My girl. Taking a walk.

MuTu Intensive workouts are extremely effective & last only 15 minutes or so (sometimes less), which is very cool, especially for busy Mamas.

But those 15 minutes aren’t your activity quota, they’re your *intensive exercise to get fit & strong & gorgeous & sweaty* quota.

Movement, ie walking, needs to be part of your day too.

Here’s why & how.

Mums don’t have any spare time (comes with the territory…) which means we have to take the ‘me time’ we can grab – while the baby sleeps, while everyone else sleeps, that 20 minute slot between shopping, tidying & the school run… Or it doesn’t happen at all. *Making time* is another conversation. But I wanted to have a quick word in your ear about the difference between making 15 minutes time to ‘do your workout’… & making time to walk.

See if that 15 minutes MuTu Intensive workout is the only movement your body gets in a  day, then that’s not going to get your body & health where you want it.

In fact if you get up from your seat in front of the computer/TV/at the office/in the car to do your workout, & then pretty much go back to the car/office/desk/TV, then you could actually do yourself more harm than good. Most of us are awake for what, 16,17 hours out of 24? Knees, hips, wrists, feet… they’re not built to do nothing for 15+ of those hours & then leap around for 15 minutes. Definitely, ‘not cool’.

I’m not suggesting you’re literally doing nothing in those hours – you’re working, driving, housekeeping, caring for your children, studying, reading, reading to your children… all important, essential stuff. But you’re not really moving, & by moving in this context I’m referring to walking. Not running or even a little jogging, but WALKING.

It’s not Either/Or. As suggested in the MuTu System 12 week programme, right from day 1, you go for a daily walk. You add in more intensity & a few more short workouts as you go along, but you always do your daily walk.

Ideally we should walk for 1 hour every day to keep our joints working effectively. Owning a dog or walking a longish school run helps, but if you don’t have either of these things, an hours walk is probably something you’re not doing. 30 minutes would be a great start.

Go today! Walk a shortish trip that out of habit, you usually drive. Save the planet, some fuel money & your joints all at the same time! Put your baby or toddler in a buggy & go for a walk. Borrow a dog. Walk to the shop for a packet of unsalted cashews ) & walk back. Got bigger kids? They need a daily walk too, so go together – you can all practice some of these good walking habits for fun as you walk!

How To Walk Properly

Is she kidding me? How to walk?

Well I know you can probably walk… but you could probably do it in a way that benefits your leg muscles, knees & pelvic floor a little more (yes, how you walk & stand directly affects your pelvic floor… who knew?), so try these:

• Your feet should point straight ahead as you walk. Many of us stand & walk with our feet pointing out to the sides. For lots of reasons (basically boiling down to some basic mechanics) this is not good for your feet, your knees or your hips. So look down (get your kids to do this too!). Your feet should be pointing straight forwards.
• Walking is a kind of gliding action: heel to forefoot, pushing off the forefoot. Your torso should be straight, don’t bend or lean forward & look straight ahead. (If you’re walking with a toddler this will be categorically impossible as they pick up every twig, leaf & piece of litter from the ground, but try
• Your shoes are important. Shoes for walking in should not have a heel, because to walk in correct alignment, your heel needs to interact with the ground. You don’t necessarily have to go for ‘barefoot shoes‘, just flat shoes. You ideally want a toebox wide enough for your toes to wiggle about, as flat a heel as possible & as thin a sole as possible (Converse over Nike for instance!). PS: not flip-flops or shoes you have to ‘hang onto’ though.
• Your legs should be pretty much straight when you walk, so your leg should pivot from the hip, rather than bend at the knee. Try it, feels weird at first (but hey, probably so does lots of stuff I suggest you try, so bear with me) remember we have many, many habits that are not good for the way our body works. Just because you’ve always done it one way, doesn’t mean its the right way & after a while you’ll find that those ‘bad knees’ or ‘dodgy hips’ of yours aren’t quite such a habit either!
• And last but not least, I’ll remind you again, don’t tuck your butt! 
• Swing your arms, stride out & enjoy it!

Butts stick out - they're supposed to. Butt out, tummy in.

Did you know that how you stand affects the tone of your pelvic floor?

I’m working on something very exciting for you at the moment which combines the ultimate in MuTu Core, MuTu Breathe & MuTu Posture & will literally get your body EXACTLY where it needs to be to tone & flatten your tummy, perk-ify (I love that word so much I made it up…) your butt & strengthen your pelvic floor at the same time as reducing lower back, knee & hip pain!

It’s launching at the end of June so watch this space!

But in the meantime, I have a little taster for you: How to stand. Keep following my updates (up there in the pink cloud… put in your email address so you don’t miss out!) for how this is relevant to your pelvic floor… but for now. Just believe me when I say it does

This is your postural alignment homework which will directly benefit your pelvic floor!.. simply *BACK UP*!

That means, when you’re standing, your weight should be through your heels, not the balls of your feet. You should be able to lift your toes & your butt should curve out. I’ve said it before: don’t tuck your tailbone! That doesn’t mean you let your tummy hang out though! Draw belly button through to spine, but do it without moving your pelvis.

Keep checking yourself as you’re standing – weight on the front of your feet? Rock back!

PS : you won’t be able to do this if you’re wearing shoes with any heel at all… so take your shoes off!

When you’ve got that, try finding your abdominal muscles.

‘Belly button to spine’ is harder without butt tucking isn’t it? But that’s what you’re aiming for. Try it. Stand side on to the mirror… weight through your heels, tension out of your knees, butt curved, like butts are supposed to be.

