Doing more than the basics as a beginner is what I like to refer to as "Fuckarounditis". That is, when beginners utilize a bunch of tips and tricks that you read about online or in fitness magazines to acheive better results. Those tips exist because once your body begins adapting to strength training, you need to be more creative to continue your gains. In the beginning, it's just not necessary. The basics will work fine for you...better in fact.

Also, don't worry about the monotony of the exercises used. Your body will be adapting so fast that it can handle the constant full-body workouts. Unless you're worried about getting bored. Though...if you find gaining a ton of strength to be a snoozer, I guess I can't help you..


As for the gallon of milk a day thing, it's not as outlandish as you think. Google "gomad" to see what I mean.

The Naked Foot 5K Early Registration Giveaway!

Hey folks, the Naked Foot 5K is back!  And this year it's bigger and better than ever.  The race has expanded to include events in St. Augustine, Santa Barbara, D.C., Seattle, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, Denver, Austin, Nashville, and Salt Lake City. 

We've also got a new title sponsor: Altra Zero Drop Footwear, makers of the uber-awesome Instinct, Adam, and Lone Peak, and one of the hottest new minimalist footwear companies in town.  Yes...we have a footwear sponsor for a barefoot race.  People wear shoes sometimes.  Get over it.

Anyway, this year I'll again be the race director of the Minneapolis event.  We'll be rocking and rolling in MN on July 26th, 2012 in the early evening.  If you recall last years race (and if you don't, here's a recap), we had a huge and rowdy crowd of around 90 people.  I'm looking to make the event even bigger this year.

To do that, I'm doing the only style of marketing I know how to do: bribery.  Registration will open up for most of the Naked Foot races next week on Active.com.  If you folks register for a Naked Foot race by March 12, 2012, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a FREE PAIR OF ALTRA ZERO DROP SHOES OF YOUR CHOICE!!  Maybe even one of the super secret new models like the Samson (if you ask nicely). 

WOO WOOOOOOOOOOO!!  How swagtastic!

To enter my contest, just leave a comment at the end of this post letting me know what race you registered  to run (or if registration is not open yet, which one you intend to register for).  Folks that register for the Minneapolis race will receive an additional entry into the drawing!  Gotta support my home town race.  But to level the playing field, folks who register for a different race can receive an additional entry by sharing this post on their facebook, twitter, Google+, dailymile, blog, pinterest, or whatever other social media site you use.  Just provide a link showing me where you did it so I can verify.

Register for this great race series and come hang out with a bunch of barefooters!  Cheers and happy long weekend to all!

The Maple Grove Competitive Eater Guy?

I too never eat a big meal without my helmet.

Citizens, just because I'm somewhat of a health and fitness nut doesn't mean I don't have my vices. I think that doughnuts are the world's most perfect food (still looking for a good paleo doughnut recipe so that I can survive entirely on baked goods). I can't go a week without watching some kind of trashy reality TV (usually The Bachelor or it's sausage-fest sister show The Bachelorette). And although I usually watch what and how much I eat, when I want to I have the appetite of a small town.

Throughout my life I've always been known as the big eater. I've been known to go to a restaurant for a big meal, finish off the leftovers on everyone elses' plate, and have a snack when we get home. I've been kicked out of a Chinese buffet, because "All You Can Eat" apparently does not apply to me (you no come here no more! you bad for business!).

Those of you who are regular weight lifters are familiar with this kind of appetite. Anyone who is trying to grow muscle mass knows that your body practically starts eating itself in order to get enough calories. Combine that with my penchant for intermittent fasting and consuming all of my calories in one sitting, and you have the perfect environment for consuming the obscene amounts of food you usually see in those ridiculous food challenges at various restaurants.

I have a lot of goals for 2012, and most actually don't have to do with running. One of them is to finish one of these ridiculous food challenges. I haven't decided which one yet. So far I've just been working my way up...starting small. Here's where I decided to start practicing.



I don't just like big food. I also like spicy food. I used to eat habenero peppers like candy. I also think that chicken wings are like little poultry lollipops. So the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin Challenge seemed like a great place to start my disgusting food journey. The contest seemed completely do-able. 12 Blazin Wings in 6 minutes.

I finished in three. I didn't even cry all that much with the heat.

So I upped the ante. I made up a new challenge called the Non-Sallypants Blazin Challenge. 18 Blazin Wings in 10 minutes. I finished in 9 minutes. Then I created the This is Getting Ridiculous Blazin Challenge. 24 Blazin Wings in 15 minutes. I finished in 13 minutes. That one was rough...for the whole weekend if you know what I mean. Don't expect a 36 wing challenge anytime soon.

