If you’re a runner, start striking with your forefoot. And wear those goofy minimalist shoes while you’re at it. Your body will thank you.

Those are the findings of a pair of studies by Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. He found runners who use a forefoot strike face a significantly lower risk of repetitive stress injuries, and barely there running shoes produce more efficient movement than conventional kicks.

The two studies, published this month in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, come less than two years after Lieberman’s earlier work found runners wearing minimalist shoes put less force into the ground, therefore less force on their bodies, when striking the ground with their forefoot versus their rearfoot.

The findings add to a small but growing body of research that suggests the best way to run is the way our forebears did: sans shoes. It’s a controversial notion, one that has prompted no end of debate as many runners complain minimalist shoes led to injuries and problems.

First, to the rearfoot/forefoot breakdown. In “Foot Strike and Injury Rates in Endurance Runners: A Retrospective Study,” Lieberman analyzed 52 collegiate cross-country runners to compare rearfoot (heel-first) versus forefoot (ball-first) strikes.

Of those, 36 runners (59 percent) used a rearfoot strike. Lieberman considered the injury history of each runner — examining the severity of past injuries and rate of mild, moderate and severe injuries per mile — and found rearfoot strikers twice as likely to experience a repetitive stress injury.

“Competitive cross country runners on a college team incur high injury rates,” the report concludes, “but runners who habitually rearfoot strike have significantly higher rates of repetitive stress injury than those who mostly forefoot strike.”

Neither type of foot strike was more likely to produce a traumatic injury, the study concluded, and Lieberman did not examine causal reasons why rearfoot striking proved more harmful. But he did develop an hypothesis for the results.

“The absence of a marked impact peak in the ground reaction force during a forefoot strike compared to a rearfoot strike may contribute to lower rates of injuries in habitual forefoot strikers,” the report states.

The study, “Effects of Footwear and Strike Type on Running Economy,” lends further credence to the benefits of minimalist shoes.

Runners wearing minimalist shoes were 2.41 percent more economical in their movements when forefoot striking than those wearing conventional shoes and 3.32 percent more economical when rearfoot striking. All data was controlled for stride frequency and shoe mass.

It was not clear if the two studies used the same runners as test subjects.

In determining these stats, researchers measured the cost of transport (milliliters of oxygen over kilograms over meters, or mlO2/kg/m) in people who typically wear minimalist shoes or run barefoot as they ran 3.0 meters per second on a treadmill. Force and kinematic data were collected in minimal and traditional running shoes to quantify differences in knee flexion, arch strain, plantarflexor force production and Achilles tendon-triceps surae strain.

The cost of forefoot and rearfoot striking was not significantly different for either minimal or standard shoe running. However, arch strain was much greater during forefoot striking than rearfoot among those wearing minimalist shoes. The same held true for plantarflexor force; Achilles tendon-triceps surae strain and knee flexion were lower in minimalist shoes.

Despite evidence supporting minimalist footwear, there are vocal critics of the trend. Lieberman’s latest studies are sure to renew the debate.

If you’ve had a muscle injury, there’s every chance you’ll benefit from EMS devices at surgeries, hospitals and gyms – that’s because they are commonly used to treat muscle groups affected by sports injuries.
Most EMS devices contain sport programmes and recovery programmes to effectively relieve minor aches and pains from your muscle workout.

A rehabilitation program should be designed with seven essential principles in mind: 2 main objectives and individual long and short-term goals.

Principles of sports rehabilitation:

• Avoid aggravation – do not make the injury worse during the rehabilitation
• Timing – rehabilitation should be started as soon as it is possible without aggravating the injury
• Compliance – it is imperative you carry out the rehabilitation program in its entirety
• Individualization – each athlete is different. The rehabilitation response will vary from patient to patient
• Specific sequencing – incorporate all components of physical fitness as part of your rehabilitation program
• Intensity – without aggravating the injury rehab should challenge you and progress your fitness
• Total patient – it is important not to just focus on the injured part but to offer a holistic overall body rehab approach

The 2 main objectives of sports rehabilitation are:

• Prevent deconditioning as a result of the injury
• Rehabilitate the injured part

How EMS Works 
EMS devices have become quite popular in sports injury rehabilitation. When a person has a muscle injury, the electrical current produced by the EMS machine stimulates the muscles. This stimulation triggers repairing of the muscle tissue.

Electronic Muscle Stimulation Devices produce electrical signals that stimulate the nerves. The devices are normally connected to the patient through electrodes that are held in place with adhesive. By placing the pads on a certain set of muscles, and then sending the impulses via the EMS unit, the muscles will react by contracting and relaxing. The resulting contractions are much like the contractions that take place during regular exercise.

Depending on the area that requires treatment, a practitioner can switch the voltage for different pressure points on the muscle. The low voltage reduces pain and stimulates the muscle tissue. EMS devices help stimulate muscle tissue that may not be affected by regular exercise routines. They will stimulate damaged muscle tissues resulting in repairing, toning, and strengthening of the damaged tissue. Wherever the tissues are damaged, EMA devices will stimulate the fibers to various degrees and patterns. These patterns will create a different response from the contraction. Programs are designed to improve exhaustion resistance, endurance, and promote muscle healing. The purpose of using EMS on athletes is to shorten recovery time so they can return to the sport.