That’s it – go practice & tell me how you get on!

I have been recently initiated into the world of barefoot walking & running, under the tuition of, & thanks to some lovely shoes from, VIVObarefoot.

So mum’s a barefoot running convert…now its time to indoctrinate my children *evil cackle* & try out some barefoot shoes for kids.

What’s Wrong With Our Normal School Shoes?

I have 2 (kids), aged 4 & 6. My 4 year old son started school last September & so off I trotted off to Clark’s (I’m pretty sure if you’re in the US you go there too, the other ‘go-to’ kids shoes here are Jones & Start-Rite…) but wherever you shop, when you want school shoes for little boys, you get some pretty unyielding things resembling steel-capped boots for very small people.

Girls’ shoes aren’t so bad, my daughter’s school shoes are fairly flexible & comfortable anyway I think… so for me it was the boy’s shoes I was really curious about. You see my boy falls over. A lot. He trips over his own feet on a very regular basis, & when he was wearing his school shoes, it was like watching a very small drunken sailor. It really did appear like the shoes were inflexible & he was restricted by them. So I was game-on for some barefoot action if only to save the poor little chap’s grazed knees.

But childrens’ shoes need lots of support don’t they? Arch support & ankle support & protection & stabilising stuff that feet can’t do on their own?

Well actually it turns out that this is all nonsense & actually growing feet need a little protection from the elements & that’s about it.

Apparently arches ‘fall’ (causing ‘flat feet’) because they have no strength, because they’re ‘supported’ all the time. Feet are squished & held fast inside these solid little shoes, so they can’t feel the ground anymore, & our kids feet don’t develop properly because they can’t / don’t need to

Why Barefoot Shoes For Kids?

This video explains it much more succintly (& cutely) than I do…
Can’t see the video? Click here

So, enter stage left the VIVObarefoot Pally for girls & the Rooty for boys… & the story so far!

Disclosure: VIVOBAREFOOT have given us these shoes to review & tell you about. What jolly nice people!

So you need to know they gave us the shoes, but you also need to know that our reviews are ENTIRELY impartial & based on our own experience. In case it weren’t immediately obvious, technical scientific review terms such as “colourfuller” & “grippier” were all our own work.

It's not JUST 'calories in, calories out' to blame...

Eat less, move more, & you’ll lose your baby weight. It’s a pretty simple principle, but it’s missing something. ‘Calories in, calories out’ are not the only factor in determining fat loss, especially fat loss from around your waistline. Your hormones, your stress levels & how much sleep you’re getting are contributing to the fat around your belly too. Here’s 6 ways to balance yours!

I posted recently on how increasing your intake of essential FATS & dramatically decreasing the amount of SUGAR you eat, were 2 massively important  MuTu Food factors in determining belly fat. We’ve established that all calories are not created equal.

We also know that certain types of exercise, ie high intensity, metabolic resistance training… (that means workouts like the ones MuTu System gives you) are much, much more effective & efficient at burning fat than long bouts of cardio exercise.

But that’s not all. Hormones & lack of sleep – kinda pertinent to us as mothers then – can make us store more fat around our middle too.

It is your HORMONE BALANCE that determines what proportion of fat you store, & how much you burn. Not hours on the treadmill, or whether your sweet treats are organic or not, but hormones. Sugar in our diet (& remember this isn’t just the obvious sugar, but all refined carbohydrates like bread, pasta or processed foods as well) increases the insulin in our body, & it is insulin which makes us more likely to store fat, not burn it. The effect of insulin on our body fat storage is explained simply here & here.

Another important hormone in fat storage, & particularly on fat storage around your waist, is the hormone Cortisol. Cortisol decreases muscle mass & encourages belly fat storage. Not good then. It is caused by… STRESS!! Not just emotional, or mental stress (something many mums deal with on a constant & daily basis) but also physical, or body stress. Our bodies become stressed when we give then too much sugar or caffeine, when we’re not taking care of ourselves, or we don’t get enough sleep. All these factors will increase cortisol levels, & therefore, tummy fat.

Lack of sleep is a big factor affecting cortisol levels & unbalancing our hormones. The less sleep you have, & the later you go to sleep, the higher your levels of cortisol in the morning.

So for every mum chasing her tail trying to do it all, be it all & have it all, surviving on a few hours sleep a night & constantly stressing about everything & everybody else… (that’ll be most of us then )…  we have some work to do if we’re going to get these hormones back in balance.

I know the sleep part often can’t be helped. That’s just the reality of parenthood. And the stress part isn’t always contain-able. But there are lifestyle changes, as well as diet & exercise changes, that we can make, which will have a dramatic effect on our body’s predisposition to hang onto fat around the middle.

Here’s some ways you can start to re-balance your hormones, within the confines of *being mum*!

Hormone Balancing Food. That’s Food, as in MuTu Food. Not Calories or ‘Diet’:

1. Eat mostly vegetables, followed by protein, with the smallest portion being starches or grains. Protein increases levels of other hormones (namely HGH & testosterone, but don’t worry too much about that, they just do. I’m working on a ‘need to know’ here ) which counteract the insulin spikes & bring levels down. Your plate should have portion sizes in the above order of size: biggest: vegetables; middle: protein; smallest: starches or carbohydrates.
2. Get your essential fats. Fish oils (more on how to get your essential fats from the right seeds , fish or supplements here). Omega 3′s will also help balance your hormones & reduce fat around your waistline

Hormone Balancing Exercise. Not How Much, But How:

1. High intensity, interval based workouts are infinitely more effective & efficient at burning fat & reducing fat storage than medium or long cardio sessions are
2. Your workouts must include resistance training. Resistance training means using weights, heavy ones. But you don’t need dumbbells… your own body weight is heavy enough! MuTu Intensive  moves like squats, the gecko, press ups & pull ups, using your core correctly, are resistance training but with your body as the weight! (sample free videos here). Resistance training is essential to balance your hormones in a way that will increase lean muscles mass (that means tone & shape, not bulk) & decrease fat storage around your waistline.

