Posts by stevemagness
How hypoxia/altitude works
Below is a paper I wrote for school on a hypothetical training situation. I thought I’d share it because it gives the underlying science of how altitude/hypoxia works. Remember that it’s a hypothetical, so it doesn’t mean that I think intermittent hypoxic training works. Generally, the exposure is way too short for a lot of…
Read MoreLearning how to run.
I thought this was pertinent given the focus on running mechanics and barefoot running. It’s an article I wrote for Running Times online a couple years back. It’s a simple and practical look at how to run properly. Running seems to come naturally, so why should we worry about our technique or form? Ask many…
Read MoreLearning from Other Sports: CC Skiing:
Learning from Other Sports: CC Skiing: If you’ve been watching the Olympics at all, and since you are reading this blog and presumably have an interest in training, I bet the question of “I wonder how they train” has crossed your mind. It certainly has mine. To help scratch this interest, I’m going to start…
Read MoreNon-Specific Lactate work: Why you need it!
I n the last post, I discussed the use of intervals in training and how intervals have been misconstrued to mean “anaerobic” training, no matter what. That is not the case as it obviously depends on the manipulation of the interval workout. The take away message was that you could manipulate at an interval workout…
Read MoreInterval training-Why it’s misunderstood and what you can learn from the Igloi method
One of the biggest fears coaches have is high lactate work or high intensity interval training. If done too much or too early this generally leads to early peaking and a dramatic drop in performance as time passes. At every level of the sport, there is a fear of doing interval work too early. Arthur…
Read MoreHow to go from heel striking/orthotics wearing to forefoot strike/ barefoot running
Should you train barefoot? This concluding post on the barefoot vs. shoe debate will look at some of the practical applications to all the research that we’ve discussed. In part 1, I questioned whether cushioning or pronation even mattered. In part 2, I looked at the new study by Lieberman on barefoot running and footstrike,…
Read MoreLooking at Running Form frame by frame: Vibrams vs. Shoes
Shoe’s vs. Vibrams: I put it to the test. Below you’ll see variations in running form in the same runner, on the same day, at the same pace. Looking at footstrike in Shoes vs. Vibram’s. On the left is me in shoes, and on the right is me in Vibrams. Notice any differences? Conclusions: It’s…
Read MoreNew studies on footstrike. Do faster runners heel strike?
Perhaps the most interesting finding in Lieberman’s work is that it may not be so much the barefoot vs. shod but the footstrike that is the important part. Brefoot running allows for the footstrike to happen properly, so they are interconnected. Let’s leave behind injury prevention for a bit here and focus on speed. Is…
Read MoreTHE first big study on barefoot running in Nature : Death to Heel striking
The barefoot debate is about to get a little bit hotter. A new study to be released tommorow by Lieberman in Nature takes an evolutionary look at barefoot running. In the study, they compared barefoot and shoe running on a whole variety of factors in both regular shoe wearers, regular barefoot runners, and even Kenyans!…
Read MoreWhy Running shoes do not work: Looking at Pronation, Cushioning, Motion Control and Barefoot running.
The running shoe model needs to be fixed. Pronation, Motion Control, Cushioning, and Stability shoes? Get rid of them all. It’s not just barefoot running and minimalism versus running shoes, the either/or situation many portray it to be. It’s much deeper than that. It’s not even that running shoe companies are evil and out to…
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