Born to be Barefoot | From Science to Life

In this week's episode Stuart had the opportunity to meet with a clinical biomechanist and physical therapist with a PhD in bio mechanics, Irene Davis. She was previously at Harvard medical school and founded the Spalding National Running Center, and she is now at the school of physical therapy and rehab sciences at the University of South Florida. You could say she really knows her stuff! So join these two as they discuss, from an expert point of view, the science of running and foot health, and topics such as running shoes, minimal shoes, orthotics, etc. Irene's background 2:45Starting from the beginning 5:00Why there are different categories of shoes 15:30Carbon plates 25:10Gait assessment and transition 38:55Weaknesses found 47:15“We do isometrics, we do concentric, we do eccentrics, we do them with our knees bent and our knees straight. Heel strikers come and they are weak in their calves. The primary weaknesses we find when someone is a habitual heel striker, is weakness in their hips and in their calves.” 47:15

Our hosts, Katie and Stuart, had the pleasure of meeting with running coach and marathon trainer, Katie Down from The Running Hub. Listen to these 3 discuss online coaching, nutrition support, and a community for runners of all levels. Katie Down and her team offer personalized training plans, live and on-demand classes, and a supportive network to help athletes achieve their goals, improve performance, and stay injury-free. Services include strength training, running guidance, expert workshops, and race preparation. How The Running Hub came about 3:00The running kit 7:00What motivated Katie to run 14:30Traveling around the world 21:20Why strength training is so important for runners 32:45Nutrition tips 41:35The plan with The Running Hub 44:30“On the start line, I was trying to turn down the brightness of my phone to save battery so that I could record the run, and somehow deleted the Nike app off of my phone, so I had to just run the marathon blind. Not literally blind, but blind to pace, or naked as they now call it, and somehow managed to run even splits the whole way and finished in 3:54. When they say listen to the body, I think that's one of my best achievements to date.” 17:44@run_with_coachkatietherunninghub.co.uk

In this episode Stuart had the privilege of speaking with South African Lindsey Parry, who is a very renowned coach of runners, from marathon runners of the professional/olympic level, to your average, middle of the pack runners. He was a fairly competitive school athlete who was always interested in all kinds of sports, which all included running, and ultimately led him to continue running. He's always considered running as a type of therapy, he's always loved the human body, and in University he began to coach and do therapy. A bit of background 3:40What Lindsey looks at in training 14:10You can't sustain peak training indefinitely/training for peak performance vs training to be healthy 31:30Find and follow Lindsey Parry 35:20“You can't improve from the training you're doing if you do not recover from that training.” 15:50www.youtube.com/@CoachParrycoachperry.com@coachparry

Listen to Katie and Stuart who had the pleasure of talking to Yoshua Greenfield, who is a holistic lifestyle guide who helps people reconnect with their authentic selves through practices like mindful cooking, barefoot living, and music as a tool for healing. He offers workshops, retreats, and free resources that promote simplicity, self-awareness, and living in alignment with nature. His teachings focus on questioning societal norms and embracing a life of truth and mindfulness. He's also all about that barefoot lifestyle, so join them and listen to this awesome conversation! Yoshua was not raised this way 3:10The false belief of the shoe 14:20His plan with the homestead 25:20Music 30:00Always teaching, sharing, and inspiring 35:30Your feet won't be as callused as you think 40:00Get connected with Yoshua Greenfield 44:00“I just started getting so many questions. What do you do about glass? What do you do about cactus? What do you do about snow? I just started researching it and offering people advice. I'm no expert by any means, but this is my experience and if it makes sense to you, cool.” 36:28Instagram: @youenjoylifewww.fermentingwithyourfriend.comwww.youenjoylife.usyouenjoy.life

We have a very special guest on the Barefoot Science podcast today by the name of Yuri Marmerstein, who has performed extensively as an acrobat, is very much involved in teaching the physical arts, and he has veered into stunt work with film and TV. Surprisingly, Yuri wasn't very active as a child and the skills that he now has were mainly all developed in his adulthood, and for the most part he is self taught. Listen in today to hear the various interesting ideas and concepts Yuri shares with our hosts!How he got started in all this 3:00School and modern day exercise 6:30Performing in a circus 16:20What's next 25:00Barefoot and balance 33:30Early day stunts 40:15Enjoying the process 45:30“One of the main differences between stunts and the circus is in the circus you're trying to look good, pretty, and controlled, but for stunts you're trying to look as out of control as possible while still being in control. So that's a pretty interesting performance characteristic.” 2:50@yuri_marmerstein www.yuri-mar.comwww.youtube.com/@yurimar/videos

Katie and Stuart talk to special guest Stephanie Mellinger, a back pain exercise specialist. She's a certified personal trainer who's passionate about helping those with back pain find joy in movement again. After a personal journey overcoming a debilitating back injury, our guest discovered the powerful benefits of strength training in the healing process. Now a certified personal trainer and specialist in corrective exercise, mobility, and pain-free performance, Stephanie has dedicated the past five years to working with clients alongside medical professionals to optimize movement, build strength, and promote overall well-being. Tune in to hear her insights on resilience, the importance of collaboration in training, and strategies for sustainable fitness and recovery.Her injury 3:20The issue with insurance 11:30Cognitive impact on health and recovery 18:00Using insoles for a marathon 29:15A flat foot is the fastest foot 36:45Stephanie's program 47:50“I have somebody in my program who was traveling, sat in the car for a long time, was standing up at work, and her hips were really stiff and she was feeling really down. There's a big piece of acknowledging someone's feelings of course, and then helping them get through that and figure out how to move through and get through to the positive end of it. There's a huge mental coaching capacity. The mindset is huge when recovering from an injury.” 19:53@the.backpain.trainerwww.thebackpaintrainer.comhttps://www.thebackpaintrainer.com/barefoothttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221018131143.htm