Hormone Balancing Your Lifestyle (the Realistic Mums’ Version):

1. Get more sleep. I know, I know. My daughter didn’t sleep more than 4 hours in one go until she was 5 months old (I might be an exercise ‘expert’… but I’m sure as heck not a parenting one…). We have to take what we can get. But there are probably some nights when the reality show really could be sacrificed & you could grab an extra hour or so. If you have a small baby, that advice to ‘sleep when the baby sleeps’ really does make sense! We all do it: ‘well I’m up now/the laundry needs doing/I’ll just get this room tidied up/ I’ll just watch this daytime show & have a cup of tea & a slice of cake’  But sometimes, just… don’t. Lie down & close your eyes instead. The laundry might not get done but hey, the world won’t stop turning & you’ll feel better (especially when you know you’re reducing your tummy fat by taking a nap!)
2. Try, try try to reduce the emotional stress in your life.  Take a leaf out of my favourite life coach Dolly’s (yes, as in Parton)  book &  ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’. Then take a moment to read this wonderful article by Momastery: Don’t Carpe Diem (Do it. Click it then come back. you’ll be glad you did). Run a bath. Do some yoga, even if its only for 5 minutes… MuTu Breathe teaches you how (breathing *properly* is surprisingly relaxing you know). Forget the chores & play with your kid. Go for a walk. Phone a friend. Have a cuddle with someone. Smile at a stranger. Put lipstick on. I don’t care how cliched it is or how you do it, but just take a moment & CHILL OUT. You’re doing great at this motherhood thing. Seriously. You’re doing JUST FINE. And you’re allowed a moment.

So there it is. 6 ways to lose your baby belly fat without one word about how many calories you eat. I’d love to hear your strategies for *balancing* the hormones in your life… your comments are welcomed!

A few weeks ago I was interviewed about the effects of cutting down sugar, on my body & health.

The journalist was particularly interested in my skin & the way (or how young, or not) I look. I emphasized a number of times that my overall health & fitness had improved & that less sugar in my diet was one factor.

Since qualifying as a nutritional advisor & personal trainer all those years ago I eat clean unprocessed food as much as possible, I exercise regularly, practice yoga & live an all round pretty healthy lifestyle. One of the aspects of my lifestyle is that I eat very little refined sugar. All of these guidelines & principles are well documented & discussed on this blog.

Fastforward to the Daily Mail spin.

I ‘put it all down to cutting out sugar’

The changes happened ‘overnight’

‘The biggest compliment you can pay me is to call me a liar‘ [about my age] (Huh??)…

… & apparently I think I ‘look 20 years younger’.

That would mean… I think I look 20. 20!! Just out of teenage-hood. Oh PLEASE. Pre-2 decades of careers, children & well… life. Now that WOULD be deluded.

Had I ever said it.

No editorial mention of what my business is about, my area of expertise or in fact… any context at all.

Comments below the online article discuss my (& the other poor woman in the article’s) ’delusion’ & ‘vanity’ & tell me I look my age. Thanks guys. I, um…I know.

Then they say that us ‘bragging women’ ‘put ourselves & our looks out there for criticism’. Um actually, no, I really didn’t.

This is my short & sweet ‘put the record straight’!

A journalist called & told me she was writing about sugar in the diet & its affects on health, skin & welbeing. She  asked me questions about MuTu System & nutrition & my own eating habits. As well as discussing the nutritional science of sugar in the diet,  & my program, it was clear that eating less sugar is one factor of my diet & lifestyle choices. I know that eating less sugar gives me many health benefits, & not looking too old before my time may be one of them.

I turned 40 last year,  I’ve been married 12 years, got 2 kids at school & run a business that I am passionate about helping real women look & feel better about themselves & their bodies.

I write regularly about body image & body confidence, hence my discomfort with the article’s focus on looks alone

I look 40.

I looked 20 in 1991.

So I’m going to slink off & hope you don’t read that article (& no I’m not giving you link ) And thanks to my lovely nephew for his words of wisdom. When I’m stupendously rich & famous I’m hiring him as my Press Secretary.

Searching for information on Diastasis Recti online, you are likely to find the MuTu System website (that’s this one!) as well as others.

There many physical therapists, physiotherapists, specialist trainers (& surgeons!) providing useful information… the Internet is a big place! One question I am often asked is ‘What’s the difference between MuTu System & Tupler?’ ‘What works, & what fixes a diastasis?’

First I want to say…  the Tupler Technique is a program that focuses solely on correcting a diastasis recti,  & many women have had success with it. I have absolute respect for, & no intent to presume to critique or evaluate, another respected therapist’s program.  This article is NOT an analysis or critique of the Tupler Technique, nor does it question in any way the expertise or reputation of the program or its creator.

I have never set out to compete with, or to compare.  Whilst we both discuss diastasis recti, the 2 programs actually have very different aims & focus. But… I know you’re trying to figure out what you need! So here goes.

I will explain the key points of what MuTu System does & doesn’t do in the context of the information available to you,  & allow you to decide whether my approach is for you!

