Today, because it’s sunny where I am, I’m posting some nice bike pics… and a great bike video from Kate Spade which Gala Darling sent to me.

Ride on! (PS. stay tuned for an international bike-buying guide coming up).

Via pinterest.com

Via pinterest.com

Me, with the Cooper Zandvoort in Byron

This week I run in weird frog shoes

I think it’s a particularly Australian thing to not want to appear too earnest when partaking in sporting pursuits. Blaring lyrca and customised sweats make you look like you care too much. Which is fine if you’re the best. But anything less? You’re a try-hard. I mean, what could be worse than being accused of having “all gear and no idea”?

For this week’s column I succumbed to trialing possibly the most earnest sporting accoutrement on the planet: Vibram FiveFingers, those odd little foot gloves made from rubber that allow you to run barefoot without getting glass or twig injuries. They were originally designed in Italy as a non-slip boating shoe, but a few years ago were adopted by the rather parochial and fast-growing barefoot running community. You might have seen such folk about at your gym, down at the park, running past you in a marathon. And you might have thought, “Cripes, what an earnest little frog-footed person he/she is!”.

Well, I’ve turned into just such a person. You know, it’s lucky I offloaded my pride long ago (shortly after I wrote about getting a colonic and just before tap-dancing out of a plane with Sir Richard Branson for this column). Adjusting to the FiveFingers takes a good few months and Australia’s Vibram importer Max Delacy from Barefoot Inc told me I must walk around in them as much as possible until my feet strengthened. I wore mine walking through the city to meetings, to the supermarket and into a pub when I had to drop something off to a friend. I got looks. But I held my head high.

Last week I shared how I exercise and mentioned I’ve been going through a big shift via the work I’ve been doing with Aaron at Origin of Energy. I say it plain: it’s  boosted my energy levels and corrected my posture, two things that have suffered horribly from having an autoimmune disease. His technique is sure and steady and gentle and strong. The guy is beyond passionate and so so knowledgeable. Anthony Minnocello calls him The Guru. I’d peg him as “genius”.

Since I’ve been up north I’ve been doing the training on my own, using a ridiculous assortment of props – two tequila bottles as hand weights, my Le Creuset pot filled with coins as a dead weight, and the picnic table bench as a step-up.

This week I popped back to Sydney and got Aaron to do a bit of a program that we can all do at home, using stuff around the house as props.

The deal is this:

• We run through 3 different techniques (an easy and harder version of each). Do each technique for 1 minute. Then rest for a minute. So, 3 minutes on, one minute off. Repeat 5-6 times. In a week or so I’ll post some extra ones, to mix it up. I think I include an extra walking out push-out as well. Throw that into the mix too!
• You only have to exercise 25-30 minutes to get a fantastic workout. Any more taxes the system and is a waste of energy.
• Do it 2-3 times a week. The rest of the week walk, swim…move every day (but, again, it doesn’t have to be taxing).
• Stretch before …just easy versions of the exercises. Nothing fancy.
• We exercise in bare feet. I’ll write more on this soon. But I say for now, try it. It’s amazing for your core, your balance and for fine-tuning the subtle muscles throughout your body.
• The exercises make use of a bench/chair/step/garden ledge, a pot filled with sand or coins, a green shopping bag (the kind you get from the supermarket) which you can fill with books, and two bottles of booze/waterbottles filled with water.
• As you do the workouts focus on keeping calm. Work hard, but stay serene and balanced. Breathing through your nose helps.
• Aaron has this great suggestion: a lot of surfers who travel a lot carry hession bags with them. They head to the beach and fill them with sand, do their workout, then dump the sand. You can do the same if you travel, or if you have a sandpit at home.
• I do this when I travel to cities: if I get in late of a plane and feel all cramped up, I run the fire stairs. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
• Aaron’s techniques are great to do if you know your body quite well and are familiar with good workout technique. But I ALWAYS recommend getting a trainer to show you through techniques, so you have proper alignment. At some point in your life. A worthwhile investment.

PS The marks on my arms and leg are dire blue bottle injuries…I’m allergic, it turns out…

PPS We’re training in the OoE studies in Bondi Junction (above the train station). They run group training session there 4-5 times a day. For more info, go here…It’s not expensive! They also have a small shop and kitchen where you can buy smoothies and raw butter and activated nuts and organic meat and berries.

PPS The post below contains an overview of the philosophy behind this kind of “caveman” approach to exercise….read on if you’re interested in learning more.

If you have any tips to share for working out at home with makeshift equipment, share and share alike!

OK, I’ve just posted on how to exercise at home, using techniques I’ve learned from Origin of Energy’s Aaron and his team.

As a backgrounder, I’ve got Aaron to explain the philosophy behind the exercises he teaches. I love it…I’m absorbing myself in the information at the moment and meeting all kinds of people who live in this way, including a great Sydney wholistic dentist, ballet dancers, marathon runners and chefs (Martin Boetz who owns Longrain is a big fan).

• The movement is sometimes called Paleo living or Primitive living. The Bloodtype diet is one strand. CHEK training adheres to this thinking, too. I’m not a fan of very formalised “diets” and plans like these. Aaron isn’t either. Which is why I like his approach.
• The book or approach that many seem to recommend is Primal Body Primal Mind. You might want to check it out.
• And for an insight into Aaron’s work with footy player Anthony Minnocello’s recovery you might like to watch this:

Aaron explains “hunter + gatherer” exercise

The human body is the expression of the earth’s wild environment. Humans are the most evolved biological organism on the planet. Our whole body is a refined tool for effective hunting and gathering.