SIDE NOTE: Some of my fans have asked me the best way to complete the Blazin Challenge. Here are my biggest tips. One: do not drink anything, it just makes it worse. Two: go fast...stopping makes it worse. Three: use ranch/bleu cheese...or you'll make it worse. Four: don't work your way up to the Blazin wings with like 6 Blazin and 6 Captain Caribbean Mango Jerk (or whatever pansies eat at BW's). Harden the fuck up and do the full boat. It only hurts for a few minutes. Your pride will hurt for far longer if you wuss out.

Okay fine...so I can eat the wings off of an entire chicken coop. How about something that wins me a t-shirt or something? My next stop on my quest toward total food domination is a restaurant I used to haunt in college....The Flameburger. Home of the Double Mega Flame.



We used to come by this place and knock out the one pound burger like it was a snack. I've been wanting to try the two pounder for years. It's not the biggest burger as far as food competitions go, but more cow than I've ever consumed in one sitting.

Will MGBG emerge victorious? Will I get the meat sweats? Tune in to find out!

MGBG Form Tip #4: Use a Jogging Stroller

It seems like lately I've been off ranting about every topic except barefoot running. So I thought today's post would be a good way to pull the discussion back to my favorite subject.

I get a ton of emails asking me for advice on various aspects of barefoot running form. The one that I get with the most frequency is "How do I run up/down hills?" They don't phrase it like that of course. That is some freaky grammar. What are you, a robot?

The way I approach teaching people to run hills is the same way that I teach any other aspect of barefoot running form. First I scold you for over-thinking the topic. Shame, shame! Quit thinking so much! Okay...do you feel sufficiently shamed?

Second, I tell you that everything you've ever read about hill running barefoot is probably wrong. There's nothing necessarily special about hill running that would make it different from running on flat ground. Except perhaps, that every barefoot running guru that has come before me has devoted a section of their literature to the subject, or developed a method to handle them. Perhaps doing that had the unintentional effect of making it a different animal.

And of course, the advice that has developed is generally of the overcomplicated variety. I've heard tons of advice on different styles of navigating hills correctly. Whether to use a heel strike or a forefoot. Whether to slow down or speed up. The correct place to put every part of your body. I've even heard folks tell people to go up and down hill sideways (maybe useful if practicing for Nordic ski season, otherwise you'll look like you're on an acid trip).

I'm sure a lot of those methods work just fine. But they obviously aren't very easy to learn, or else this hill thing wouldn't be such a problem. That leads us to Step Three...where I give you a much simpler way to do things that you can learn in a couple of seconds.

Folks...there's no need to put that much analysis into running hills. You run at a constantly varied pitch all the time while outdoors; usually without even realizing it. Hill running is just running an incline or decline that you actually notice. There's no reason to completely alter your stride in either situation. If you follow the MGBG school of barefoot running, your focus during any part of your run should be on my one rule: to have soft, comfortable feet. The same thing should be your focus on hills. You just need to make some small adjustments to make sure you don't fall down the hill or get stuck at the bottom.

But as with all of my other form tips, I don't want you consciously thinking about the adjustments that you're making in order to navigate a hill correctly. This takes your mind away from what is really important: soft, comfortable feet. It also makes your body do weird, unintended things that will actually hurt your ability to run hills. So instead, I suggest the following simple drill.

Run hills with a jogging stroller.

Now I didn't come up with this brilliant idea. My friend Adam Gentle did. And I think using a jogging stroller as a form aid can help you learn barefoot running anywhere; not just on hills. That's because it's nearly impossible to overstride while pushing one. Well it is...but then you'll kick the baby. Don't kick the baby folks...

A jogging stroller is especially helpful for putting you in good position to run hills. As you go up a hill, barefooters should start taking smaller steps and leaning further forward. Your body naturally does this as you push a heavy load up a hill. As you go down a hill barefooters should lean back slightly to prevent themselves from going down the hill too fast. Your feet can fall any which way in that situation because you're going so slowly. You can even shift your weight safely back onto your heels without causing damage. Again, you'll naturally lean back in this way in order to prevent your stroller from plummeting down a hill.

Problem....solved...

If you're having trouble running hills, by all means please don't go out and buy a jogging stroller. You children-less folks can instead visualize that you have a stroller in your hands. Don't worry, you won't look goofy pretending to push a stroller. You're already the weird barefoot person out for a run. You can do pretty much anything without upping the ante.

I hope this tip gets you running those hills comfortably and safely. Still having trouble with barefoot running? Check out my other MGBG form tips, which I've linked below:

Form Tip #1: Walk Barefoot

Form Tip #2: Use a Jumprope

Form Tip #3: Relax Your Shoulders

Cheers citizens!