So… hopefully with the disclaimers out the way I will try to answer your questions…

What’s the same?

MuTu System is based on the well established principle that the Transverse Abdominis muscle is absolutely crucial in maintaining optimal function of the entire lumbo-pelvic region. Ie, your mid-section, from diaphragm (up inside your rib cage) through your waist, tummy, lower back & pelvic floor.

To restore stability, strength & aesthetics to a mother’s abdominal muscles (including narrowing a diastasis recti), correct engagement & function of  the transverse abdominis & related structures has to be the focus.

Crunches, sit ups & yoga moves such as Boat Pose are not recommended by MuTu System at any stage. These guidelines you will find common to any exercise routine that understands a mother’s body… if your trainer has you doing crunches, get a new one!

We’re all dealing with same muscles, & all trying to guide women to achieving optimal core function after childbirth (even a very long time after childbirth!).

What MuTu System is… & what it isn’t!

Firstly, MuTu System was never created to deal only with diastasis recti. Correcting diastasis recti is not the sole focus of the MuTu System program; because diastasis is not, in my view, an isolated issue or the ‘Holy Grail’ of healing women’s bodies after childbirth. Rather  it is one piece of the jigsaw in regaining stability & strength, a jigsaw which encompasses a whole system of muscles & functions of the lumbo-pelvic region.

My own study & over a decade’s experience of working with pregnant & postpartum women has taught me that to suggest that simply ’closing the gap’ would result in a flat tummy after having babies, would be doing moms a disservice. Because there’s rather more to it than that.

3 important points!

• You can achieve core stability & strength, & restore function with some gap remaining**. It is the ability to restore tension & stability of the fascia (the connective tissue between the 2 halves of the rectus muscle) which is the key factor, not just the existence of a gap
• Don’t ignore other factors: poor nutrition, stress, fatigue, excessive calorie consumption, inadequate essential fats or hydration, digestive issues & lack of the correct, safe & most efficient & effective exercise… will all contribute to making your stomach stick out or overhang! If you want to *see* the results of core training & strengthening, you have to lose the fat that sits on top. As above, it’s not all about the gap
• No exercise routine can ‘treat’ or ‘fix’ every situation . In some situations of a severely compromised, stretched & weakend linea alba (the connective tissue between the 2 parts of muscle), surgery may be required for correct function & stability is to be restored*. A biomechanical & ultrasound examination will be necessary to determine this. BUT… 1.  this is rare & 2. Surgery is extremely expensive, has a long & uncomfortable recovery & will do nothing for your strength, tone, weight or overall fitness. A focused postpartum core restoration program will benefit your entire lumbopelvic region greatly especially in recovery, even where surgery is deemed necessary.

MuTu System training & programmes have a holistic philosophy, which deals with posture, functional exercise (IE metabolic resistance exercise techniques that make you truly strong, lean & ‘fit for purpose’), optimal nutrition for health, hormone balance & energy, specific yoga techniques to help re-settle the pelvic organs,  tone & heal the deep muscles as well as relieve stress & promote optimal respiration… AND at the foundation of it all, a complete 4-Phase program to train (find) & then strengthen the muscles of your core. Narrowing a diastasis recti is one of many beneficial effects.

Remember that you are not trying to close the gap for its own sake, or for purely aesthetic reasons (although improving the look of your stomach is clearly a motivating factor). A diastasis is one manifestation of a lumbopelvis, or core, that has experienced pregnancy, labour & childbirth &/or that has sustained abdominal loading (function) with incorrect technique.

Other manifestations of excessive intra-abdominal pressure (ie everything is pushing & bulging outwards) or weakened core function may be hernia, prolapse, incontinence or back pain. You may suffer from one or more of these related conditions.

All these problems emanate from the same issue: a core that isn’t working properly. You can exercise until you drop, but unless your midsection is working correctly – none of the above abdominal & pelvic issues will improve (& they may get worse).

There is a difference between training (finding & correctly engaging) the core, & strengthening it. You can’t do the latter without the former. As respected Physiotherapist Diane Lee* says: ‘You can’t strengthen a muscle your brain isn’t talking to’. For many of us, the after-effects of childbirth mean that our brain is not talking to the right muscles. We have to re-learn how to use them.

MuTu System teaches, guides & shows you (in words, photographs & videos) how to re-train your core to do its job. At first, this is a focussed, daily series of exercises which take around 10 minutes to complete. You move at your pace through the first 3 phases of MuTu Core, re-assessing at each stage when you are ready to move onto the next. You also learn some very specific yoga breathing techniques which make these exercises more effective & enable you to connect fully to the muscles again.

Alongside this daily routine you gradually build up a workout routine that shapes & tones your entire body whilst  – & this is the vital part! – using your core correctly in every MuTu Intensive workout. You are not only learning how to exercise incredibly effectively in only 15 minutes a few times a week, you are doing it whilst working your core safely & correctly with every move.

Essentially you are learning how to *make every exercise an abdominal exercise!*

When you reach Phase 4 of MuTu Core, or full core strength & stability, only then would you incorporate moves such as a plank, & you no longer need to continue with the separate daily core training exercises. On reaching full core strength & stability, you are now using your core correctly every time you move & workout. Your body is *working* – so you can continue with your MuTu Intensive workouts & MuTu Breathe yoga techniques (& indeed with any other chosen sport or activity) knowing you’re working your abs with every move!

