Monthly Archives: May 2012

5 Easy Ways to Boost Health & Fitness

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English: Jackpot 6000 slot machine ‪Norsk (bok...

5 Easy Jackpots to Health & Fitness

What has your cellphone done for your health lately? Probably nothing. Aside from Porn, what has your computer done to raise your heart rate? Same answer.

Technology doesn’t have to be an excuse to sit on your ass. Instead, it can be a goldmine of health of fitness. Herein are five killer resources for runners, athletes, and any one who wants to live healthy and stay fit.

Spark People (Website)

Open Source Weight Watchers. No fees, no pressure, just a fun way to lose weight and feel great.
 

Recipe Calorie Calculator (Website)

A useful Spark People Resource. This easy to use tool extracts the calories and nutritional value from your ingredients. It’s perfect for finding out how much nutritional value is in the foods you prepare for yourself. Find out exactly how many calories are in your Chia Isake.

Cronometer (Website)

This free social health site lets you track your caloric intake and excercise. It’s a great way to see what you’re really eating–it’s a turbo charged food diary. You can join it through Facebook.

Insight Timer (SmartPhone App)

We use this app at Sandy Sangha.  Set specific meditation intervals.

RunKeeper (SmartPhone App)

The best running app and social running site. Run Keeper is excellent because YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS and still enjoy the basic Run Keeper APP. It’s  FREE. It’s more stalker proof than Daily Mile because it has privacy setting that actually work. Daily Mile will trick you into thinking that your routes are hidden when they are really public. Run Keeper protects your privacy.

Do you have any “Secret Apps” or Websites that would like to share?
Post a comment.
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5 Wildly Popular Posts

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  1. Running Routes with Google Maps
    This is weird because RunKeepr is much easier to use than crappy Google Maps. I also wrote a post about how much I hate Google because they banned me from AdSense—similar to Twitter–no explanation, I tried to log-in only to find out that I had been banned.
  2.  5 Myth Barefoot Running Myths in Born to Run
    An odd post about some of the hype created by Born to Run. I loved the book, but I had some issues with some of its content. This post cuts through the hype and gives some solid advice about the real world barefoot running.
  3. Bellows Breath for Running & Health
    Probably the weakest title in the bunch. But this post has some excellent tricks for breath-work. This is just one of many advanced breathing techniques to boost energy and restore health. (Usually the full form Bellows Breath involves lifting the hands above the head and forcefully pulling them down–I have used that technique, but I find that it can strain the arms and lungs if done with too much vigor; so, I removed it from the instructions. The bellows breath or “breath of fire” does NOT require the hand the movements. The rapid flow of air in and out through the nostrils is the magic of this breathing technique.)
  4.  Top 3 Barefoot Running Injures and How to Treat Them
    I think everyone who found this post wished they had read Myths in Born to Run sooner. I suffered from all of these injuries when I started out. Most of them resulted from bad running form and doing too much too soon.
  5. Fast Food One Liners
    Another surprise. I think I cornered the market on barefoot comedy, which isn’t saying much, but I’ll take it.
Bonus: This animation is insanley popular–it’s me playing with Photoshop‘s puppet and content aware fill tool–yes I got lazy with fill. I must have also cornered the market on reptilian humanoid Star Trek stuff as well. Thanks Gorn.
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Why I Broke Twitter’s Stupid Rules

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I originally entitled this post: Why I broke the Rules with Gravity’s Jack Hammer, but decided it was too cryptic. Then the phrase Gravity’s Jackhammer slammed it’s way into my cranium. It became a kind of challenge for me to work in the phrase, “Gravity’s Jackhammer” into this post three more times. Gravity’s Jackhammer just sounds like the title of bad science fiction novel. One in which character A says to character B, “Stop Character B, you can’t. You can’t do it. You can’t beat Gravity’s Jackhammer!” And character B says, “Then I’ll just have to beat, GRAVITY!!!!!” And then there are some spectacular explosions, time warps, steam/cyber punks, and other stuff that happens in science fiction novels.

And since I don’t have a nice transition to my actual post topic, I was drowning in Twitter‘s deadly Shark Tank of censorship. My links to posts in Tweets had been broken and then dragged through prison sewers like Andy Dufresne in the excellent film The Shawshank Redemption. Though I was never accused of wrong-doing like Josef K. in Kafka‘s the Trail, my blog was suddenly banned from Twitter. With one swift stroke, Twitter had silenced the gush of my yatchety chatter and compelled me to over use similes like a bad writer who who thinks similes are simply metaphors who like to strip an lick brass poles like Nomi in the epic film Showgirls.

