Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Heels and Weights

I was training today at the gym and as my client is performing sets of bench press and 1 arm lat pulls I look over and notice this trick working out in high-heel boots. Yeah, high-heel boots. I had to double take because I was so thrown off by her tactics. I started laughing out loud and had to share this sight with everyone else I could get a hold of. Seriously, why in the hell would anyone think that wearing high-heels during a workout is a good idea? Let's look at this...

With high-heels (or majority of today's athletic shoes) the heel is put in an elevated position. Being placed in this position for an extended period of time creates a lack of mobility in the ankle joint. Decreased mobility in the ankle joint creates problems all the way up the body. Knee joint, hip joint, lower back...they are all affected. This is a huge problem with people and joint pain in today's world. Along with that, having an elevated heel takes all of the activation out of the posterior chain. Just another addition to a weak backside that most of our society does not need. So many women wear heels on a daily basis and everyone looks for a new workout shoe such as Nike Shox which have a much higher heel. People need to get into a habit of walking around with their entire foot on the ground. Walking around barefoot while at home, wearing flats to work, working out in minimal footwear such as Nike Frees.

Start getting back to the way we were intended to be. Barefoot. Keep the heel low and see improvements in health and strength.

1 comment:

agerkins said...

Were they black, patent, spikey ankle boots??? I think I know who you're talking about. I saw her the other day too, and I almost fell off the elliptical from doing a double take to check out her kicks