Capitalogix

I Tried Barefoot Running Shoes - Here Is What I Found

Have you seen the athletic shoes that look like gloves?

They started showing up at the gym I go to ... then someone in the office wore them when we worked-out together.  Part of me thought it was "pretentious", and another part thought it was "silly"; turns out ... they are worth trying.

Here's a confession; I'm now of an age where it made sense to judge a workout by how much my feet and ankles swell.  The well-cushioned athletic shoes that I have been wearing, do such a good job of masking impact that I wasn't noticing how my running form was hurting my body. Instead, I just thought the damage was simply a result of getting older.

Apparently, I just forgot how to run.  A few weeks in those silly looking barefoot running shoes has made a huge difference. 

Here is a video showing how barefoot running effects stride, bio-mechanics, and the stress you put on your joints.

 

 

Studies show that barefoot running prevents injury, and can even enhance performance!  A professor at Harvard led a research team that looked at the "impact collision force" (when the foot hits the ground) of runners in shoes compared to barefoot runners.  The impact was actually reduced by two-thirds by running in bare feet.  Basically the difference is in how the foot lands on the ground.  Barefoot runners land each step more on the ball, or the middle of the foot, which is more gentle to the foot. 

In contrast, runners in traditional athletic shoes tend to land more on the heel.  As a result, our thickly-cushioned modern running shoes may actually be causing stress on our joints and feet because we're not landing the way we were meant to do while running. 

If you decide to try out this age-old running style, it's best to gradually transition yourself for a few weeks.  Listen to the signals from your body.  Otherwise, you may feel sore while you get "back on your feet" - and start using muscles you probably forgot you had.

Certainly worth trying.

Resources:

• Books on Barefoot Running.
• Merrell's Barefoot Running Page.
• Vibram's FiveFinger Running Site.
• Barefoot Running Technique Video.

 

Related articles

• Running barefoot better for health than with shoes (news.bioscholar.com)
• Barefoot Shoes, iPhone App Help Train Sole Searchers (wired.com)
• Top Ten Tips to Get More Out of Merrell Barefoot Running Shoes (onlineshoes.com)

Snake-Oil? The Scientific Evidence for Various Health Supplements

Trying to lead a healthier lifestyle?  This data visualization can help you filter-out the marketing hype to help you find the vitamins, minerals and herbs that deliver tangible benefits ... versus those that serve only as a "Guaranteed Genuine Placebo".

This is an updated interactive model of the most current research data.

It is interesting because of the health research itself ... and also because models, like this, have far-reaching applications.  It comes from the site Information is Beautiful.

Click on the picture to play with the interactive version.

 

Kind of cool. 

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• Four Ways of Looking at Twitter via HBR (kanarick.com)
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Awareness Test Video - Your Attention Span Is Smaller Than You Think

You look, but do you see?

Daniel Simons' experiments on visual awareness have become famous.  The primary conclusion drawn from his research is that we can miss incredibly obvious things, right in front of us, if our attention is focused elsewhere.

Test Your Awareness.

Watch this video and count how many passes the team in white makes. 

This is worth doing so you experience it yourself.

Try to ignore the black team.  Just focus on the white team, and see if you can accurately count how many times they pass the ball. 

OK, click the video to do it now.

 

Did you get the right answer?  Even though I knew what to expect, the result or effect was surprising.

By the way, there is a newer version of this video, here.

Think how often your focus blinds you to the obvious.

Change Blindness.

Missing an invisible gorilla or a moon-walking bear may seem strange.  However, the next experiment may be more surprising.

This video demonstrates "change blindness".  In an experiment, 75% of the participants didn't notice that the experimenter who bent under a counter was replaced by a different person.

 

If you liked that, here is a version done by Derrin Brown. It is quite clever and worth watching. It was even more surprising to me because it was done in public with "real people".   How did people not notice a white male switching with a black guy (or an asian female) in the middle of a conversation?

Warning: Objects In Your Attention Span Are Fewer Than You Perceive.

Moment by moment, the brain selectively processes information it deems most relevant. Experiments, like these, show the limits of our capacity to encode, retain, and compare visual information from one glance to the next. 

More importantly, this suggests that our awareness of our visual surroundings is far more sparse than most people intuitively believe.  Consequently, our intuition can deceive us far more often than we perceive.

Clearly, in an information-rich environment, attention is a scarce and essential resource. So, pay attention (or automate the things you know need to be done right, every time).

Related Resources.