On this week's episode, Katie talks to the barefoot running sensation and “original” barefoot runner, Ken Bob Saxton. When Ken Bob began racing exclusively barefoot in 1997, he found that people had a lot of questions, so he decided to compile all his answers in one place, which led him to founding the website barefootrunning.com in 1997. Ken is someone who will go shoeless at every opportunity he can and he has even done multiple marathons while barefoot. Join us to hear the benefits and great things he has to say about barefoot running. Ken almost never wears shoes 3:50Foot structure and effects on the foot from going barefoot 10:00Practice vs training, and relax 26:00Writing a book about how to run barefoot 35:15 Some of the “secrets” to barefoot running 37:00Elevation races 46:00“The odd thing that I tell people and people have trouble with this concept, is lift your feet before it lands. Trust me, it will still land, but as you're coming down to the ground, you're starting to lift your feet to your body, but your body is also coming down, so all you're really doing is slowing down the impact. You're decelerating your foot as it lands. So you're coming down, bending your knee, but you're not actually bending your foot up. You're just slowing its descent down so that it touches gently. It's really difficult for people to get that.” 38:49barefootrunning.com

Today Katie and Stuart have a lovely guest from the United States named Heidi van Mastrigt, who is a fitness trainer that focuses massively on foot function and myofascial tissue function as well. The feet are our one point of contact with the ground. Everything starts with the feet. Heidi learned this the hard way from breaking her foot at the peak of her dance career and suffering for years with overuse injuries without realizing her foot was the root cause. Heidi works with athletes of all levels that want to improve their movement integrity and prevent injury in the long run. It is her goal for people to have longevity in their sport and do what they love for as long as possible.How Heidi got to her fascination with feet 3:15The shoes are very important 8:15Assessing clients' feet 14:15Feet, the nervous system, and fitness 23:00Cycling shoes are terrible 29:25The shoes that Heidi wears 36:40High arches 48:00“A lot of people who have worn shoes their entire lives, are introduced to this, ‘Train barefoot!' it's better, you're going to stimulate the muscles, even like up the chain, your glutes are going to fire a lot better if you don't have socks and shoes on, and to see the light bulbs go off and see people then prefer, like ‘Oh my gosh!' It's like a whole new world for so many people because they've just kinda been locked up in socks and cushioned heeled tapered toed shoes.” 25:55www.thatbarefootcoach.com@thatbarefootcoach

Today Stuart and Katie had the opportunity to talk with Michael Adeniran, who is a weekend warrior as they call it. A while back he got into running, and then triathlons, ultra running, iron mans, Spartan races, obstacle courses, and so forth. He's got a lot of experience now with all these different events and with that, a substantial amount of wisdom to share with us and our listeners. How Michael got started 3:15Going back to the basic human functions 9:00Doing an Iron Man 20:30His day job 23:15The importance of strength training 29:00Obstacle course races 35:00The shoes he wears to run 36:30“The more you get into the running life, you seem to stop doing as much strength training, and that's where the injuries start happening. I remember in the early days of running, I didn't have any injuries whatsoever, but that's because I was more a strength trainer doing some running, but as I've become a runner doing a little bit of strength training, you see the differences in your body strength, and imbalances that come.” 29:15www.instagram.com/theurbanchallengertheurbanchallenger.com

We've got a lovely young gentleman from Utah by the name of Reese David Jones joining us today who is a runner, a tri-athlete, an all around fitness fanatic, and has a professional career on the side making a living as a salesman. Reese ran 10 marathons in 10 days, which blew both Katie and Stuart away and is hard to fathom, but that's just the kind of man he is. Listen to this fascinating conversation Katie and Stuart had with a guy who is young of body, but mature of mind and spirit and who had some great wisdom to share with us all. Ultra running and how he developed an interested 1:00Public speaking 7:1510 marathons in 10 days, grieving for his grandfather 12:20Injuries 14:30Charities, treating hearing loss 22:45Bubbly and taking a step back from running 30:45If you want to get into running 32:45“If you wore a cast for 20 years, your arm would obviously atrophy. When you're wearing these shoes from the day you're about 3 years old because your parents think they're cute, and you're in this foot cast, you don't have the opportunity to use the 20+ muscles in your feet. So many problems could be solved if we had a better foundation.” 7:13@reesedjones

Today Stuart and Katie have a very quick marathon runner (sub 2:40) as a guest by the name of Jason Fitzgerald. He is an extensive writer of articles about endurance running and has his own website by the name of Strength Running. After finishing the 2008 New York City Marathon in 2:44, Jason developed a severe ITB injury. He was sidelined for six months, wondering if he would ever be able to run pain-free again. But that injury transformed his thoughts on running healthy and injury prevention. Jason's training changed dramatically and he finally “cracked the code” of his constant injury cycle. Listen to this engaging conversation we had and learn something new with us!Becoming a marathon runner 1:10Running a lot of marathons vs a few 4:10Creating his website 10:00Trail Runner Magazine and writing articles 17:20Insoles and proprioception 20:50Common themes among the strong athletes 27:30Getting blood work done 35:50Talking about zones 42:00“Yeah I think [getting blood work done] is a really good idea, especially if you're training really hard or maybe if you just ran a hard marathon, or ultramarathon, you kinda wanna see, ‘OK, what did this do to my body?' A blood test is gonna really answer that question and give an insight into how much stress you experienced, what's going on inside your body. Do you have low testosterone? High levels of cortisol? Or many other things going on in your body that could be either A, just generally unhealthy, or B, something that's actually inhibiting your ability to train.” 35:55strengthrunning.com@jasonfitz1