The key defining points of Mutu System:

• MuTu System deals with your whole body: losing baby weight, flattening your stomach, improving pelvic floor control, eating right & how to shop & cook family friendly food that keeps you all lean & healthy, dealing with stress… its a System built for moms which covers everything – in 10 minutes a day of Core training, alongside 15 minute intensive workouts 4-5 times a week. Note, high intensity does not have to mean high impact – there are no- & low- impact versions of all workouts clearly demonstrated for all levels!
• You do not have to do hundreds of repetitions of any exercise. MuTu focuses on the quality & connection of the muscle action, not the quantity
• MuTu System does not suggest you constantly splint or bind your stomach. It recommends that if your diastasis is 3-4 fingers or more, you may want to use some form of splinting whilst performing some of the initial exercises (a towel wrapped around your middle does the trick). This is clearly demonstrated on the videos. This is purely to help you to focus on the correct muscles movements & to draw the 2 halves of the rectus (6 pack) muscle together as you ‘find’ them.
• Immediately post c-section or other abdominal surgery, with a very wide gap, or in cases of decreased sensitivity, by all means make yourself more comfortable by wearing support underwear that ‘holds’ you together for a few weeks. But the splint doesn’t do the work, your muscles have to. Splinting or binding is not a key element of MuTu System
• There are 4 Phases of MuTu Core, which you progress through as your train your core to work correctly. At Phases 3 & 4, the exercises move to strengthening your abdominal muscles – but first, you have to find them & train them.

I hope that helps to understand where the MuTu System is all about & to decide whether it is for you! I am not implying failings or critique of any other program, simply stating that the above elements are the cornerstones of this one!

And finally…

No program is going to work if you don’t do it. Consistently & frequently. Restoring a compromised core takes time & commitment. I know its kinda stating the obvious… but if you don’t DO it, you won’t get the results!

I wrote this post because you ask me these questions, & I know you are searching for answers… not because I want to enter into a debate about who’s ‘more right’! It all works. But everyone has their own approach & the fact that you have information & options at your fingertips is the true beauty of the Internet! I am proud of my program & have great respect for other professionals who are helping women to be stronger & fitter.

I welcome respectful comments regarding MuTu System or any other postpartum core restoration program, as well of course any questions you many have. I receive daily enquiries to my inbox about this subject, so wanted to open up my answers on the blog as well. I hope it helped

These further posts may also be helpful:

The MuTu System 12 week online training program. Buy, download & start watching your first video right away!

MuTu System customer testimonials

Industry expert comments on MuTu System

Can MuTu System Heal a Diastasis?

Diastasis Recti: Do We Always Need To ‘Fix’ It?

Diastasis Recti Tests & Exercises | What Works & What To Avoid

FURTHER RESOURCES:

*For further excellent information on Diastasis & Postpartum Core Health: See Diane Lee & Associates articles here

** From the 2012 3rd International Fascia Research Congress: Diane Lee: Split down the middle? Clinical Findings Suggest Closure of a Diastasis Rectus Abdominis is Not Always Necessary for Restoring Function (if link doesn’t take you direct to the abstract, scroll down to No.8 ‘New Hypotheses’, 3rd paper)

For excellent information on pelvic floor health & pelvic alignment, see Katy Bowman’s work at Aligned & Well

Then I took my shoes & my boy to the beach...

The MuTu System Barefoot Running Journey started last week when I explained the concept of barefoot walking & running… click back to there first if you missed it!

OK, so having received my rather fabulous retro gold barefoot shoes from VIVObarefoot this week, I spent a couple of days just walking & getting used to them. Which was definitely no hardship as they are SO comfortable! Like, um, well, like not wearing any shoes, but still protecting your feet from sharp bits or muck. Which I guess is the idea.

They really are super comfortable – my toes have got plenty of room for a good wiggle & spread, the leather is soft & very supple. So I walked, I danced (my 6 year old daughter is a Mamma Mia/Abba fanatic, so we jumped around to a few Super Troopers & a Waterloo or 2) & I had a little jog home from the school run. All very comfy & easy & with the funny bonus of a few odd looks from the other mums – ‘what has she got on her feet?’ Then today I pulled on my gold beauties & went for an ‘actual run’. Where we live is pretty rural, so I was mainly on country roads, with a few grass verges, & I wanted to start off small, as recommended, so I went out for around 20 minutes.

What is it like running in barefoot shoes??

So first thing of course is that the running style / foot fall is totally different. Instead of landing on your heel first, (like you would in a cushioned normal running shoe) you land on the ball of your foot, then the heel follows. At first it felt a little odd, like I was running on tip-toes, but that soon settled into me landing on the ball of my foot, toes all nicely spread, then the heel touching down right after.

It very quickly felt very natural actually, & the interesting thing was that without all that ‘shock absorbing technology’ under my heel, my body didn’t want to strike heel first. I tried it for a few strides just playing around & experimenting, & my body was like, ‘oh no, that’d hurt’ & didn’t want to  strike the ground that way. I thought that was fascinating – that when my body & my feet were really aware of the ground underneath them, they knew to land in the most efficient & safe way. Striking heavily on the heel first felt just wrong.

So the toe strike felt natural more quickly than I thought it would, & it felt good –  light & springy. There’s more of a forward-motion feel, rather than the almost ‘braking with every step’ of a heavy heel strike.

Barefoot running posture is slightly different too. You’re tall & upright, definitely no head chasing or bending at the hip. You’re looking straight ahead & running tall. I remembered the Lee Saxby advice of leading with the chest, which was a nice visual for keeping everything in the right place. The stride is naturally slightly shorter, quicker & lighter in barefoot running as well – which also feels more natural than taking big strides leading with the heel.