Unfortunately most of us don’t stimulate our bodies with the movement, nutrition & lifestyles that created us. As a result many of us have become physically weak, and an expression of sedentary lifestyles.

There is is an innate reason why we find physically healthy & fit individuals attractive. They are good providers & survivors of the natural environment. So to get back your birthright of health, fitness and a lean athletic physique here are some hunting & gathering exercises:

1. Interval shuttle sprints

We walked or sprinted, light jogging would have scared away what we wanted to eat. Uneven terrain & agile prey would not have let us sprint  in one direction.

So try this: 10m interval shuttle. Both feet pass the line each time with one hand touching the ground.

Reader Amy recently asked what I do for exercise.

This is a really good question. Because I’ve shifted the way I do things in the past six months or so. Dramatically so. And I think what I’ve learned (the hard way…always the hard way with me) works. For everyone. It’s not that complicated…and it’s kind.

To start, I should tell you what I used to do. I would run 10-14km every few days, run to yoga class twice a week, run to the beach to sand run, run to the gym, run 10km to work…oh, and go mountain running most weekends. I’d also go mountainbike racing…I’d compete in 24 hour races.

Got a picture? I’m not boasting. I’m kind of embarrassed.

I ran. From? Not sure…mostly myself and my fear of stillness.

In the end my adrenals couldn’t handle it any more and I collapsed. Bam! I ground to a halt and couldn’t walk for several months. I’ve written about this before. Quelle irony, hey! Our bodies do this. They teach us the perfect lessons we need right now. My lesson: stop! Rethink!

As I got better, I tried to go back to my old ways. Stubborn goat girl that I am. Each and every time, though, I’d get an injury – in my neck, my toe, or a cold or whatever. My body was rebelling. It was super shitty.

I finally got the picture. So. Now. I take a far more gentle approach. Below is what works now.

my principles

* Exercise/move every day. It’s the “every day” part of that statement that matters, not how much, or what you do. Once you start allowing “off” days….you allow the “off” days to grow. And, really, exercise should just be about moving. It should be part of life every day. Not a regime you shirk from. Treat it as such.

* Sometimes I just walk. Or stretch in the morning.

* I just commit to doing 20 minutes of something. I get out the door and move.  If I start moving and want to do it longer, great. If not, 20 minutes is cool.

* I exercise in the morning. Then it’s done. I also exercise/move to feel fresh. To get energy. This is the point. My day feels dull without this kick-start. THIS is what gets me out of the bed. Any incidental walking on top of what I do in the morning is a bonus.

* I don’t make a fuss. I tie on my shoes and get out of the house. No fancy gear or water bottles or towels. Driving to gyms and groups across town are just hurdles that can stop you from just moving. Keep it as simply and as close to home as possible. I put my key down my bra and carry nothing. No ipod, no phone. Out the door!

This post has been updated to include some additional very useful comments – scroll to the bottom!

A coupla posts back I mentioned I don’t wear a helmet all the time. I like to dress exactly how I like to be dressed for the day and not have my outfit stop me from riding a bike (and, instead, drive). Which prompted some of you to want to lock me away from your children (should I corrupt them into not wearing theirs). But many more of you shared some very good info about where the research and laws are all at.

It’s always good to have informed ammunition when someone confronts you with their outrage that you’re slipping through the streets on two wheels unhindered. (I should point out again, I do wear a helmet on long trips (ie not on familiar roads in my neighbourhood), when I’m riding off-road etc.)

So, a bit of a cheat sheet for you, based on comments from the original post:

There are safety studies about the issue. This one is a good overview. But a few interesting factoids that I pulled from the link…

* Cycling is no more dangerous than being a pedestrian.

* UK research has pointed out that it “takes at least 8000 years of average cycling to produce one clinically severe head injury and 22,000 years for one death“.

* Six times as many pedestrians as cyclists are killed by motor traffic, yet travel surveys show annual mileage walked is only five times that cycled; a mile of walking must be more “dangerous” than a mile of cycling…” The proportion of cyclist injuries which are head injuries is essentially the same as the proportion for pedestrians at 30.0 % vs. 30.1 %.

* No randomized controlled trials have been done on the safety of bike helmets.

This from Dr Paul Martin (“a medical specialist…involved in the resuscitation of trauma victims and their subsequent management in the operating theatre”):

A bicycle helmet will not prevent brain damage if the forces involved are so great that you would sustain brain damage without a helmet. You will certainly prevent superficial injuries but that’s about it. In fact, this is a major reason why they’re good to wear for sport cycling. There is nothing worse than having to abandon a race with a scalp laceration. I do not wear a bicycle helmet most of the time. When competing, I’ll wear one. Do you wear a helmet when in a car? If not, why not? The risk of a serious head injury in a car is much greater than on a bicycle. If there was a mandatory car-occupant helmet law would you all comply?

This week I wear ugly walking shoes

Recently I was given a pair of those chubby, stack-soled “fit” sneakers*. You know, the kind that look a cross between that very special footwear you can only buy at a chemist and those foam stilts Baby Spice used to wear with legwarmers back in 1993.

* I was given Reebok EasyTone’s. But MBT‘s are very popular. So are Skecher’s Shape-Ups. This is not an endorsement…but so many of you have asked for the details!

Such shoes come with claims: they are said to lift your bum, increase your heart rate, zap cellulite, solve your existential angst, sort your tax return and nab you a new partner. That last one, of course, is made up. These shoes are so ugly, they’re known universally to deflect potential suitors as soon as they see you coming (in life-improving, calf-elongating strides).
Lifted bum or no lifted bum.