On Fitness for Me, and Possibly You?

This past Tuesday I paid Road Runner Sports a visit, and picked up a pair of Vibram FiveFingers®: Treksport. I've been putting off the 'FiveFinger' purchase for quite a while now—a close friend obtained a pair as soon as they debuted. The draw? They just makes so much sense.

A couple of years ago I graduated from the Golf Academy of America in San Diego. My first job out of the academy was at The Ranch at Laguna Beach (formerly Aliso Creek Inn & Golf Course). Rather than spend an exorbitant amount of money on gasoline, I spent 2-to-3 days of my workweek with my cousin - and founder of JiuJitSUP Apparel & Lifestyle Brand, James 'J.P.' Acevedo. He offered to put me up, or put up with me; one of the two.

La Vida Laguna Full Moon
Drum Circles at lavidalaguna.com

My time spent with J.P. in Dana Point made a lasting impression on me. I would affectionately refer to the experience as The Monastery, because it evoked some reminiscence of when I lived with the Benedictine monks of St. Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire, England. I learned a lot about myself at J.P.'s. We read, brainstormed, met new people, practiced Filipino Martial Arts (i.e. Eskrima), jogged, golfed, surfed, stand-up paddled, stretched, developed an effective fitness circuit, experimented with less conventional forms of exercise, attended Full Moon Drum Circles, and shared.

One of many things shared was a book called The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion—A Revolutionary Program That Let's You Rediscover the Body's Power to Protect and Rejuvenate Itself—by Pete Egoscue with Roger Gittines. Pete Egoscue is an Anatomical Functionalist and this piece of literature is one of his earlier labor of loves—prior to even the more popular Pain Free. In Pete's own words: "The method is derived from more than two decades of research and rigorous therapeutic application that began when I was wounded while serving as a Marine infantry officer in Vietnam in 1969." Pete's findings came as a result of his hospitalization/immobilization. He began to draw a correlation between "lack of motion and lack of function".

According to Mr. Egoscue, "What's considered "normal" in the United States, Europe, Japan, and the rest of the industrialized world these days is really abnormal. For the first time in human history, most of us are living in a environment that does not require motion and movement for survival. We move very little compared to our ancestors. Yet the design of our "normal' bodies remains unchanged. And that design, both in terms of function and its continued maintenance, depends on motion." Brilliant right? Well that's what I thought at least. And, for just shy of two years I studied Pete's 198 page text (I stress the word studied because many of us fly through self-help books these days—failing to absorb even a fraction of the content—as though the act of finishing such a book, or being able to say that one has read it, are the ends its content set out to achieve). I truly devoted a considerable amount of time to studying and implementing the information provided, in the hope determining its effects on myself.

Inside Pete's book are instructions on how to self-diagnose. I stood nude (alone) before a mirror and took a long hard look at myself. I winked, and proceeded with the exercise at hand. I noticed several things, some physically apparent and others sensory related, none of which were ever as obvious as they were at that very moment: a splayed right foot, tired left knee, a lower right Trapezius (often tight), rolled shoulders & hips, increased curvature of my lower spine, a larger right Pectoralis Major, chronic soreness in my left External Oblique & back, and a disproportionate distribution of weight, to name but a few of my observations. I was as fascinated as I was disgusted! It was as though at this very instance I had become conscious of my body's cry for help, and more importantly the breakdown in the lines of communication between it and my brain.

To say that my brain was ignoring my body's appeal is a gross misunderstanding. If anything, it was protecting it by masking the pain, as everybody's brains are currently doing, or as they are facilitating via aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen and so forth. That is, up until their breaking point (i.e. hip replacement, back or knee surgery, Rotator cuff tear, Corticosteroid or Hyaluronic acid or Platelet-rich injections, Prolotherapy, etc). Our brains maintain our survival. Mine could either obsess over its anatomical dysfunction on a daily basis, which might have hastened my overall deterioration (and most certainly been unreasonably debilitating), or "suck it up" and keep plugging along. The pain was seemingly transmuted in to some perceived state of normalcy, so that I could carry on with my daily activities unhindered.

Movie Still: WALL-E on mother ship

The problem is that I came to accept chronic pain, almost subconsciously, as a part of aging or as the result of a day-or-two's worth of playing too hard. It seems as though my body & mind were not on the same page. I guess that is what happens after so many years of being human. We think that there isn't much thought that need go in to this whole living, breathing, and being thing. And so, at some point, we engage the autopilot function only to forget that it is still on. It's kind of like the mother ship and its inhabitants in Disney Pixar's WALL-E.

My problem was that I had taken my body for granted. As spectacular and seemingly automated as it is, I hadn't been as proactive (i.e. conscious) in my responsibility for its maintenance as I should or could have been. This is still, and always shall be, a work-in-progress. Take mind, the realm of maintenance far exceeds isometric exercises, cross-fit, cardio, pilates, yoga, or any other fitness regimens. While movement is very important, an understanding of and a relationship with the body & mind, that make all of the above possible to begin with, are absolutely vital. If movement—like food & water—are what keep us alive, then it is the efficiency with which we move, as our bodies were meant to, that determines the quality & length of our lives.

With the help of Pete Egoscue, Thomas Hanna (Somatics), Bob Cooley (The Genius of Flexibility), Gray Cook (Movement), and other great minds, things are looking up. Personally, my intrarelationship aspires toward more of a seamless partnership between mind & body, rather than a brain that doles out work order after insurmountable work order to some mechanized unidentifiable subordinate appendages. And as a result of an ever-increasing bodily awareness I can't help but to want to discover more!

Posture, alignment, range-of-motion, strength & conditioning, nutrition, and a healthy state-of-mind are what I am after, and I am pretty optimistic that my new Vibram FiveFingers®: Treksport not-so shoes are another piece to that puzzle. After all, haven't I taken my feet for granted long enough? These puppies are built to last; we're talking several centuries worth of genetic trial & error here people, but we'd rather dress them up like dolls. I often wonder if people's feet are sore because they've "been on them all day" or because they've been sheltered all their 'lives' from the earth upon which they've been designed to tread—they're out of practice & weak.  Have you ever noticed how much children abhor shoes & socks, up until that point at which we have finally convinced them that the world is far too dirty or dangerous a place for them to be running around in with feet unsheathed? Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to get them to keep either of the two on? Have you ever asked yourself, "Why" this is? Rather than chalking it up to, "Well, they're children. They don't know any better." Well...I am intrigued, as are many others, and so I too have joined the barefoot revolution. We shall see where this latest fitness fit shall lead to. I will continue as best I can; one foot after the other, one step at a time. Only now, with a mere 8mm of combined EVA & rubber between me and the ground.