Today’s record is tomorrow’s motivation

Virtual Partner™ can turn any training session into a virtual matchup. Letting you race your previous bests or challenge any activities uploaded to Garmin Connect™.

Train with Christophe Le Mevel this winter with pre-planned training activities available for download at garmin.com/wintertraining.

Watch this video from Timmelsjoch in Austria as Team Garmin’s Christophe Le Mével climbs using the Edge 800 cycling GPS.

http://www.garmin.com/wintertraining

Properly set up suspension is barely a luxury for technical trails on little bikes. Arthur and his Tallboy, solo “Ladies Only” rip, thanking Todd for his hard work every time his tires touch a new patch of gold dirt.

Find part II of Arthur’s interview below:
nsmb.com/4804

Created By Matt Dennison

moon bike

The Great Lunar Cycle (this is the real name)

by Aaron Thong http://society6.com/artist/agrimony

 

We’re uniting a million voices to improve the future of biking. Join us by signing the pledge for better biking at http://www.peopleforbikes.org.

Take the Peopleforbikes.org pledge: “I am for bikes. I’m for long rides and short rides. I’m for commuting to work, weekend rides, racing, riding to school, or just a quick spin around the block. I believe that no matter how I ride, biking makes me happy and is great for my health, my community and the environment we all share. That is why I am pledging my name in support of a better future for bicycling—one that is safe and fun for everyone. By uniting my voice with a million others, I believe that we can make our world a better place to ride.” http://www.peopleforbikes.org/pages/pledge

Starring: Ryan Van Duzer - http://ryanvanduzer.com
/

I am amazed how long it lasted

Get a bike. Lock it to a post. Take a pic every day for a year.

Last year, Red Peak Branding conducted a unique urban experiment for Hudson Urban Bicycles. On January 1, 2011 we chained a fully loaded bike – bells, basket, lights and more – to a post along a busy Soho street. We took a picture of the bike everyday for 365 days, watching it slowly vanish before our eyes. The photos we took were then turned into a daily calendar. We call this project LIFECYCLE: 365 days in the life of a bike in NYC.

missed out on classics like:

‘wow saw your wipeout ..’

‘did you see my 520 railed landing wrapped…?’

‘I landed so hard my strap broke’

In Scotland ‘Its gusty out there like 18knots gusting 40′

‘you should get a c kite’

‘you shouldn’t be on a c kite’

Bespoked Bristol show March 23-25 

You may have noticed the preview videos we’ve recently run so far about the framebuilders Robin Mather, Paulus Quiros and Demon Frameworks. If you haven’t this would be a good time to look because there’s a renaissance going on in handcrafted bicycles and the forthcoming show at Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Temple Mills railway station in Bristol this coming March is going to be a showcase of the movement if the first edition held last year is anything to go by.

Since then, we’ve seen the extraordinary success of the Bicycle Academy where over £40,000 was raised in a public ‘crowdfunding’ campaign so that a traditional framebuilding school could be established in the Somerset town of Frome later this year. There is undoubtedly a rise in interest with a number of builders, among themDownland Cycles in Canterbury, offering traditional brazing classes with the Kent workshop also offering official government-backed courses for students that hitherto would have only learned welding as part of an automotive repair course.

There’s even a superstar coming in the form of Italy’s Dario Pegoretti who is bound to be good value especially if he can be kept in one place to engage with some of our own characters. We’re thinking Pegoretti versus our own Brian Rourke from Stoke or Chas Roberts from Surrey, both exhibiting and all passionate advocates of their way of doing things.

The buzz is already going round about what the builders are preparing specially; it’s going to be great and we can hardly wait.

Roadtrip in Spain with the Longboard Girls Crew·

In this third episode, we return from Mallorca and visit Carlota’s parents in their family house in Denia. They invite us to paella right in front of the beach. We spend the night in Calpe and continue our journey to the country’s interior. Castillian landscapes, lands of castles and medieval towns are waiting for us.

[7 female riders, 1 van, 15 days, 4.300km, 416 GB of raw material… culminating in one video, divided into four chapters. The film documents the adventure of the trip, portraying the girls, their lifestyle and their passion for longboard.]
http://www.longboardgirlscrew.com
www.longrodriguez.com
http://www.juanrayos.tumblr.com

MUSIC

“Tema de amor” CARLO COUPE (Jesus Trujillo P y C Subterfuge Records/Música para un guateque sideral 2000)
“Hold Your Maker’s Hand” JOE LA REINA (Subterfuge Records 2012)
Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 – JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Second camera operators: Raúl Serrano (Ra), Nacho Caribbean
Production team: Mónica Madenfrost, Jesus Asensio (Chus), Raúl Serrano (Ra)