By introducing a thick layer of cushioning and an elevated heel between the foot and the ground, modern running shoes alter natural running form. But modern running shoes alter form in ways that lead to injury. Therefore, getting back to a more natural running gait by running in little-to-no shoe will lead to improved form, which should lower injury rates.A key reason to run barefoot or in minimalist shoes is to allow your feet to work more naturally, free from the confines and controls of overly engineered running shoes. Unfortunately, too many runners, eager to run more naturally, have gone too far, too fast, from one extreme to the other. The realities of modern life have weakened our feet, ankles, and lower legs, and our bodies have adapted to the shoes we have worn for most of our lives; if we suddenly start running in little-to-no shoe, our bodies are not prepared for the new stresses.Runner's World Essential Guides: Barefoot Running and Minimalism provides historical context, thoughts, advice, and tips on making a healthy transition. The foremost authorities on running on the planet show you how to ease into a transition from conventional running shoes to barefoot running or minimalist shoes, starting with some simple at-home tests to see if your feet already have the strength they need to handle little-to-no shoe. You’ll learn a step-by-step process for safely moving away from doing all your running in big, bulky shoes, including guidelines on how to introduce barefoot running into your regimen.Whether you want to learn more about the barefoot craze that’s swept the nation or you want to introduce barefoot running into your training plan, this indispensable guide contains everything you need to get started!

    All you have to do is change your focus and you'll change your life. Let Slow Burn show you how to enjoy the journey and achieve the results.

    Step-by-step skill drills are provided which include how to: improve strokes to speed up conditioning; eliminate drag and create more propulsion with less energy; burn off fat through swimming; and use dry-land exercises to improve results in the water.

    Hard workouts tear down the body, but rest allows the body to repair and come back stronger than before.The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery is the first comprehensive, practical exploration of the art and science of athletic rest. Certified cycling, triathlon, and running coach and yoga instructor Sage Rountree guides you to full recovery and improved performance, exploring how much rest athletes need, how to measure fatigue, and how to make the best use of recovery tools.Drawing on her own experience along with interviews with coaches, trainers, and elite athletes, Rountree details daily recovery techniques, demystifying common aids like ice baths, compression apparel, and supplements. She explains in detail how to employ restorative practices such as massage, meditation, and yoga. You will learn which methods work best and how and when they are most effective.Recovery is critical to performance gains. The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery offers recovery plans that target various training and race distances, in events from short distance bike races to ultramarathons, as well as examining recovery between seasons.This invaluable resource will enable you to maintain that hard-to-find balance between rigorous training and rest so that you can feel great and compete at your highest capability.

    Runner. Marathoner. Are these words you wouldn't exactly use to describe yourself? Do you consider yourself too old or too out of shape to run a marathon? But somewhere deep inside have you always admired the people who could reach down and come up with the mental and physical strength to complete such a daunting and rewarding accomplishment? It doesn't have to be somebody else crossing the finish line. You can be a marathoner. "The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer" is based on the highly successful marathon class offered by the University of Northern Iowa, which was featured in a "Runner's World" article titled "Marathoning 101." The class has been offered five times over 10 years, and all but one student finished the marathon. That is approximately 200 students -- all first time marathoners and many with absolutely no running background. This book follows the same 16-week, four-day-a-week workout plan. What makes the success rate of this program so much higher than any other? The special emphasis on the psychological aspects of endurance activities. You don't have to love to run -- you don't even have to like it -- but you have to realize that you are capable of more than you have ever thought possible. One participant in the program explained it like this: "I'm doing this for me -- not for others or the time clock. I just feel better when I run, plus it helps me to cope with things in general. The skills we've learned in this class don't apply just to marathoning -- they apply to life Just like you never know what the next step in a marathon will bring, so too, you never know what will happen next in life. But if you don't keep going, you're never going to find out. By staying relaxed, centered, and positive you handle just about anything that comes your way." This is marathon running for real people, people with jobs and families and obligations outside of running. "The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer" has proven successful for men and women of all ages. Now let it work for you.

    Dawn Dais makes it a little more bearable--and a lot more funDawn Dais hated running. And it didn't like her much, either. Her fitness routine consisted of avoiding the stairs in her own house, because who really has the energy to climb stairs? It was with this exercise philosophy firmly in place that she set off to complete a marathon. The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women is the ideal training manual for women who don't believe that running is their biological destiny but who dream of crossing the finish line nonetheless. Nonrunners offers a realistic training schedule and is chock-full of how-to's and funny observations, which she felt were lacking in the guides she had consulted. She also integrates entries from her journal, sharing everything would-be marathoners need to know about the gear, the blisters, the early morning workouts, the late-night carb binges, and most important of all, the amazing rewards. Running may not seem like a friendly endeavor, but with Dawn Dais, you can tame the beast and hit the marathon trail.

