That meant my new shoes had arrived. I have been waiting what seems like forever for these shoes (it was actually three days).
It is always nice to get something new and even nicer to get a package, but this one is different.
Yes I was still excited and yes I was full of anticipation.
But I knew my training would never be the same. These shoes were going to change me.
Now you are probably thinking to yourself, how can a pair of shoes change your training and you?
Well, let me take you back a few years when I used to sprain my ankles constantly. I was a very active college guy, playing basketball and working out regularly. But I couldn't shake the constant ankle sprains I would get.
It seemed like as soon as I recovered from one, I would sprain the other.
It was annoying and it made me reconsider a lot of activities I used to love doing.
I stopped playing basketball so much, and all sports for that matter.
I didn't trust my body anymore, and I didn't like that.
Fast forward to today and my wonderful, life changing shoes.
(Please do your best to ignore the carpeting, it is the carpeting in my office)
These shoes are called Nike Frees. What makes them so special is that they give you the feeling of what it is like training barefoot.
I know you are a bit dumfounded right now, but stay with me, there is more to this, and before you go out trying to run barefoot (please don't) keep reading.
Our feet are the only contacts we have with the ground. When we seperate our feet from the ground, our nerves and muscles in our feet (our feet are absolutely loaded with tiny muscles and thousands of nerves to help with balance, coordination, and many other key functions) lose a lot of their ability to help in moving around.
Using shoes with extra padding or elevated heels, are one of the culprits to many foot and ankle injuries we experience. And don't get me started on high tops (I wore those religously in my basketball, baseball, and football playing days).
I understand the idea of trying to restrict the excess movement of the ankle to prevent injury, but by practicing that I think I'm doing a disservice to myself and my clients.
In order to get stronger we must train our body to become stronger, not sit in a coffin. This is what we are doing to our feet by placing them in shoes that are restricting our foot movement. Lack of foot movement means a delay in reaction by the muscles and nerve endings in the feet to react to either on the field or react to prevent an ankle sprain walking at work.
I ran in these shoes today and my feet actually never felt better afterward; no blisters to speak of. I didn't have aches and pains I normally do in my feet when I finish a running workout. Why?
Is it because my feet reacted the way they were meant to, by responding to the ground forces placed upon it? I'm not an expert but if I don't have pain, blisters, and aches after exercise and I just used brand new shoes...
I think there is something to that.
By the way, since I have started resistance training without shoes (squat, deadlift, single leg exercises), I haven't sprained my ankle. It has been almost 10 years.
Food for thought.
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