I almost gave up. But then, I got an idea. And I felt the way I felt when I finally kicked off my shoes along with the old quagswagging stride–the one my joints called Gravity’s Jackhammer.

In an instant, I discovered that Twitter’s blacklist is really stupid. And not just birds lifting whales stupid. Really stupid. How stupid? It’s so stupid it went to dentist for BlueTooth. I mean it’s so stupid, it tripped over wireless. I overcame its stupidity with a URL shortener: bit.ly.com

And so my blog hopped on the bus to the Internet’s version of Zihuatanejo. Once again, you can happily tweet my posts.

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Twitter Blacklist: Will Your Site be Next?

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Twitter blacklisted Barefoot Runner’s Life!!!!!!!

All existing Twitter links to this blog, many of which show up for searches, bring this warning page:

Twitter inexplicably bans barefoot runner's blog

If you click on the “Tweet” button above or try to TWEET a link to Barefoot Runner’ Life , you’ll see the error message:

Twitter CEonsorship. Blacklisted Blog

Unjust Twitter blacklist blog

I contacted Twitter support asking them to remove my site from the blacklist. They took off the list for a matter of minutes, but then placed it back. Twitter has NOT provided a reason for banning and maligning my Blog.

Here is the e-mail I sent:

False Positive for Blacklist

Someone blacklisted my site on Twitter. I am NOT a spammer or malicious hacker and my site does NOT and has NOT had any malware installed on it ( http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=http%3A%2F%2Fbarefootrunnerslife.com ). I’m just a blogger who runs barefoot. I would like to know why my site has been blacklisted. If I’m violating any of your guidelines, please let me know. I will correct whatever issue you have.

I urge Twitter users to contact Twitter support and request that this site be removed from the Blacklist.

Twitter censors blogs

Twitter you may censor my blog, but you will never censor my SOLE!!!! :0)

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4 Epic Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

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The mucous sheaths of the tendons around the a...

The mucous sheaths of the tendons around the ankle. Medial aspect. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hey, it’s time for an actual barefoot running related post. Here are four of the most common mistakes barefoot runners make and how to avoid them.

  1. Too much too soon (TMTS–one of the many annoying and lame acronyms barefoot runners use. Another one is TOFP-top of foot pain.)
    The thrill of running with naked feet can be packed with deadly dangers. The  sudden rush of new and exciting sensations seduces the barefoot neophyte into immediate long distance runs and into using words with dorky diction such as “neophyte”. Unfortunately, chronic shoe wearing enfeebles the mighty Achilles tendon.  Arch support and heel raising make the Achilles tendon frail and stunt full extension. A wimpy Achilles will cry out when forced to handle the manly tasks of barefoot running.  As a result, it can become agitated easily. Take it easy on the Achilles. It will smite the sissiness of shoes, but it will need some time to recover from a lifetime of being spoiled by shoes.
    Running without shoes also swings all of the muscles of the lower leg into action, especially the calf.
    For these and other reasons, one should be rather conservative when learning to run barefoot.
  2.  Too much tension and stiffness
    Barefoot running form demands a relaxed and fluid body. The stride for barefoot running is much different from the typical heel strike of the shod runner. The feet land beneath the hips, forming a straight line from head to toe–barefoot running does NOT involve heel striking, the legs do NOT dramatically extend in front of the body. Don’t heel strike in barefeet!
  3. Too much pushing off with the ball of the foot and toes
    You want to lift your feet, not push off on your toes. If you develop the hideous ugly blood blister on the balls of your feet, toward your toes, you are most likely pushing off and thereby placing way too much pressure on your calves and Achilles. When I started running barefoot I had terrible blisters because I had bad form. Since I changed my form, I have yet to get a blister! Here are some excellent videos of the proper barefoot stride.
  4. Too much pain, not enough discomfort
    Separating pain from discomfort can be tricky. To improve performance discomfort is required. That’s just the way the body works, you have to push it past the comfort zone to achieve results–as Jillian Michaels says, “to change your body you gotta put stress on it.. when you put stress on the body, your body’s gonna adapt.” But you have to know when to stop, that is, you must push yourself just beyond your limits to improve, but not too far because pushing too far could mean crippling injury. A dash of discomfort is fine, but PAIN is an alarm signal for injury. Basically, soreness is OK to run through, but SHARP SHOOTING PAINS are NOT.
To learn more about barefoot running safety visit my “how to run barefoot” page. It also helps to eat well.
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