This week we are delighted to welcome our guest, Jonathan Levitt, who is currently in Boulder Colorado and a fantastic endurance athlete and cyclist. Jonathan didn't always love running, but back in 2013, he did his first half marathon and steadily started to develop a love for it. He has a podcast focused on discovering why people run and delving into the deep reasons that motivate people and push them to continue this healthy practice. People get not only physical benefits from running, but benefits from doing something hard and pushing that limit so that you have a greater capacity to do hard things in other areas of life. Developing the love for running 1:00Minimal shoes 5:55Why do people run? Jonathan's podcast 19:45People's attitude toward running shifted with COVID 31:00Running improves long term health 41:00“We grow via stress. Physical stress, mental stress, and we adapt to hard things. My reason, and I've noticed this with a lot of people, is that running is this sandbox that we get to experiment in and the stakes are pretty low. It doesn't really matter if you don't PR, get injured, or don't win a race…it's the muscle memory of getting uncomfortable that allows us to be better at getting uncomfortable in other aspects of life.” 34:38@jwlevitt

Taren Gesell started out as a complete non-athlete who was 215lbs and couldn't run to the end of the block. He later became a top 1% in the world amateur triathlete and in the process shared everything he learned on the Triathlon Taren YouTube channel, which became the second largest triathlon YouTube channel in the world. He published four books and created the MOTTIV training app which are all designed specifically for everyday amateur endurance athletes who want to reach their goals but don't know where to start. Join Stuart and Katie in this exciting interview with such an amazing individual. Taren's transformation 1:00Training differences between elite athletes and your average person 9:00Overtraining vs casual training 14:15The MOTTIV training app 17:15Injuries 24:20Testing the insoles 33:00“About a year ago I had a pretty severe rolled ankle that exasperated a lot of the dorsiflexion issues I had and really struggled with that and had basically only gone on 6 runs since that time go figure I'm 40 and injuries don't heal like they used to 25 years ago, but I went on a hike last saturday with the insoles and normally after a hike, that ankle I have trouble with gets achy, and I didn't feel it at all this weekend.” 33:10www.youtube.com/c/triathlontaren@triathlontarenmymottiv.com

This week we are delighted to welcome a couple of intrepid travelers from Chattanooga, Maggie and Bruce Tate, who took 9 months off work to travel up the East Coast on something called The Great Loop. They followed this route, circling the eastern North American landmass by boat. Their decision to embark on this adventure was sparked by a book titled "From What Is to What If?" which encouraged them to embrace imagination and possibilities. Throughout their travels, they encountered challenges, forged deep connections with fellow boaters, and discovered the importance of curiosity and forbearance in fostering meaningful relationships.A bit about their East Coast journey 1:00Leaving during Winter 10:00The Covid pandemic 27:00What they did for fitness 42:00What is next 50:45Get the book: Currently Away 60:15“One of the things that really struck me is that if I want a better neighborhood, I need to be a better neighbor, and to carry some of that stuff that we got from all the community that we had daily on the loop, and to try to bring that back home in the regular life.” 18:35@currently_the_boatwww.currentlytheboat.comScho and Jo youtube channel 

In this week's episode Kate welcomes guest Rae Reynolds, a shockwave therapist and massage practitioner, who shares insights on her profession. Rae discusses her experiences with shockwave therapy and her journey to becoming a healer, emphasizing self-healing and empowerment. Through anecdotes and discussions on topics like cellular inflammation and childhood trauma, Rae underscores the importance of balance and self-awareness in achieving overall well-being, challenging societal norms and advocating for personal responsibility in health and healing. They discuss her book and its themes of self-discovery, healing, and empowerment. The book touches on personal experiences, childhood trauma, and the journey towards self-love. It encourages readers to start a conversation with themselves, prioritize their health, and embrace their authentic selves. Rae's experience with Barefoot Science 2:00Ondamed (Wave) Therapy 3:30Parasites 5:30Healing yourself 12:50Rae's book “Let Us Start the Conversation” 20:30Just be you 30:45Figuring it out in a less costly way 35:20“I literally have [Barefoot Science products] in everything. I don't put anything on my feet that doesn't have Barefoot Science. I paddleboard in them, I ski in them, I do everything in them and every person that pretty much walks into my clinic, regardless of why they're there, they're gonna walk out with a pair of Barefoots.” 2:13www.raereynolds.ca

We have an interesting guest on the podcast this week by the name of Danielle “Dani” Bryant and many may know her as the founder of MAKE IT COUNT 4 Dani Foundation. Dani was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 16, which is when life as she knew it came crashing down around her. Despite a devastating diagnosis of this disease, which dashed her dreams of continuing her athletic career, she refused to be defined by her illness. Instead, she embarked on a journey of self-discovery and resilience, confronting her disease head-on. She now dedicates herself to helping countless women around the world to deal with the same issues, and continues to live a happy and fulfilling life. About Dani 0:55Rheumatoid arthritis 2:30Treating this disease 5:45Dani's platform to help others 10:30What helped Dani the most 16:20How Barefoot Science is helping 23:55People of all ages 33:40“I do try to not react back to people who do a lot of things to be unkind because I know what they're feeling and going through, but I also don't want people to live in that space. I want to motivate them to move out of it. Our minds and what we tell ourselves can be so powerful on how we move forward.” 32:00@makeitcount4danimakeitcount4dani.com

