Iron in motion and what is “natural”.
I did my weight lifting last night for the first time in about a month. I had dropped it back as the race got closer because it puts so much strain on my muscles and I really needed all the recovering time I could get in between running days.
Surprisingly, I was still right about where I left off a month ago. No major drops in reps at the same weight. I’m not sure how that happens with the upper body stuff. I’d expect some sore of drop in a month. Not complaining, just observing.
The Nike Brothers were at the gym last night too. No running last night. They had their matching cyling shoes on and were headed for the spinning class. Hmmm. Biking, running, could it be? Could the Nike Brothers be training for a Triathalon too!? Am I the only one left not doing this?
I noticed that they switch back and forth on the machines, taking turns. One is doing hand dumbells, while the other does lat pulldowns, then they switch off, and then back again. I think this allows them to do active rest in between sets. Its a way to step up your weight routine so you aren’t sitting around in between sets, but you are still giving the muscle you just used some recovery time.
Mark was talking about changing your form and how people will frequently tell you not to do it because your form is “natural”, and you are fighting nature when you try to change it. It kinda stuck with me because I think it was Mark that had made the comment that running itself was not “natural” as evidenced by the thousands of running injuries each year.
I think that running is a very natural thing, its one thing our body was “designed” to do. We are structured to run barefoot through the forest, jumping over logs and bushes, chasing caribou and rabbits. However, we were not designed to run on concrete and asphalt. There’s not alot of dry open rock that people spend alot of time living on. As a result, we put big rubber pads on our feet to compensate, then teach ourselves to run in them at a very young age. Lo and behold! We develop all kinds of injuries when we get older and spend all our time running. Our body was not designed to run on stone with rubber blobs on our feet. Its not natural.
When you think about it, our habits are all dreadful adaptations of natural behavior to a modern world. Eating poison served in styrofoam boxes or from little metal cans or fried in oil until its crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, or filled with fruit-flavored high fructose corn syrup, is such a bizarre and twisted adaptation of “natural” eating, that its a wonder our bodies function at all. Should anyone be surprised when our bodies just go crazy and put on weight or develop all kinds of disorders in trying to deal with this “food”? I don’t think so.
The same is true for that nasty heel-striking form we are taught as “natural” by the running shoe stores. Have you seen the ad for the new Nike shoe? The Nike Free is supposed to be like running “barefoot”, uh, with a big raised cushioned heel. In Runner’s World, they show the “barefoot” running step analysis with a HEEL strike! For Pete’s sake people! Have you never run on CONCRETE in bare feet? Did ANY of you actually try to think about this? What the heck could be more unnatural than running on concrete with a damn heel strike? To their credit, the picture of the bare foot was on grass, as if we all suddenly change our form when we run on grass.
Given all this, changing your form might not be “natural” but then your current form is nowhere near natural anyway. Its an adaptation of a natural form to an unnatural environment. If the world were covered with a foot of mucus, I suspect we’d all learn to walk and run on stilts. I can’t imagine what kind of unnatural gate we would have but I have to believe it would involve alot of chafing.
This was going somewhere but I got lost when I started the mucus line…
Anyway, don’t worry about changing your form. You changed it when the world taught you to run in shoes and destroyed your form forever anyway. You can’t do much worst than that.
May 10th, 2005 12:31
Well said.
May 10th, 2005 13:26
Yeah Jon!!!
May 10th, 2005 13:32
Right on. I agree with all of these points. Because of spending time in the hospital with my mother-in-law, I’ve been thinking a lot more lately about labels, and how much junk is in literally everything we eat from graham crackers to peanut butter to yogurt. High fructose, partially hydrogenated, it’s very, very difficult to get away from it all. Not quite related to foot striking, but a related tangent.
May 10th, 2005 13:43
Ha! You got distracted by mucus. LOL!
Maybe you can answer this for me. I’ve been hearing almost everyone talk about the deadly heel strike, but I’ve never been tempted to land on my heel. I land right below my toes, but the rest of my foot isn’t very far off the ground. To the natural observer, it looks like I’m running flat-footed. Good or bad?
May 10th, 2005 14:53
Apparently I started reading your blog after the Nike brothers were introduced so I don’t know if they are really brothers or not. That said, it would be VERY cool to have a twin to do that with. Much better than trying to “work in” between strangers’ sets.
May 10th, 2005 16:19
what a beautiful rant, jon! you got me going “YEAH!” and “YEAH!!” and “YEAAHH!!!” and “RIGHT ON JON!” and then “EWWWW!”
diet, running, freakish exercising twins…those are all topics that will get me going. =)
May 10th, 2005 17:36
Yeah, great rant. I’m with you on the poison food…it’s amazing we are still functioning. I am also NOT doing a Tri anytime soon, so there are at least two of us:)
May 10th, 2005 18:28
I hear ya on the processed foods and running on cement. I’m trying to eat more healthily - more vegetables and fruit, no canned soups or microwave dinners (so much sodium!) for lunch. It’s an uphill battle, but one I haven’t given up on.
May 10th, 2005 20:40
I’ll differ on the processed foods, if only because the rest of the post was pure genius :)
Fast food is one of the wonders of modern humanity. Imagine going back, well, crap, even 70 years, and telling people that pretty much anywhere in the Western World, and to a large extent anywhere in the urbanized world, that ANYONE would have access to safe, arguably nutritious food at reasonable or cheap prices. Life expectancy is soaring globally, and McD’s has as much to do with it as the WHO. Obesiety is a problem, but it beats the heck out of starvation.
It’s important to emphasize actual good nutrition and moderation, but modern fast food is truly a miracle, both in sanitation (food posioning historically has been a huge problem) and efficient delivery of basic nutrients (protein, carbs, fat).
Pshew. Again, great post, but blanket blaming processed food for obesity is feeling only the elephant’s trunk.
Now cars - there’s a real health evil…
May 10th, 2005 21:08
WooHoo, wonderwords!
May 10th, 2005 23:48
Great post. I often run barefoot during the summer in the grass. But then you gotta make sure that the grass isn’t heavy with pesticides!
Like your thoughts about the food, too. I just got a book called “FAst Food Nation.” Should be interesting I think.
May 11th, 2005 01:08
sometimes I think I should change my form but I would more than likely fall over
May 11th, 2005 08:01
And that’s why I prefer a trail over concrete and asphalt. It’s so much more “natural” to run on a trail then on a road or sidewalk.
May 11th, 2005 08:29
I too got lost in the mucus. But then I started thinking what a brilliant idea!! You could fall down and not get hurt. Traffic would slow down to a more reasonable pace. Brilliant.
May 11th, 2005 10:15
Interesting Jon, but are we not AMAZING people, we can adapt to everything,, whats a few aches and pains? lol, I love fast foods, and yeah still eat the organic food off the ranch, best of both worlds,, and yeah I could run barefoot through the trees,, but I dont want to. oh,, im am not thinking of a tri,, never owned a bike, and dogpaddling across a lake??? uhuh
Heather