I had the privilege to write the forward to a just released book “Slow Jogging– Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Have fun with Science Based, Natural Running” by Dr. Hiroaki Tanaka. My friend Dr. Tanaka is one of the most inspiring scientists and self-experimenting athletes I’ve met. Dr. Tanaka has changed my life and his…
This week I share the amazing story of my Indiana friend Phillip Brenneman. Phillip and I share things frequently over Facebook and email and his story is one that will change your life if you are facing similar challenges. Read on and you will understand the nothing comes easy, but if you believe you…
Monday I ran my 22nd Boston Marathon and as a 49yo veteran of this 120 year old event the goal now is fun, sharing the experience with colleagues and friends, and advance the science of how we have evolved to run. Every year there are new special “Boston Edition” shoes from every manufacturer. So this…
** FREE SHOWING OF FILM 5:30 AT SHEPHERDSTOWN OPERA HOUSE PRIOR TO TALK ** This Monday 7pm March 28 at Two Rivers Treads we will teach you how to “Run on Fat” and meet the stars of the recent movie – “Cereal Killers 2- Run on Fat”. Over the last few years in this column…
Diseases caused by poor eating habits destroy lives and cost the nation trillions in health care. Our current Dietary Guidelines and food policies clearly aren’t working. Just this week the CDC announced obesity is on the rise despite the fact that more adults are exercising. Huh? We though that more exercise would reverse this…
In my opinion and those of others who treat patients the new 2015 Dietary Guidelines for America (DGA) will not stall the Diabetes Epidemic and we continue Full Steam to the Full Catastrophe. But there are more runners now than ever before and exercise was going to fix all this stuff? You may not pay much…
10 Simple Things for 2016 Happy New Year from the Natural Running Center. We hope you have achieved a goal and learned something new about how your mind and body works in 2015. Here are 10 simple and safe things to try in 2016 with the goal not to be more “fit” in the terms…
In 1961 Simon J. Wikler, D.S.C. (Doctor of Surgical Chiropody) published Take Off Your Shoes and Walk, a successful attempt to explain how modern shoes gradually acquired the characteristics that now prevent the foot from functioning naturally. Despite the persuasiveness of his argument, he is realistic about the difficulty of convincing his opponents that being…
Why were nearly 100 citizens including the wives of two NFL Hall of Famers gathered at Sam Michael’s Rec Center on a weeknight in October? Over 150 showed up at meeting #2 in November where we shared a low carb dinner at the Clarion. My friend Melanie Miller was igniting the social media world and…
By Dr. Phil Maffetone Train better, race more and get faster — it’s all about energy, and it comes with a big bonus. Most competitive runners have at least three goals that include better training, more racing and getting faster. This trifecta may be the dream of most runners. But training harder and farther won’t…
Shoes as they are usually worn, not only deform but interfere with the functions of the foot by restricting the movement of its many small joints. Their action is more or less that of a splint.
Runners who are attempting to remain healthy and run more efficiently should learn the basics of good running tedchnique.
by Jim Hixson and Bill Katovsky As most readers who are already familiar with the Natural Running Center know, we have run several articles critical of running with “more shoe,” which in recent years has meant maximalist or hyper-cushioned shoes. We certainly don’t profit from our stance, especially since it’s difficult to find other sites…
by Bill Katovsky Cush·ion-ism ˈko͝o SHən izəm: Belief system by runners who prefer running in shoes with built-up footbed support, yet health claims and injury prevention remain unsupported due to the absence of scientific evidence. Cushionism first entered the vocabulary of runners in late 2010, when two Frenchmen, Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard, both…
I like to share this letter/email I recently received from my friend Alex Speed.– Dr. Mark Thanks again for your visit here to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, and for the clear voice you have raised on training and footwear for so many years. In the spring of this year I did a…
Dear Medical Colleagues, The current version of the Dietary Guidelines for America now being proposed is being challenged in Congress. There is still much room for improvement to be consistent with the evidence and clinical experience. This is a call to action sparked by Nina Teicholz’s recent British Medical Journal Article “The scientific report guiding…
You think the running shoe debate is over? That minimalist and barefoot running had its feet crushed by “fee-fi-fo-fum” footwear giants? Just wait, and the pendulum will some day swing back to less shoe. How long the wait? Five, ten years? Which isn’t that long considering that the modern running shoe is a half-century old….
It’s with great honor to alert NRC readers that Two Rivers Treads has been selected as a top 100 small business by the Small Business Revolution (SBR), which is a year-long documentary project that showcases the stories of 100 small businesses across the country. Powered by the Deluxe Corporation of Minnesota, SBR tells 12 mini-documentaries…
Bernadine Somers and Morgan Academy will be the first school of our region in West Virginia, maybe even the entire East Coast, to experiment with stand-up desks for kids. Most adults and children spend their days engaged in a damaging and unhealthful activity: sitting. Parking ourselves in chairs for long periods results in a chronic…
by Bill Katovsky Thoughts on the Just-Completed World Track and Field Championships in Beijing…American track sprinters don’t just have a doping problem; they have a dropping problem. Well, the botched baton hand-off in the men’s 4×100 was actually due to illegal passing outside the restricted zone. But in years past, especially in the Olympics and…
One of the most inspiring scientists and self-experimenting athletes is my good friend, Japanese running guru Dr. Hiro Tanaka. I had the privilege of first meeting Dr. Tanaka, a Professor at Fukuoka University, Japan, at the Boston Marathon in 2011 after giving a talk on minimal running and the benefits of “easy.” Dr. Tanaka showed…
What is special about running? Why not just walk, cycle, swim, do some elliptical or maybe the “Gazelle”, or just squat repeated times through the day? My cousin Meaghan Cusack explained it all when she spoke to a group of physicians at a recent Healthy Running conference in Chicago. Meaghan is a self-addicted 5K runner…
A week ago I received an email from a colleague in running retail, Eric Johnson, who is the general manager at Ultramax Sports, a “Top 50 Best Running Store in America.” Eric is really smart and gets it. He wrote, “This is by far the best video on prescribing running shoes I’ve run across.” This…
Adidas (it’s actually spelled with a lower-case “a”) has a long, storied history dating back to the 1920s. Two German brothers, Adi and Rudi Dassler, had started making sports shoes called Dassler in their mother’s laundry room. As sales steadily increased, they eventually expanded operations to a small factory in their home town of Herzogenaurach….
by Jim Hixson, CSCS It’s clear that minimalism is alive and well. Less shoe is thriving far beyond what naysayers and running magazines want us to believe. While mega-cushiony running shoes have taken over shoe walls at many independently owned stores (don’t get me started on big-box or running-chain stores), there’s still plenty of choices…