This week Katie had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Courtney Johnson, also known as the Female Athlete Doctor. She is a doctor of physical therapy who specializes in pelvic health, women's health, particularly in general active women in all walks of life, such as women in pregnancy, postpartum, or women who are diagnosed with some sort of pelvic floor dysfunction. Courtney helps women be active again and get back on their feet, which is often where these issues usually occur or originate from. What Dr. Courtney is all about 0:50Pregnant women 4:50The benefits of doing this while pregnant 7:20Helping athletes to relax for birth 12:00Working with C-section women 16:00“When you think of a sports team, a sports team has everything and a coach for everything. For every position in a football team. They have a recovery squad, an athletic trainer, they have a doctor on staff, they have a physical therapist, so we should approach pregnancy and postpartum with the same mindset. Who is on your team? I know when that time comes for me, I'm gonna have X-Y-Z all lined up and I'll be ready to go.” 11:10thefemaleathletedpt.com@thefemaleathletedoc

Today we are proud to present our guest Britni, of Denver, CO. She is a doctor of physical therapy and a pain free performance strength coach. After about 3.5 years of working in the traditional outpatient clinic model Britni started to feel burnt out and began to shift outside of the traditional clinic setting. Britni started online coaching in 2022 working with active adults who are struggling to manage pain/injury. In 2023 after moving to Denver, CO, Britni also started a cash based practice which she now operates inside of two different gyms in the greater Denver area. When she's not working Britni loves being outdoors hiking, snowboarding, exploring Denver or reading a good book. Tune in this week to hear this interesting conversation. How it works 2:30Live vs online 12:30Warm ups 15:45Workout recommendations from Britni 23:15Stretches and exercises for desk workers 32:30Insoles and feet 39:40Connect with Britni 48:40“Would you say having a designed warmup might be more important than a designed workout?” “I think both are important, but I think if you have a poorly designed warmup, that's essentially not setting you up for the best success that you could have in your workout, which kind of has a bigger impact, I guess you could say, than a poorly designed workout.” 17:20@britnib.dptriseptconsulting.comriseperformanceandpt.com

We have 2 lovely guests on the podcast today named Kristi Harrison and Matthew McKeown, who are co-owners of Highland Fitness and Wellness, a personal training studio and fitness community in Scarborough, Ontario. They fill us in on some great tactics of how they've been able to build their gym culture in the best way possible, and then we get into what to focus on when helping your clients in improving their physical health. Movement is very necessary for each day, especially for those who are working a sedentary job 8 hours a day and they give some good examples of how to do that.About Kristi, Matt, and their gym 0:45Creating a community 7:30Focusing on the scapula and lumbar spine 16:30The worst thing about sitting 19:50Clients want professionalism 28:45Targeting specific people and groups 41:50Looking at feet and gait 49:00“I think the hardest thing is teaching people there's more of a mental side that this is the rest of your life. Not meaning that you have to use the rest of your life, but the goals you want to accomplish, they need to be the rest of your life, and you can't convince them on that. You can maybe show someone that, but you have to get someone who's pretty much there already, that they know ‘I need to make significant changes and I know this is gonna take long term.'” 17:18www.highlandfit.com@highlandfitto

We have a returning guest on the podcast this week, Jeff Browning, who is a master long distance runner. Many know Jeff as “Bronco Billy” and royalty of the ultra marathon category. He has finished around 200 ultra marathons, which includes 52 one-hundred-mile-plus ultras. He has come in first place in 30 of those races, so we are so honored to be speaking with a world champion today. Jeff and Katie talk about everything from getting in the right mindset to foot care and the importance of heart rate variability. This last race and how he won 1:30Training that mindset to do this difficult thing 6:30Foot care 20:45Heart rate variability (HRV) 29:40Staying away from seed oils 38:45“I think everything in life prepares you, I think working on your mindset all the time, and that's being willing to embrace hard things in your life, whether that's learning something new or figuring something out. Always having a positive attitude is important, and positive mental speak as much as possible. It's easy to say, hard to put into practice, to really be positive daily.” 6:51@gobroncobilly www.giddyupultra.com

In this week's episode Katie and Stuart interview Mike Whetstone, who has over 25 years of military leadership and training experience and is a former FRS and TOPGUN instructor, and owner and president of BMK Ventures, a Vetfirst certified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business. A big part of his business is helping prepare the medics in the field by putting together these kits that they can acquire, which contain all the resources they may need when faced with tough or intense physical situations on the battlefield. History, fitness, and prep for flying in the Air Force 3:00BMK Ventures 9:00Military is a massive amount of footwork 16:00Testing balance in military 25:00Seeing the curvature of the Earth 31:00Being disabled in service 33:00Seeing the difference of the Barefoot Insoles 38:00“It's a young man's game and I'll tell you what, I creak and crack, and I pretty much blame pulling Gs on that.” 8:45 “Believe it or not, I told myself I was gonna run a marathon before I turned 40 and on my 40th birthday I hadn't run one, so between 40 and 41 I ran 5, and then I kept running them until I messed my knee up. Now I stick mostly to the halves.” 34:27bmkventures.com@bmkventures1

