The Actionaut

Recently, I have had quite a few clients ask me to teach them how to run properly following the Pose Method of Running I learned in London a couple of years ago from Lee Saxby, one of the highest level Pose coaches worldwide.

POSE AND FOOTWEAR
Conversations about Dr Romanov’s Pose Method of Running usually start when people see me wear my Vibram Five-Fingers shoes, which are also RKC “Party” approved for kettlebell training. Comfy, barefoot feeling and their varied colors can go from cool looking to clown looking.

While I have successfully improved my clients’ running styles and form, alleviating knee pain and re-training the body to move in natural ways that carryover to just about everything in real life, I have to admit I haven’t made much time for a nice run in about 6 months! Sad… Keep the following in mind: my wife and I had a 3-month old baby, and before that we were readying ourselves for his arrival. Maintaining my physical condition doesn’t require me running. As a matter of fact, I loathe running for fitness. Don’t run to get fit, run cuz you like it. Run for joy, for the fun of it! Southern California, where I reside has beautiful beaches and nice weather year round, as well as great trails minutes away in any direction.

Back to my running…

INSPIRED BY A BOOK
I mentioned in a recent newsletter (or was it a blog post? I lose track when I lose sleep. Thanks, baby Fletcher!) that I was reading Chris McDougall’s Born To Run. The book not only inspired me to go running again (and make time for it), it also educated me on a few things which I will share over time (you can read the book, just click on the banner, or you can wait for my findings…), such as Iskiate and chia seeds (coincidentally, a good friend of mine introduced me to them almost simultaneously as I was engrossed in the book).

During a marathon of a day that started with my first client at 6:45AM, with 7 clients over 7 1/2 hours, then 105 minutes to squeeze in a meal, workout and shower before tackling on 2 more clients, I missed my family, not seeing them for 12 hours by the time I’d get home. To relieve some of my stress (my workout that day felt more like part of my job duties, though I still enjoyed it), I decided to cool off with a run from the gym, breaking in my latest pair of Vibram Five-Fingers (the awesome grey/black camo ones!)
Man did it feel great! I had completed a long set of 32kg kettelebell snatches, working a revolving minute for 20 minutes, after some body weight circuits that included 300 push-ups, jumping squats and jumping lunges, hip bridges, inverted rows and prone shoulder presses. I was running on fumes and Chia Fresca, yet had enough steam to go “grease the groove” with a Pose run. It probably looked like a cheesy SoCal moment, with a goofy surfer looking guy, blond hair flowing in the wind, with an accoutrement that resembled a homeless runner who’d stepped in a bucket of paint (the shoes), but I felt freedom. Freedom from responsibilities, physical performance goals. I was in the moment.
Mind you, I am not saying I was happy to be away from my family. Logistics prevented a sensible visit home during the day. As I always tell my clients, “when you’re training with me, you’re training with me. If there is something important that needs your attention and you CAN make a difference, go do it. If not, BE here ”
So, I “be” in the running moment, charging up on sun-drenched Vitamin D, balancing out my IGF-1 levels.

If you don’t run outdoors, you’re missing out. Forget the data your treadmill provides you. Who cares how many calories you burned, how far you ran and for how long or what your heart rate was. You don’t need a machine to tell you how you feel.

Just go. Go now!

QUICK RUNNING TIPS
1) Wear as flat a shoe as possible, or with a low heel if you must have cushioning. The high-heeled running shoes promote bad form by forcing a heel strike which you do not feel, but it does jar your knees and hips. I’ve run in my Sanuk sandals, which feel like slippers but offer no support of arch or other pronation/supination fancy stuff. Bare essentials force good form.
2) Stride length has nothing to do with speed. It’s the cadence, i.e. the tempo at which you pull your feet off the ground. Think cartoon characters, whose legs are a blur when running super fast. A longer stride actually slows you down, forcing you to use your quads to propel yourself forward and again, impact is felt on the knees. Keep your stride the same whether you sprint or jog. Notice I also said PULL your feet off the ground. There is no “push” in running. Let gravity do that for you, like a baby taking his first steps falling forward and using gravity and their forward lean as momentum.
3) Don’t try too hard right away. Better to run in short segments (30-100 meters/yards) and reset than to mindlessly log miles. Running is not as innate as you think and is still a skill you need to (re)learn.
4) Carry water with you, stay hydrated to avoid cramping. Best way to carry your bottle: under your armpit. Promotes a better upright posture as well as less arm flailing. And more comfortable than a carrier belt (hate how it slaps my butt or bounces on the side of my hip).

If you want to improve your form, email me your interest in a workshop and we can all go experience the freedom of running as a group. Connect with some new people, make some like-minded friends and learn something in the process!

Comments (0) Jul 15 2010

Long time readers and clients may already know this, but for those of you who recently joined, I thought this blog entry would be a good, simple reminder that you can still enjoy tasty treats while observing good nutrition. I am encouraging the “tasty” part because too often, people see nutrition as some kid of bland hellhole when in fact, some of the most flavorful meals I’ve had were the healthiest.

IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING
Simply put, eat what you want, and if it happens to be a carbohydrate, consume it around physical activity, i.e. you want a piece of chocolate or a cookie, have it. You deserve a sweet treat once in a while, enjoy it as your reward after a nice, but intense workout, be in weight training, yoga, a martial arts session, a tennis match or some interval running. Any kind of interval workout, which all of the aforementioned types qualify, makes you burn carbohydrates. All other times, you are burning fat. An endurance workout on the treadmill, or a walk will not burn enough calories and elevate the heart rate to levels of intensity that will solicit your body to tap into your carb tank.
Hence the misunderstanding of the “Fat Burning Zone” on a treadmill.

So, you may consume carbs pre- and/or post- training, and stick to protein, natural fat and fiber all other times.

THE MYTH OF THE FAT BURNING ZONE
Dated beliefs and misinterpreted, skewed data will have you believe that there is a Fat Burning Zone, which falls on a lower elevation of the heart rate. On a treadmill for instance, the claim is that you will BURN MORE FAT at low intensity, and that when you run like a mad person at a full 12% incline and 10mph, you’d be burning LESS fat. While that is true, it is not quite how it works, because while the higher intensity of an uphill fast run burns carbs rather than fat, it also burns a heck of a lot more calories than a leisurely walk in the Fat Burning Zone. The FBZ comes from the fact that at rest, we burn fat. As I frequently tell about, overweight people may ask “if I am burning fat while at rest, why am I still fat?” Answer: because you consume too many carbs, which you STORE in your FAT CELLS (picture them as pockets). Thus, our heart rate is lowest at rest, when we burn most fat, and therefore, a lower intensity workout will burn more fat.

The laws of thermodynamics also dictate that thermogenesis occurs by burning more calories than you take in to lose weight. If a pound of fat equals 3500 calories, then a high intensity interval hill run with a heart rate at 85% of your maximum heart rate will get you closer to your weight loss goal than a low intensity walk of the same duration, because the latter will burn way, way less calories.

SO, WHAT CAN I EAT?
Anytime:
- Protein (meat, fish, eggs, protein shakes made with water and low carb/sugar content).
- Fiber (veggies, yet they are considered carbs too, no starch in them).
-Natural fat sources (nuts, olives, cheeses, avocados…)

Some of the time (around workouts or, the night before in preparation of a sustained, high intensity caloric burn like a marathon ):
-Carbohydrates (natural sugar from fruits, starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, dairy -which also contains fat and protein).

There is enough information out there for you to find out on your own what foods fall into what category. Although, I recently interviewed a new weight loss client who told me she ate very well, “a ton of protein every day” and when I asked her to name me the types of protein she ate, she mentioned lots of bread, lots of white rice and lots of bananas… True story. If you don’t see the problem, feel free to email me for a complimentary phone consultation for us to design a nutritional program for you

(Part 1 of this 2 part post can be found here).

Comments (0) Jul 12 2010

I am submitting as a blog an article I had sent out a couple of years ago in a newsletter about the digestive system.

It’s a great tool, which a client of mine recently labeled that I use “nutrition as a weapon” in my arsenal of knowledge. Before even me telling you HOW to eat, it is important to understand HOW the digestive system works, because when a client comes to me and asks me for a lazy, easy way out, I explain that I do not call the shots and do not have God-like powers to change the human chemistry and physiology. I can only change your physique by working with how we’re “engineered”, but I cannot change the engineering. You can NEVER cheat your way thin, as some crazy diets may have you believe…

First, a little comparison between meat-eating animals and grass-chewers is necessary before getting down to Humans

CARNIVORE VS HERBIVORE
Carnivore: strong stomach acid, small stomach, short large intestine (colon) and fast transit time (i.e. quick excretion).
Herbivore: salivary carbohydrate enzymes (chewing/ruminating, like cows vs. no chewing like lions), weak stomach acid, large stomach, long large intestine where the food is held and broken down, using bacteria to break down indigestible fiber, slow transit time.

Check out the diffs between meat-eaters and grass chewers

HUMAN SYSTEM

The human system is closer to that of a primate, who have a slightly longer large intestine and shorter small intestine. But both share attributes of both systems:
-Salivary enzymes (to start digesting carbs) herbivore trait.
-Strong stomach acid (to digest meat), carnivore trait.
-Short large intestine carnivore trait.
-Fast transit time carnivore trait.
-Use bacteria to breakdown indigestible fiber in the large intestine (herbivore trait).

In our modern environment, STRESS can affect your digestion in the following ways:
-Reduction of saliva production, thus, less breakdown of carbs in your mouth.
-Reduction of stomach acid production, leading to heartburn/GERD (thus you don’t have too much acid, but rather NOT ENOUGH to break food down).
-Reduction of protective mucus in your small intestine, leading to ulcers.
-Reduction of protective mucus promotes alkaline bowel, leading to an inflamed colon, (irritable bowel syndrome, colitis).

Now you know. Next post: WHAT TO EAT AND WHEN.

Tell your friends to subscribe to the blog or newsletter rather than forwarding the info, please. I have many more goodies I want to pass on to you directly, including special offers periodically.

Want to set up a workshop or seminar at your company? Contact me and we can discuss corporate seminars.
Unsure about how to go about it? Stay tuned to my newsletters and blogs for announcements on workshops hosted by yours truly (that way you are only responsible for YOU!)

Comments (1) Jul 07 2010