    With humor, compassion, and lots of love, Jill Angie delivers the goods: overcoming the challenges of running with an overweight body and giving individuals’ self-esteem an enormous boost in the process. This isn't a guide to running for weight loss, or a simple running plan. It shows readers how a woman carrying a few (or many) extra pounds can successfully become a runner in the body she has right now. Jill Angie is a certified running coach and personal trainer who wants to live in a world where everyone is free to feel fit and fabulous at any size. She started the Not Your Average Runner movement in 2013 to show that runners come in all shapes, sizes and speeds, and, since then, has assembled a global community of revolutionaries that are taking the running world by storm. If you would like to be part of the revolution, flip to the inside and find out more!

    Providing the most effective, efficient, inexpensive, and convenient routine for exercise available, this simple program requires no gym or weights—only the human body. For thousands of years—from Ancient Greece’s Olympic athletes to tomorrow’s U.S. Special Forces—humanity’s greatest physical specimens have not relied on fitness centers or dumbbells, but have rather utilized their own bodies as the most advanced fitness machines ever created. These 107 exercises are presented in a clear, concise, and complete manner for men and women of all athletic ability levels.

    Run Free!" - Micah True, AKA Caballo Blanco. As seen nationally on TV, radio and in print, Barefoot Running is the original, most comprehensive guide to barefoot running, written by best-selling author and running coach Michael Sandler, who has coached and inspired thousands of runners, walkers, and hikers nationwide.After a near-death accident left him with a titanium femur and hip along with 10 knee operations, no ACL, and an inch leg-length discrepancy, former professional athlete and Olympic hopeful Michael Sandler was told he could never run again. It was only by going barefoot and feeling the ground, he began to heal as he learned how to run light and free. He now runs pain free 10-20 miles a day and in all conditions. His step-by-step method helps runners overcome injuries, find their natural form and rediscover the pure joy of running, no matter their age, history, or fitness level.Co-Author Jessica Lee hated running and nagging knee pain and swore off running until the day she went barefoot. Now she helps women experience the joy of running barefoot (and pain free) nationwide. Written to help people get into running, back into running, or run pain free and at your best at any age, Michael Sandler's inspirational book and step-by-step guide is an easy to read bible of information and a must read for any runner. Barefoot Running is the how-to-guide that picks up where Christopher McDougall's inspiring book Born to Run left off. If you liked Born to Run, you'll love Barefoot Running.Topics include: Barefoot Running for Kids, for Seniors, choosing footwear, transitioning safely, cold-weather running and more. "You are holding in your hands a book as exhaustive and accurate of a description of barefoot running as you could ever hope for." - Barefoot Ted

    Whether you’re just getting started or already a seasoned runner, this is the book that will take you to the next level. Kara Goucher’s Running for Women contains her expertise, tips, and tricks targeted specifically at female runners to help you become a better, happier, healthier, and more fulfilled runner. She’ll teach you how to:• Get started with the right gear,• Build a successful support team,• Find the right training program for you,• Overcome psychological setbacks,• Balance running with family and work,• And much more!Designed to fit your busy lifestyle, Kara Goucher’s Running for Women is packed with quick tips, pearls of running wisdom, and sample training schedules and nutrition plans, as well as sections dedicated to running during and after pregnancy, managing the special challenges of the female athlete’s body, and maintaining a balance between sporting and family life. Kara Goucher’s Running for Women is the ultimate guide for women who want to train for the gold or simply discover their personal best.