Today Katie speaks with a previous guest we've had named David Lemke, who we have described as a wizard in body work. He's a technical wizard using a method of technology called Surface Electromyography (SEMG), EEG, and various other things. David grew up in a cold place, trained as a bodyworker, was injured as a young athlete, became an EMG technician and describes himself now as a body explorer with a compass who has treated, assessed, and helped tens of thousands of people from very high performance athletes to your everyday people. Who David is 1:20Understanding muscles with a compass 6:00Does the heart bring everything together? 15:00The first 2 exercises David uses with his trainer 24:00“Your core is not your abs and your butt. Your core is your whole central processor and soles of the feet are just as critical, if not one of the most critical input sites to your autonomic nervous system. I like to compare wearing shoes to having your phone in airplane mode and you're wondering why you're not sending and receiving calls, but you've actually turned off a key antenna. The soles of your feet are how your whole system knows whether you're upright or not.” 10:26

Katie and Stuart had Evan Strong on this episode of the podcast, who is an olympic superstar that won a Gold medal in the 2014 Sochi Olympics & a Silver medal in the year 2018 in Paralympic Snowboarding. He has done everything that involves a board including skateboarding, surfing, and even playing on chess boards. Join these 3 as they discuss human prosthetics, education, and different living conditions to improve and even help your own kids better develop. About Evan 1:20Living in Maui, Hawaii 11:50Wearing shoes vs not wearing them 15:45Evan's lifestyle 23:00School and education 31:30Prosthetics and shoes 38:45“Nobody has ever thought of ‘Oh, let's build a prosthetic based on natural biology and actually the natural physiology of a human,' and they always just think of it around the shoe or the modern shoe.” 42:35@evan_strongpacificbirthcollective.org

In this episode Stuart and Katie have a chat about some of the things that popped up in other episodes when talking about injuries and how those can be avoided, as well as helping people recover from those injuries. They discuss women's health and how their cycle can affect vulnerability to injury, and then how strengthening the muscles around ligaments is a good way to prevent injury, before also getting into how to increase brain function and speed by focusing on stimulating the proprioceptive nerve. “Getting the brain tuned through stimulating that proprioceptive nerve is absolutely fundamental.”Women's cycles and injury 4:35Increasing brain speed 11:05Helping kids with mental difficulties 17:00Injury happens to everyone 24:40“At the end of that program their average brain speed had come down to I think it was 80 milliseconds, which meant in real terms they were seeing the ball a third of the way down the bat distance from pitcher to batter, so that gave them the other 2 thirds of the time to figure out what they were gonna do, where they were gonna hit it, and bang, off they went. They actually tested them just after wearing the insoles and even just wearing the insoles had actually given a measurable brain speed change in the first week.” 14:50

Mindful Movement with Brea Johnson | Unveiling the Secrets of Yoga and Body Smart Practices Stuart and Katie had the opportunity to sit down with Brea Johnson, who has been a yoga teacher and movement educator for well over a decade. With a love for learning and studying the human body she continues her on-going education in yoga, anatomy and biomechanics and is also a certified Restorative Exercise Specialist. We discuss the importance of mobility and keeping your body moving. Brea mentions how in our culture there's this belief that we have to get that one hour or so of movement and exercise in our day and we'll be good, but she says that movement should be spread out throughout the day instead of just concentrated all in one session because little movement more often has more benefits. Yoga with brains, love, and body smart movement 1:10Top things that the body needs 11:00Crossfit and lack of rotation 23:00The 4 pillars of a sustainable yoga practice 28:45Shoes and the opinions that follow them 36:00Staying healthy through old age 47:50“If you have a standing desk I think it's great to have the option. I think we need both. Don't expect that we should be standing for 8 hours a day just like you shouldn't expect to be sitting for 8 hours a day. For me, I have an office at my house, I have a desktop, I have a laptop, which I often bring onto the floor, I bring it upstairs, I bring it outside. On the days that I'm on my computer all day long, I'm in different positions.” 25:32@heartandbonesyogawww.heartandbonesyoga.com

In this episode we had the opportunity to speak to Graham Tuttle, a trainer who helps people move and feel better. His goal is to figure out this athleticism thing and how he can teach it to the people like him who missed that boat early on in life, and also work to create a more well rounded understanding of health and aging with activity. You see, as a kid starts to develop an awareness that they can control outcomes and not get hurt by not participating, they become more stiff and uncertain, while the kids who are more “Tarzan” looking can roll around and are just more loose and ready to tackle the physical challenges they face. Sports in high school then vs now 5:50Triangulating and balance 15:10Sports have created a monopoly on athleticism 31:00Becoming the barefoot sprinter 42:20“A relationship with the ground is one of being able to relax and melt into a harder, flat, non-yielding surface to some extent, which we try to then soften with shoes, and orthotics, and the big pillows and mattresses and paved surfaces and carpet, and all that stuff. So it's ironic to look at the progression in that sense, but it is a rejection of the sensation of the ground.” 34:10grahamtuttle.com@thebarefootsprinter

Grayson Murphy is astonishing. She is a current world champion in mountain running, which is a new sport to us, but we're excited to talk to her about it. She got a bronze this year in the vertical climb for mountain running, and she tells us all about her experience going through the championships. She's now training and has even recently qualified for going to the Olympics, but has also dealt with some injuries and nerve issues that prevented her from competing and it took a long process of trial and error, but eventually she was able to figure it out and continue training. A bit about Grayson's experience 1:15How she got into this sport 4:50Moving to running from soccer 14:30Aiming for the olympics 24:10Her boyfriend also shooting high 26:40Self treatment and injury 29:10Mental health and her training logs 34:55Getting a variety of skill sets 43:20“I figured out I had choked out a nerve and so I couldn't feel a lot of things and I couldn't get the muscles to turn on, so that's why it felt dead. It took 4 months of kind of trying to figure out what was wrong, and then once I figured it out it only took 4 weeks to get it up and running again, but it was a long process of trial and error.” 30:36@racin__grayson