I got home & had a really good calf & hamstring stretch, & my legs & feet felt great. I often like to do a few yoga stretches as I cool down after a run, & historically I have always removed my running shoes to let my feet breathe first. Today I just carried on, as my feet didn’t feel hot or constrained like they do in my normal running shoes.

I think I might be converted you know! I don’t think you can run ‘both ways’ as they are so different, so I feel like I’m making a commitment now that I’m going to run naturally from now on… Ho hum, I feel a clear-out of my (rather extensive) running shoe cupboard coming on & then maybe some shopping

Are you a barefoot runner? Was this how you felt at first? Am I doing anything wrong? Would love to hear your advice, so please leave a comment – we’re learning together here!

Disclosure: just reminding you that VIVObarefoot did give me these shoes to try for free (bless ‘em), but also that I am dedicated to doing the best for my body & giving you as much info as I can as I learn. If I didn’t like them, I’d say so. 

Say hello to your toes, ladies

Going Barefoot: the new buzzword in running & walking. Should we be ditching our shoes in favour of a more ‘natural’ way of moving? Won’t it hurt? What does it mean? Is it a fad? How do you do it? Join me as I learn…

What’s ‘Natural’ Anyway?

The human foot is an incredibly complex system. Dozens of bones, ligaments & muscles make up an amazing machine of  joints & levers that allow us to adapt to natural ways of moving: walking & running. We know from watching our babies grow to toddlers that these skills are learnt gradually & in order – we have to learn to walk before we can run. (And by the way, if you ever want to see how to walk or squat PERFECTLY – watch your toddler in bare feet!).

But years of enclosing & supporting our feet in shoes, & manipulating our gait  through the ‘motion control’ & cushioning technology built into those shoes, our bodies have forgotten how to walk & run naturally. Particularly when we run, we typically use a ‘heel-toe’ running gait which means our (generally heavily cushioned) heel strikes first, taking the impact, followed by pushing off our toe.

It might be ‘normal’ but that doesn’t mean it’s ‘natural’. It’s just what we’re used to.

You can read a much more detailed explanation of barefoot running & how it relates to our natural sense of proprioception (the body’s ability to be aware of its position in space & time), here in Making Sense of Barefoot Running an e-book by Lee Saxby at VIVOBAREFOOT.

But let me attempt to summarise:

To walk & run naturally, our feet need to be able to feel the ground beneath them & to move in the most efficient way, absorbing force & moving us forward (or up & down in running). This requires the foot to work differently when walking or running.

The natural & optimal gait for walking is ‘heel-toe’

The natural & optimal gait for running is ‘toe-heel’*

The latter – the way we run – is where we have to re-train our bodies to move properly. Because our ‘unnatural’ running shoes & our ‘unnatural’ running style force our feet into a ‘heel-toe’ action or gait. It’s not just the way our foot falls that’s important… posture & rhythym also need adjustment, but the key message here is that running shoes make us run in an unnatural way & a way that frequently causes injury, mal-alignment, & pain.

But Don’t Running Shoes Protect Us From Impact & Joint Damage?

That’s certainly what we’ve always thought isn’t it? The science of running shoes has always been centered around ‘shock absorption’, ‘control’ & ‘support’. So… why are runners always injured? Runners knee, shin splints, plantar fascitis… injury is the bane of apparently around 80% of runners’ lives at some point in their running career. It either stops them running altogether or the pain is ‘managed’ long term, with anti inflammatories, orthotics & ever more ‘supportive’ shoes. Hmmm. So if the shoes science isn’t preventing running injury & pain, something’s not quite adding up.

Coming back to the optimum gait for running – toes first , then heel. So learning to run barefoot isn’t just about taking our shoes off. It’s about re-learning how to run properly.

Humans didn’t just evolve with amazing complex feet, they also evolved with rather clever brains. Brains that communicated ‘ouch’ when our ancestors stepped on sharp stones or discarded mammoth teeth, & prompted a solution: shoes. Our ancestors wrapped skins or furs around their feet to keep them warm & protect them from the environment. They could feel the ground, but they were more comfortable.

Of course in our modern world we cant go barefoot all the time. Let’s get real here, it’s not always practical. Or, well, appropriate… It might be natural to walk barefoot, but our modern environment is anything but. We need shoes much of the time to protect us from our environment. We need puncture-resistant soles that protect the skin on our feet  & we often need some insulation to keep them warm. But that’s really all we need them for.

What Are Barefoot Shoes?

Barefoot shoes are shoes which allow your feet to work & move as if they were bare, but whilst providing protection. They have thin (enabling your feet to feel the ground) but puncture resistant soles & a wide toe box so your toes have room to splay & move, for example the extensive & rather stylish range at VIVOBAREFOOT, amongst others.

It’s Good For Your Pelvic Floor Too

If you’re a regular reader at Mutu System you’ll  know I couldn’t go a whole blog post without mentioning your under-carriage & this is where my ears have really pricked up with this newfound knowledge of mine (Thanks Katy Bowman*).

When you walk properly (read ‘naturally’), the muscles of your backside, core & pelvic floor work properly too. Correct walking posture means you don’t tuck your tail bone, lean forward from the hip or thrust your pelvis forward either. It means you walk tall, with your body in a straight line & looking at the horizon, not the ground in front of you. As a result your glutes actually work as you walk & run, your core is effectively supporting your centre of gravity as you move & your pelvic floor muscles are at full length & doing their job of holding everything in.

So as well as no more shin splints or dodgy knees, I get a perkier butt & a toned pelvic floor too? Don’t know about you my Lovelies, but I’m in.