• To read more about this, check-out the Invisible Gorilla book.
• Here is a link to the Invisible Gorilla website.
• Here are more fun video examples of Change Blindness.

Related articles

• The invisible gorilla returns to show us how often we miss the obvious (io9.com)
• A Must Read: The Invisible Gorilla (psychologytoday.com)
• Pay Attention - or Else (blogs.hbr.org)

Cartoon: Woo-Hoo! We've Stopped the Oil!!

Is the glass half-empty, or is the glass half full?

It's easy for cartoonists to make fun of how long it took to stop the oil leak.

Nonetheless, it will certainly be a lot easier to clean up the mess now that were not making more of it.

Here's to progress.

Stephen Hawking Shares Thoughts on the Universe, Religion, and Love

Celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking knows more about the universe than almost any other person ever to walk the planet, but some answers still escape even him.

When asked by ABC News' Diane Sawyer about the biggest mystery he'd like solved, he said, "I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something greater than nothing." 

Other topics covered include: how Hawking reconciles the idea of religion and science; and what he considers the best and worst decisions of our generation.

So, watch this video as the physicist discusses everything from the universe to family.

Here is more from Diane Sawyer's interview with Stephen Hawking.

Here is a picture showing Hawking trying out Zero Gravity.

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• Stephen Hawking says Earth should not phone ET (newscientist.com)
• Theories of everything: Seven ways to know God's mind (newscientist.com)
• 10 cool things you didn't know about Stephen Hawking (holykaw.alltop.com)

Scary Interactive Graphics about the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster

Here is a picture that puts things in perspective.  It overlays a representation of how big the oil spill is, now, over a map of where you live.  Since I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, here is the result.  Try it yourself by clicking the graphic.

The disaster in the Gulf started with an explosion on the BP operated Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010.  Current estimates put the amount of oil being discharged from the broken well at above 1,050,000 US gallons per day.  No one ever said cleaning up an oil spill was cheap: the U.S. government served BP with a hefty $69 million bill for the initial costs of contending with the worst oil disaster in U.S. history. Here is a link to a site devoted to the spill and its fallout.

Reading about it is one thing ... However, seeing what is happening is often a better way to gauge reality.  So judge for yourself; here is a live stream from an under-water "Spill-Cam".

It comes from PBS.

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• Goldman: Gulf Oil Disaster Stocks Are Way Oversold (HAL, RIG, PDE, ATW, BE, RDC, BP) (businessinsider.com)

A Water Drop Filmed in Ultra-Slow-Motion, at 2000 Frames-per-Second.

What looks "normal" in real-time, is something quite different when you have the means to perceive it. 

Very cool stuff.  See for yourself.

Here is a video showing a water-drop in ultra-slow-motion (2,000 frames per second). It is from the Discovery Channel's series 'Time Warp', where MIT scientist and teacher Jeff Lieberman and digital-imaging expert Matt Kearney use the latest in high-speed photography to turn never-before-seen wonders into an experience of beauty and learning.

What it Means.

Wisdom comes from finer distinctions. 

Think about how being able to make more distinctions per unit time is changing the world. 

It is changing everything ... from auto-landing airplanes, your car's thermostat or cruise control, to Goldman Sach's recent trading record from high-frequency trading.

Need Energy, a Clear Head, or a Power Nap ... There's an App for That.

pzizz (pronounced puh-zizz) Relax is a power-nap app. 

Whenever you feel tired or frazzled, put on your headphones, set the time you have available - and pzizz creates a new and unique soundtrack, each time you use it.  There's nothing to learn - and no effort required by you. 

Simply press a button, and you get a surprisingly effective and pleasant relaxation session.

Increase Energy and Performance.

I've been a pzizz user since 2005.  Frankly, I'm still surprised by how much it helps when you need a quick nap, pick-me-up, or boost of energy (even if you only have 15-20 minutes).  It is nice that it works to relax you; it is even better that you wake-up feeling good and ready for the rest of your day.

Here's How it Works.

First, find a comfortable place.  Second, choose how long you want your power nap to be.  Third, adjust how much talking you prefer. Fourth, headphones are better - but not necessary.  Fifth, press the button and let yourself relax.

What Happens?

Each session has three parts, the Intro, Main Session, and Wake-Up Sequence.  Throughout all of them, a deep, cool, British voice guides you through some relaxation techniques and gives you encouragement and positive feedback.  The voice is done by Michael Breen, a well-know NLP Expert.

Sound Waves Affect Brain Waves.