Today we talk to Steven Sashen who is the co-founder and CEO of Xero Shoes www.XeroShoes.com. Steven and his wife, Lena Phoenix, started the company after discovering the comfort, benefits, and fun of natural movement, by getting out of thick, padded, motion-controlled shoes. Steven got back into running later in his life and was having all kinds of issues and injuries until someone suggested he try running barefoot to better understand his form in running. He was then able to see clearly that his form was wrong, which naturally corrected itself as he paid attention to this, and then he stopped getting injured and became a better runner. Xero Shoes 1:30Steven's main sports and training 9:00The Nordic hamstring curl and exercises 11:35What shoe he runs in 13:55His backstory before entering this adventure 30:00Advice for someone coming to a shoe like Xero Shoe 45:00Helping women with arthritis 57:10Static position doesn't help build strength 61:35Foot coffins 71:10“The way our product line developed is from people saying like you said, ‘I can't wear anything else, but now I need a shoe for this thing that you don't currently do.' That's how we've developed a product line is based on people saying ‘What am I gonna do if I have to go to work and I need a leather shoe?' OK well we just made a leather casual shoe for you.” 27:05@xeroshoesxeroshoes.com

Katie and Stuart sit down with Kelly Roberts who is the Founder of Badass Lady Gang, a running community created by women for women. This foundation was created to help women find joy in the struggle, providing women of all athletic levels a safe space to have fun and belong. There are some crazy health fads out there and ideas that pop up and grow popular on social media, such as the one where people were pushing the idea that you don't need much sleep and can be more productive because you'll have more time, but people weren't realizing the bad health consequences one can experience when neglecting sleep. Kelly explains bluntly that running is hard and often just isn't fun, but it's OK to acknowledge this and just keep moving forward. She has a love/hate relationship with running, but she keeps doing it because she needs it and it gives her fuel for success in her life. About Kelly 1:20The challenges that she often sees 8:30Dating and sports bras 18:00Running an iron man 22:25What's hard about the running 36:50“You're never going to get away from that feeling of extreme discomfort and pain, and fear when you're trying to run as fast as you can in 26.2 miles. That's just the way it is when you're doing something like that, but you can change your attitude around it.” 32:17@badassladygangwww.badassladygang.com

Today we welcome our wonderful guest, Morgan Brosnihan, who has been a physical therapist for 6 years and is passionate about helping her patients make progress to keep doing what they love. She is currently living the van life, so she's always on the move and going all over the place on adventures and half of what she does is by telehealth. We discuss many of the reasons hikers and athletes injure their feet, such as wearing the wrong size shoes and not letting your toes spread out, which can cause issues and eventually injury. Helping people treat themselves 6:40Most common injuries 7:40Set program and telehealth 14:00Growing up 19:00Helping with common injuries 20:30Trying out the insoles 34:45What to wear when hiking 38:30A cause for plantar fasciitis 42:00“Even flexibility is improved by full range of motion strength training, it will make you more flexible than just stretching. So if you do deep squats with weight, you'll have more flexible hips than if you pigeon all day long.” 26:55@blazephysio campsite.bio/blazephysioblazephysio.com

In this episode join Katie Tsuyuki and Stuart Gordon as they chat about some of the things that have popped up in the other podcasts talking about injuries and how we can help avoid those injuries and keep people recovering from them. Katie experienced some injuries during her snowboarding career and needed some help recovering, which happened when our previous guest, Joe Vecchione, introduced her to the Barefoot insoles. We discuss the importance of brain speed and being able to process things mentally, which can really affect an athlete's performance and how well they do. ACL injuries and gender 3:30Proprioceptive stimulation 5:50Brain speed 10:55Gait testing 18:15Helping with brain damage 19:30Not just athletes deal with injuries 24:40“To me there's this massive influence of that sensory nerve stimulus and it's about stabilizing joints. What you have to do, obviously whatever the underlying cause of these ACL injuries are in female athletes, is you gotta get the muscles around the joints stronger to protect the ligaments.” 6:10

In this episode we have the privilege of speaking with a Canadian soccer coach by the name of Joe Vecchione, who has a diverse background in conditioning from soccer to swimming. We discuss women's sports and the idea that often there isn't much incentive for women to keep playing beyond a certain point because of dead ends they might find there. We talk about various exercises, such as those that have to do with your groin, quads, or hamstrings, that athletes should be doing to avoid injuries. Getting stronger in a sport or technique, you also have to make sure you're preparing with the additional issues that may arise from developing yourself in order to balance things out and be prepared to avoid injury. Special things coming in Joe's career 1:00Ideas on how to keep girls playing 10:00Snapshot of a day for Joe 17:20Joe's thoughts on tech, exercises 21:55The Nordic 26:30Recommending the insoles 40:40Testing 46:30Specialization and training 56:00“You have to remember that they're already training a lot. They're already training multiple times a week and have a whole sport to prepare for, so you really wanna be as effective as you can with less training…doing a little bit less, but making sure you're recovering more.” 33:17@joevex