How To Start ‘Going Barefoot’

Lets’ learn to walk Ladies. And please note I’m saying ‘walk’ first. If you just throw away your shoes or get yourself some ‘barefoot shoes’ & pound your way through your usual 5K running route, you will hurt yourself. Your feet, in fact your entire body, need to learn to do this gradually. First we’re going to make friends with our feet. Follow the walking guidelines below & go barefoot as much as you can. Wiggle your toes, spread your toes, try to lift your toes one at a time. Your toes have been cooped up for a long time, they need to taste freedom & natural movement a little before we run without shoes.

Lee Saxby, the barefoot running Guru at VIVOBAREFOOT, gives us the following guidelines:

• Your weight should move from heel to big toe, but think of it more as a smooth heel stroke than a jolting heel strike.
• Keep your strides shorter than normal – this will help keep your body in its optimum alignment for efficient locomotion.
• Try not to look down; in fact, keep your gaze somewhere above the horizon and ‘lead’ with your chest.
• Keep your stride relaxed, balanced and symmetrical.

You don’t have to buy ‘barefoot shoes’ yet if you don’t want to. Go literally barefoot when practicable, or  just practice in your normal shoes (with as little as possible, ideally zero, heel). Your brain is re-learning how to walk confidently & in a relaxed way across a variety of surfaces: glass, sharp stones, fire… I’m KIDDING. But try soft & hard ground, uneven & smooth, flat & hills. Just think about your feet when you walk. Get to know them a little better. Have a little quality time.

Lee Saxby tells us the next stage is to *Squat Properly* One of my VERY favourite topics so I’m looking forward to our next lesson.

Are you a barefoot runner? Thinking about it? What shoes do you love? I’d love to hear your experiences!

Resources & 2 more great articles on barefoot walking & running!

No Shoes, No Problem & Gait 101 both by Katy Bowman, Aligned & Well *

Disclosure: VIVOBAREFOOT are giving me a pair of their shoes to learn about barefoot walking & running & to review. How nice is THAT? And apparently they’re sending me the GOLD Legacy Ladies. *Get me* in my retro gold sneakers

So you need to know they gave me the shoes, but you also need to know that my reviews of the entire process, & the shoes,  will be ENTIRELY impartial & based on my own study & experience. If my feet hurt or I don’t get it, I’ll tell you!

MuTu Food means real food. Nothing more, nothing less

Fat doesn’t make you fat.  Sugar, stress, processed food, not enough good fats and sitting on your backside do.

You Need Fats. Good Ones.

For years we were fed the ‘low fat’ mantra of losing weight – there was something so simple about it: fat makes you fat. Simple, But it’s really not that simple unfortunately because if you want to stay looking young and gorgeous Lady, you need fats, but they have to be the good ones.

Good fats are found in nuts and seeds, fish (especially oily fish like mackerel or salmon), avocados, eggs and good olive oil.

How to eat your good fats

Fish: Salmon, mackerel herring, sardines, and tuna – all are a great source of Omega 3 essential fats. But if you don’t think you’re going to manage to get 4 portions of oily fish down you every week, take a good quality fish oil supplement, or good old cod liver oil! You’re looking for ‘Omega 3’s’ – Most of us have more than enough Omega 6’s in our diet (found in sunflower oil, sesame oil, dairy and eggs), so it’s the 3’s you need more of.

Seeds: The easiest way to get the good fats from seeds is to grind them up. Otherwise unless you do some serious chewing, those good fats will just pass right on through… The best ones for Omega 3 are Flax (also known as linseed), hemp, pumpkin and walnut. Add in a few sunflower or sesame seeds and use a coffee grinder to churn them up. Keep them in a sealed jar in the fridge, and add a tablespoon a day to your breakfast or a salad.

Other good fats:

Olive oil: Look for the words ‘cold pressed’ and ideally your oil should be in a dark coloured bottle (to protect it from light damage). Buy the best you can afford and never cook with good olive oil – it’s a total waste as it ruins both the goodness and the taste! Cook with coconut oil instead and be generous with your olive oil in salads, poured over warm pasta, in soups.

All of the above are fats and they are good for you! They will make you look younger and help keep you lean and healthy as well as help you regulate a host of other helpful processes in your body.

Sugar however, will make you look neither young nor lean and will definitely not make you healthy.

There’s the obvious sugar, in cakes, fizzy drinks and desserts and if you eat too much of this it’ll make you fat and make you look old before your time… But there’s also a lot of hidden sugar you may not even know you’re eating.

How Sugar Makes You Fat: Sugar increases the levels of insulin in your body and that makes your body store fat, especially around your middle. It makes your body really, really good at storing fat. Not something you want your body to be really really good at ;(

Of course other effects are increased blood pressure, higher cholesterol, increased risk of diabetes and heart disease and premature aging.

On the other hand when insulin levels fall within your body, you use fat for fuel. (Something you do want your body to be good at).

How to Eat Less Sugar

The obvious sugar is easy to identify and cut out (or down, then out) but the hidden sugar in our diets is much harder. There is hidden sugar in everything from packaged meats like ham or sausage, to crisps, ketchup and cheese spread.

So you have to get a little more attentive the labels on your food: anything that ending ‘ose’ is sugar. Dextrose, fructose, glucose, it’s all sugar. And if you see HFC (High Fructose Corn syrup) then run a mile in the opposite direction – this stuff is the most evil form of processed sugar you can consume.

Don’t Fruit and Fruit Juice Contain Lots of Sugar? Should I Avoid Them Too?