    . . the narrative is smooth and immediate, almost effortless in its detail, if occasionally breathless, like a good fast run . . ." --The New York Times Book Review Visionary American running coach Bob Larsen assembled a mismatched team of elite California runners . . . the start of his decades-long quest for championships, Olympic glory, and pursuit of "the epic run."In the dusty hills above San Diego, Bob Larsen became America's greatest running coach. Starting with a ragtag group of high school cross country and track runners, Larsen set out on a decades-long quest to find the secret of running impossibly fast, for longer distances than anyone thought possible. Himself a former farm boy who fell into his track career by accident, Larsen worked through coaching high school, junior college, and college, coaxing talented runners away from more traditional sports as the running craze was in its infancy in the 60's and 70's. On the arid trails and windy roads of California, Larsen relentlessly sought the 'secret sauce' of speed and endurance that would catapult American running onto the national stage. Running to the Edge is a riveting account of Larsen's journey, and his quest to discover the unorthodox training secrets that would lead American runners (elite and recreational) to breakthroughs never imagined. New York Times Deputy Sports Editor Matthew Futterman interweaves the dramatic stories of Larsen's runners with a fascinating discourse of the science behind human running, as well as a personal running narrative that follows Futterman's own checkered love-affair with the sport. The result is a narrative that will speak to every runner, a story of Larsen's triumphs--from high school cross-country meets to the founding of the cult-favorite 70's running group, the Jamul Toads, from national championships to his long tenure as head coach at UCLA, and from the secret training regimen of world champion athletes like Larsen's prot�g�, American Meb Keflezighi, to victories at the New York and Boston Marathons as well as the Olympics. Running to the Edge is a page-turner . . . a relentless crusade to run faster, farther.

    Unfortunately, with running comes injuries, as a result of wrong information and improper training.Along with clear and thorough explanations of how running influences the body, and how the body influences your running, this book answers many of the common questions that athletes have:Do runners need to stretch?What is the best way to run?What causes injuries?Which shoes are best for running?Is running barefoot beneficial?And much moreThe mobility and stability tests will assess your form, and the corrective exercises, along with step-by-step photos, will improve your core and overall performance, so that you can train and run with confidence, knowing how to avoid injuries!

     If you're not getting the best workout you can get... You're running the risk of being as far away from your ideal body as the Marianas Trench is from the surface of the Pacific Ocean. That's deep, buddy. Real deep. But here's something else to dive into, all puns aside: how many days are you going to let pass before you finally hit your fitness goals? Not those goals you see on TV. Not the goals your friends have. Your goals. The real ones that hit you at 3am and leave you staring at the ceiling in a wild mix of excitement and sheer panic. The ones that make you a little nervous to admit to anyone but your closest friends. Fitness is life. Moving faster, lifting more, and being better than pool-noodle flexible is the stuff that an optimal life is made out of if you ask me. And people have been asking me how to get the best body without necessarily putting your bank account on life support. That's when it hit me... Most People Are Hustling Backwards! Quick Test: if you want to know whether or not you're the President of the Backwards Fitness Hustlers Club, answer this: Why aren't you already working out on your terms? If your first thought was to pull an excuse out of that fine database you're calling a brain, I have bad news for you: you're not only hustling backwards, but you've voted yourself into the highest office in excuseland in the process! Become and Athlete Let's get down to business. This book is called Garage Gym Athlete: The Practical Guide to Training like a Pro, Unleashing Fitness Freedom, and Living the Simple Life, and it's exactly what it says on the tin. Instead of giving you DIY fantasies, I'm bringing DIY realities to the table. Want to save a bundle of money and still have a real reason to sell tickets to the gun show? This is your guide. Is orange your favorite color? If so, then you're in luck, because Home Depot is going to be in your future...quite often. I'm focused on turning average people into athletes, in both mind and body. That's the mission. That's the big plan. That's where my heart, soul, passion, and experience combine forces to help people go from zero to zealous, and from one to outrageously fit. When you pick up this book, you'll learn: - How to rearrange your budget and family objections so the ideal garage gym can come to life (this is way more effective than another game of Tetris, and much more fun - THE best way to build stability (without a crunch in sight!) - Exactly why you should thank the inventor of PVC (especially after you check out Chapter 13!) - A step by step guide to picking a quality barbell (hint: sporting goods get 3 things wrong, but I get you back on track quick) - A down in the trenches way to build a power rack (warning: for the bold and brazen, but you'll love it) There's plenty more coming your way in this guide. I made sure that if you check it out, you'll walk away with at least a handful of great tactics, tricks, and techniques to get the ultimate job done. Would You Like to Know More? At this point, you're at the usual buyer crossroads. Do I listen to the crazy guy, or click away? If you want to jump in headfirst to some great garage gym DIY, simply cross up and click the "Buy Now" button. That's it!

    The only book on running authored by a sports medicine specialist, this informative guide offers: A primer on running's most common injuries, emphasizing prevention and recovery, to get you through the grueling training months unscathed. Essential strengthening exercises, stretches, nutrition, and hydration tips.?