Today we have a wonderful guest from the Canadian snowboarding world who featured in a previous podcast episode if you want to go listen to that one. Crispin is a former Olympic snowboarder and a partner in crime for Katie, specializing in the halfpipe event. Lipscomb made his World Cup debut in December 2002 at Whistler, and made his first podium later that season, with a bronze at Serre Chevalier. Crispin tells us about his experiences in the olympics, injuries and how they have been handled, and then we discuss skiing and sledding in the mountains with a snowmobile and how to make sure you don't end up with a stranded machine. Crispin's background 1:00A nasty accident 18:50Dreaming of success 23:55A shocking experience before the Olympic trials 29:40Coaching kids is a tough, tough job 37:10Discipline and structure 40:30Making sure you're up to check 45:00Going up a slope with a machine to ski or sled down 52:35What he's doing in Vernon these days 58:45What's coming up next 75:25“You learn as you go through, they come, they go, time passes, you get fine, but the first time it happens it's shocking and it's connected to your self worth, and your dreams and efforts are interrupted. Your goals are—your whole world, the sky falls down. So that was a really important lesson in learning and how to manage those injuries, and learning how to work with the physios and the trainers, and sports psych to put it into proper context.” 19:33@crispinlipscomb

We are absolutely delighted to have Andrew John Coltart on the podcast. He is a Scottish professional golfer and TV commentator. He had a successful amateur career and played in the 1991 Walker Cup, and as a professional he won twice on the European Tour, the 1998 Qatar Masters and the 2001 Great North Open, and played in the 1999 Ryder Cup. We talk about his golfing career and how he is able to make sure he's in peak physical condition in order to keep his mind in the right place when playing well really matters. Starting out in golf 1:00Typical week for a traveling golfer 4:00How many tournaments Andrew plays in a year 9:45Has the standard of golf changed? 13:25A story about Tiger Woods 16:25Some injury problems 19:40Using Barefoot Science insoles 27:00The importance of balance 32:10“Fundamentally from week to week, you try to make sure that you're in peak physical fitness and still in peak physical fitness on the Sunday so that your brain doesn't fatigue, so that your concentration doesn't fatigue, so that your body doesn't start to shut down, and so that you don't start to squander shots when really the checks and the prize money, things like that are on the line.” 7:01@andrewcoltart

We are delighted to welcome back a guest from earlier in the season, Erson Religioso, a physical therapist with whom we spoke about using the insoles of our sponsor. We talk about the differences between Manipulation and adjustment, which are the different methods that physical therapists and chiropractors use. We talk about running methods and the effect on the body someone's running style can have, including keeping the feet underneath the body as one runs to avoid upper body pain, or other issues. “People who work out intensely once a day are less healthy overall than people who just move regularly throughout the day.” 29:15The difference between manipulation and adjustment 3:45The eclectic approach 8:40Treating runners 12:40Land underneath yourself 22:20Upper body issues, neck pain from feet 24:50Knee bouncing 30:20Muscle protects you 38:50Erson's workout 42:00“The first amazing sitting study followed people who sat more than 40 hours a day. They followed them for over 30 years. It was a very longitudinal study. What they found is that people who sat for more than 4 hours a day tended to die 10 years earlier of any caused mortality. Then when you start to add the 4-2 hours on top of that, then they died also faster. That's when several years ago they started saying sitting is the new smoking.” 28:30@modernmanualtherapyEdgeMobilitySystem link - promo code "Barefoot12" for 12% Off

Today we have the privilege of meeting and talking with David Lemke, who we could describe as a wizard in body work. He's a technical wizard using a method of technology called Surface Electromyography (SEMG), EEG, and various other things. Electromyography means muscles that are monitored and Surface means we're monitoring from the surface and not putting needles in your body and all through your motions. It's a listening device and they use wireless systems so you can move pretty much completely unimpaired while they monitor electrical activity in the muscles. They add in kinesiological surface EMG because it's, in effect, a way of studying movement and they're using that technology to study what's happening in muscles during movement. Join us as we discuss David's story and this treatment he does to improve athletes' results. Consulting work 2:38Autistic children and the need for movement and play 10:00How David wants to be described 24:09Combining the best of the new with the old 29:45Functional Chain Trainer 34:41Taking an unbalanced motor system for a run and going backwards 48:00Helping the whole body work together properly 59:47“I had a knee injury and I found that going backwards down hills was actually pain free, whereas forward up hills was pain free, but if I went forward down a hill, it would be a lot of pain. I had an anterior meniscus tear, and so I had to train to recover from that injury by going backwards down the hills.” 51:16www.davelemke.usbioperformancetx@gmail.com

Today we are delighted to have our guest, Catherine Quinn, with us who is the President of the British Chiropractic Association, a very busy lady with her own chiropractic business. She helps with professional football clubs, she helps with Winter sports international competitors, and she was formerly a world champion in martial arts, so we dip into all these different areas. We talk about concussions and how these are treated/approached, using methods such as SCAT5 (Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5) testing. Chiropractors in professional sports 2:01Mental health issues across healthcare providers 7:34Concussions 8:52How many football clubs have a chiropractor on their medical team 20:00World champion martial artist 22:48Catherine's origins 27:05Winter sports 28:24Differences in athletes/sports 32:33How athletes go about finding a chiropractor 36:34What she's doing these days to maintain herself 46:09“I managed to get a kick to the head, dropped my guard, didn't do that again. I had a bit of a kind of whiplash style injury to my neck, jaw pain, neck pain, a little bit of arm pain, and a family friend recommended that I see a chiropractor. I went and just thought it was the coolest thing that I had ever seen in my life.” 25:28