Fruit does contain natural sugar, in the form of fructose, BUT in whole fruit and vegetables (note ‘whole’ – if it’s just the juice the you’re missing some of this bit) it is mixed with vitamins, enzymes, phytonutrtients, minerals and fibre. All this goodness offsets most downsides of eating whole fruit in moderation.

It’s not fructose itself which is a problem, but rather the massive doses of added fructose we consume in other, unnatural, processed foods – soft and fizzy drinks are the worst culprit here – they are packed with added fructose and this is what you need to avoid at all costs.

Go easy on fruit juice too (pure water should be your thirst quencher of choice) and if it says ‘fruit drink’ or ‘contains real fruit juice’ then it probably has as much, or more, added sugar / fructose than the fizzy soft drinks!

What About ‘Diet’ Drinks and Foods?

Diet drinks obviously contain artificial sweeteners in place of sugar or fructose, but very often those additives can have a similar effect on your insulin levels, producing the same fat storing effects as real sugar. Sweeteners (artificial or otherwise) stimulate appetite and place strain on your kidneys and liver that have to process them. Very often the psychological effect of consuming large amounts of diet drinks seems to be that we ‘make up’ the calories elsewhere and consumption has less effect on weight control that you might imagine.

Processed foods are not only devoid of fibre and nutrients, but – and often the ‘diet’ processed foods are the worst! – they are also packed full of added fructose.

In summary, two of the very best dietary things you can do for both your waistline and your skin are to increase your intake of good fats, and dramatically decrease your intake of sugar. There’s more, but this where you should start!

Try to get away from counting calories or worrying about fat: processed foods and sugar will do more damage than anything else to your body and your face!

Go as deep as is comfortable, but keep shins vertical & don't tuck your butt!

Should your ‘tuck your tailbone’ to work your core? No. Here’s why.

Here’s some stuff you may have been told as a kid in ballet class, or just last week by an exercise instructor… cues we have been hearing (& as instructors, taught to teach) for years about how to stand in ‘correct posture’ or how to ‘work your core‘:

“Squeeze your butt muscles”

“Suck in your stomach”

“Tuck your tailbone under”

If you’re following these kind of cues, I will wager that you have: a fairly flat shaped backside, possible pelvic floor weakness & maybe ‘weak knees’.

Well thanks to some amazing & very clever women (like Katy Bowman of Aligned & Well & Diane Lee Physiotherapy) who *really get* not only how our bodies work, but importantly, how our bodies should work, we’re learning that those 2 things aren’t always the same… And progressive programs like MuTu System are moving with them so you get the best workouts for your body!

Here’s a little ‘am I engaging TVA correctly?’ challenge for you instead – stand side on to that mirror, I want you to ‘engage your core’ WITHOUT moving your pelvis. It’s harder right?

Because ‘engage your core’ doesn’t mean, ‘suck your stomach in’ & it definitely doesn’t mean ‘tuck your tail bone under’ or squeeze your butt. It means drawing your belly button back towards your spine, or imagining a line between your hip bones that you’re going to draw together… (yes, you should feel your pelvic floor lift when you do this – that’s good!)

Try not to let your pelvis tuck under. Breathe out, slow & steady & draw your belly button in…. but keep that natural curvature in your spine. It’ll feel at first like you’re consciously sticking your backside out.

Try it with a ball behind you - keep your butt curved to the ball!

Try it sitting on a chair or fitball: Sit on your sit bones, upright (not on your sacrum with a curved back) & then try to engage your TVA muscle, without tilting your pelvis & rolling onto your tailbone. Also try squatting from standing but supporting your back with a ball behind you, as in the picture & demonstrated in this video,

You see there is a difference between ‘finding your core & ‘working your core’.  If you haven’t found it, you can’t work it. A mother’s brain forgets how to talk to some muscles in her body after pregnancy & childbirth (actually it forgets how to talk to grown ups for while too but that’s a different issue) & your body cannot use a muscle that your brain’s stopped talking to.

Tucking your pelvis under &/or squeezing your butt shortens the pelvic floor muscles. If you can visualise, your pelvic floor muscles are a hammock of musculature attached at your tailbone at the back & your pelvic bone at the front. So curling your pelvis underneath you shortens & tightens the muscle by bring your sacrum / tailbone closer to your pelvic bone.

This movement has 2 downsides:

• A tight muscle is not a strong muscle – your pelvic floor needs to be supple & strong, able to work in its full range (or length). Pelvic floor exercise should be a synchronized  ’lifting’ effort of all of your deep core muscles working together, not an isolated squeeze, & tucking your tail under keeps it permanently short & tight.
• Your TVA cannot work correctly if your pelvis is tucked under. Similarly, your TVA does not create this movement. So being in the tucked position is doing nothing for your core muscles.

So squeezing & tucking is not helping your pelvic floor, & its not helping your core.

Try squatting, & watch yourself side on to that mirror again – your tailbone should head down & back, sure (don’t over arch your back & stick it up)… but not under. Watch yourself & try to maintain that natural curve of your spine as you squat. Make sure your shins stay vertical.

So there you have some Butt Homework to be going along with. I’m always telling you to squat – now I want you to squat with your butt out! IMPORTANT: Keep your shins vertical while squatting to make sure you’re using your backside! If your ankle angle decreases to less than 90° while squatting (i.e. your knees move forward) then you’re using the front of the thighs and not your butt.

And start working towards a flat tummy & a perky butt, not the other way round!

Are you following a program that tells you to tuck your pelvis under? Are you an instructor who uses this cue? I’d live to hear what you think! Please leave a comment below