In addition to the NLP guidance, pzizz  also leverages binaural beats and ambient sounds to help you relax.  Yes, there is also a pleasant background track complete with music, bells, wind chimes and other assorted ear candy designed to lull you to sleep. Bottom-Line: You'll like it.

Try It Yourself.

If this all sounds new-agey, I can't blame you. I mocked the idea of pzizz when I first heard about it. "Actions speak louder than words".  If you need proof, try it yourself. Click this link to download a sample 15 minute energizer soundtrack and a sample 15 minute sleep soundtrack to see how it works for you. 

The software is available for PCs and Macs.  Also, pzizz has two iPhone apps.

Keep an open mind and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Related Links:

• Review - Energize Your Sleep With pzizz - 40Tech
• Review - pzizz for iPhone- Gear Diary
• Review - pzizz Napping Software at Work - MacNN
• Review - pzizz "How"s and "Why"s - SleepWarrior
• 7 Soothing iPhone Apps to Help You Relax

Related Posts I've Written:

• Light and Sound Machine
• Holosync

Making Room for New Ideas

How many things that you think you "know" are out-dated or simply not true?  Ignorance isn't always the problem; this video shows that pre-conceived notions pose quite a challenge.

In this Ted Talk, called "Let My Dataset Change Your Mindset", watch as Hans Rosling uses fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world, and how the world has developed.

Very interesting for the content ... and the analysis techniques.

For Additional Information.

• Here is the direct link.
• Here is a link to his blog.
• And here is a link to a different Ted Talk Rosling did in 2006.
• Here is a link to commentary about the presentation.

The Hows and Whys of Firewalking

I recently went to a Tony Robbins seminar in Toronto. One of the highlights of the event was the Firewalk, which is a barefoot walk across red-hot embers.

Learning the technique is not really that hard (it is basically walking at a normal pace, while not hesitating or tripping).  The hard part is doing that knowing that there are burning embers under your feet.

It is breath-taking on several levels.  The firewalk is cool in-and-of-itself; isn't it?  So, it doesn't have to mean anything beyond doing it.  Yet, there are some great opportunities to make it more impactful by leveraging what you make the experience mean.

For example you can use the experience as a powerful memory, triggering feelings of being able to do anything you commit to ... or breaking through what used to be your limits.  Or the firewalk can be taken as a metaphor for life ... and being able to put yourself into a resourceful state, and choosing to take the right action regardless of what's happening externally or in your mind.

What Goes Through Your Mind?

I was scared the first time I walked on fire. Even though I knew it would do it, when I got to the front of the line, looked down, saw the burning embers, and smelled the smoke ... my mind wanted to scream "NO"!!  I had a whole lifetime of conditioning that touching hot things was dangerous, and certainly walking barefoot across hot coals made little sense to my logical mind, and even less sense to that primal instinct part of the mind that's there to protect me.

That's why many of the techniques used in the seminars revolve around getting into a peak state, and filling your head with phrases that you repeat again, and again, and again. If you're saying "yes", "yes", "yes" ... There's no room for your brain to say "no".

Is It State of Mind ... Or Science?

I'm not going to pretend I understand the science of why it's possible to walk barefoot for 30 or 40 feet across burning coals, without injuring yourself. But you don't have to be a scientist to guess that hesitating in the middle might have painful consequences.  This video is well done and explains a lot.

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It is Better the Second Time Around.

I've done the firewalk many times now, and still enjoy it. It's really interesting to watch the faces of people doing it for the first time. Some express abject terror, others pump themselves up into a manic state, while still others follow the crowd with a glazed look on their face.

This time, I tried something different than what I've done before. Instead of working myself into a peak state and charging across the coals triumphantly, I wanted to do it from a place of calm resolve. To me this is a different type of peak state.

In some ways it's about being more present to the situation and my own capabilities. Since I had done this before, being afraid would be somewhat irrational (however emotions do not have to be logical). I didn't want to numb myself to the experience by focusing internally, or by jacking-myself-up into a warrior state; instead I wanted to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of what was happening -- and how cool it was to do this from a purposeful intent.

A Little Bit of Mastery Goes a Long Way.

As a trader, the winning, losing, and the uncertainty and certainly trigger fear, greed, and doubt. Learning to master these states, and keeping a clear head, leads to a much longer career.

It's funny, because I wasn't sure that going through this exercise again would have the same impact. It did, just for different reasons than I have before. I highly recommend it. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or comments.  I'd love to hear about your experiences.