In this episode we have Ian Hosek, who comes from the mountains of Idaho. Ian went through engineering school, but realized he didn't want to be a standard engineer, so he went and worked at Nike for a number of years, and then started up his own coaching business. While he was at Nike, he had the opportunity to work with some of the world's leading physiologists, and then shortly after this he started coaching athletes and really fell in love with this line of work. So he now has his own coaching business and is definitely a performance endurance athletic coach. Performance engineering 1:00What drew Ian to Nike 8:08Most efficient movement for a runner 10:34Parkour 16:32Symmetry, left side right side movement 22:00Helping people calm down/rest 31:47What Ian's working on now 41:06“The main thing people say is trying to get a nice balance of carbs and protein within 45 minutes of a workout session, and then like a meal within 3 hours. Doing those small things can really help, for one it can help with glycogen storage, and it also helps with muscle protein synthesis, and just getting you ready for the next session.” 24:56@ocr_hosekwww.hosekpe.com

Today we have a running specialist and Optimize Potential Training owner, Tyrone Edwards. He started this business to be able to give back to young athletes and help them to understand the processes of making it to the next level, whatever that was, and to help them run as fast as they can. He started focusing later on adults, and now he wants to teach all people what it's like to run again and pain free. So many people lose that ability to run for a long time, and without pain, so Tyrone's focus is to help them achieve that again. About Optimize Potential 1:45His background 3:00Noticing gaps in reaching potential 5:21Most common injuries 12:30Exercises to prescribe 14:50What it says if someone is failing at these exercises 18:46Single leg stance 20:53Using tools for extra work out help 33:16How one becomes faster and workouts to do 36:16Strength, speed, and height 51:17Goals for 2023 55:20“Messi and Ronaldo kicked the ball not just at their practices, at their training, but they kicked the ball when no one told them to kick a ball. They kept kicking that ball to ingrain it in their systems so they had a passion for it and they wanted to continue on with it.” 9:22www.optimizepotential.com@optimizepotentialtraining

We have Jeff Stapleton back on our show today, who is a barefoot lifetime runner, lifetime sports coach with a fantastic background in fitness and training, and he has some more great stories to tell us. Jeff talks about running in the middle of winter wearing basically nothing but shorts and the various health benefits he has experienced from this. Exercise can be done by anyone, even people who don't like it very much, and all you have to do is start with something simple and small and first build the habit. Once that habit is established, you'll start to find it's a lot easier to slowly raise the effort you're giving to that exercise, or even other aspects of your life. Jeff and Katie discuss the importance of thinking positively and winning the mental game to be able to reach your potential. Experiencing frostbite and running in the cold 2:43Being exposed to E Coli 7:49Creating habit 19:48Thinking mentally positive thoughts 25:37Working with people that want to improve 32:13Setting up a program for people with specific needs 44:50Some basic exercises that anyone can do 48:25People have to make the decision 61:13“Just find a gymnasium or an exercise area where there's equipment, there are people in there doin stuff, there's classes going on and just walk in. Walk in, 5, 10 minutes…You just wanna get into that mode where you soak up the energy…You're not doing anything physically, but mentally you're conditioning yourself to say ‘Hey you know what? I could do that class, or part of that class, or I could go into that exercise area and take the kettle bells and lift 2 pounders.'” 20:52coach@thenaturalrunning.comnaturalrunning.ca

Today we had the privilege of speaking with Paul Thompson, who is a podiatrist of over 10 years and the owner of the Barefoot movement, which is exactly as it sounds: being barefoot as much as possible and moving while barefoot. We discuss the difference between using insoles and other options like lifting shoes, and Paul explains why some of these options are better than others. For a big portion of Paul's life, he has pushed wearing orthotics, but now he says all orthotics do is act as a brace, so there's a much better way. Are lifting shoes a good option? 7:08Gait assessment 19:27Trying to fix the problem 24:51How Paul feels about orthotics 32:563 top foot exercises Paul recommends 36:34Dealing with bunions and crowded feet 45:00“Toe Yoga, just trying to get a connection between the intrinsic muscles in your feet, so in your toes, to articulate. So big toe up in the air, little toe down with your foot flat on the ground, so you're trying to push your little toes on the ground with your big toe up, and then hold that for a second, and then switch to the big toe pushing into the ground and little toes up.” 37:16

Today we have a fantastic gentleman from San Antonio, Texas, Hernan Rozemberg. He's 45 years old and can run a marathon in 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 16 seconds, which is really great, especially given the fact that he started running a bit later in life. Hernan realized he was good at running when he was younger, but didn't decide to pursue the sport of running until he was in his late twenties, which is when he really got the running bug. He tells us about his flat feet and how he has been able to improve that issue using shoe insoles and the benefits he has experienced. Starting late in life as a runner 1:36How Hernan went about training at first 5:12Running is an outlet and way of life 8:45Born to Run Story 15:07Being flat footed and when the insoles really started helping 19:29Hernan's recovery model 29:08Age range of people he coaches 39:11Traveling 45:29It's never too late to start! 51:09“[Recovery] can be anything from fully taking a rest day, like no activity at all, or a cross training day. So not running, but doing some other activity to keep your heart rate going and the legs warm. It could be anything like cycling, it could be swimming, it could be hiking or walking, anything like that. In general I would keep it like a light to moderate effort, depending on the training that you're doing.” 29:08-29:41