Namig no. 13

Od izida knjige Rojeni za tek od Chris-a McDougall se je med tekači pojavilo gibanje minimalistični tek. Namreč, Chris McDougall v svoji knjigi opisuje, da je človeško stopalo narejeno za minimalno blaženo obutev ali še bolje za bosonogi tek. V današnjem namigu ne bom opisoval teh tipov obutve, pač pa se bomo usmerili v zelo podobno področje. To je padec peta - prsti (angl. heel to toe drop). 

V poplavi ponudbe sodobne tekaške obutve se pogosto ne moremo odločiti, katero obutev kupiti. Večina tekačev (sem spadam tudi jaz) tudi ne ve katero vrsto obutve kupiti. Večina tekačev, s katerim sem se pogovarjal, ne ve čemu služi podatek padec peta - prsti (to sedaj vem). Podatek padec peta - prsti na, kakor že ime, pove, kolikšen je vertikalni padec, merjen v milimetrih, iz vrha pete, do najnižjega dela prstov. Ni jasno ne? Poglej si spodnjo sliko. Morda ti bo tako malce bolj jasno.

Padec peta - prsti

Minimalistična športna obutev ima 0 mm padca, vendar ima tudi minimalno blaženje (od tu tudi ime). Večina športne obutve ima padec nekje med 4 - 8 mm. Večji padec pomeni tudi več blaženja v peti. McDougall v njegovi knjigi opisuje, s študijami oprto, da je od uvedbe blažene obutve prišlo do največ poškodb kolen in stopal. Ta podatek je seveda irelevanten, glede na to, da se s tekom ukvarja vedno več ljudi, a vedno več je tudi neprimerne tehnike teka.

Vrnimo se k bistvu. Zakaj padec peta - prsti. Manjši je padec, manj je blaženja, bolj nas sili samo gibanje, da stopamo na prste oziroma na sprednji del stopala. Obratno pa je več kot je blaženja, bolj se "šlepamo" na peto oziroma pristajamo na peto, bolj nam zaradi tega prevrača telo naprej. Študijo, ki jo je opravil Benno Nigg, je pokazala rezultate, da med večimi tekači, ki so uporabljali različno obutev, z različnim padcem, ni prišlo do poškodb. Največja razlika je bila, ko so testiranci tekli brez obutve. Takrat je bilo telo prisiljeno stopati na prste.

Bi morali biti pozorni na padec peta - prsti pri obutvi? 

Večina tekaških trenerjev je mnenja, da bi se morali osredotočiti na tehniko teka, na pravilno stopanje in položaj telesa in ne toliko na samo blaženje obutve. Najboljša tehnika, ki se jo lahko sami postopoma naučimo je bosonogi tek po travi. Kakšno nogometno igrišče pri tem je odlično, ker ni pregrobe trave. Seveda pa obisk pri kaki skupinski tekaški vadbi pod strokovnim nadzorom ni izključen. Je namreč zelo priporočljiv. Tako da odgovor je; če znamo teči, ne.

Sedaj pa nova nagradna igra. Podarjam športno obutev SCOTT T2 Kinabalu 3.0. Če hočeš imeti svoj par, je tvoja naloga sledeča. Spodaj v komentar napiši kolikšen je padec peta - prsti pri omenjenem čevlju. Nagrado za pravilen odgovor bo določil žreb.

SCOTT T2 Kinabalu 3.0

Do naslednjič

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When the book Born to run by Chris McDougall was published, the so called minimalist run has started among other runners. Well, Chris Mcdougall in his book referes that humans foot is made to run with minimal cushioning or even better, barefoot. In todays clue, I won't be describeing those kind of shoes, but a similar area. That is heel to toe drop.

In todays flood of modern running shoes, a normal recreactional user can't decide what shoes to buy. The majority of runners (including me), don't know what kind of running shoes to buy. The majority of runners that i had been talking to them, don't know what to do with information heel to toe drop (now I know). The information heel to toe drop, as the name shows tells us the vertical drop, mesured in milimeters, from the top of the heel, to the lowest part of toes. Doesn't ring a bell? Look at the bottom picture. Maybe you will see that.

Heel to toe drop

Minimal running shoes has a 0 mm drop, but also has a minimal cushioning (from where is the name). The most of running shoes has 4 – 8 mm drop. More the drop, more cushioning. With support of the studies, Chris McDougall in his book, tells us that from the beginning of cushioned shoes, the number of injuries od knees and foot has increased. This information is irrelevant because there is more and more people involved with running and more people has bad running form.

Bact to the point. Why heel to toe drop? The less of the drop, the less cushioning is there, the more we tend to run on our toes or on front part of the foot. And vice versa, the more cushioning, the more we tend to strike on the heel, the more we move our body forward. The studies, made by Benno Nigg where the runners had run with different kind of shoes and different drop, shows, that injuries didn't occur among the majority of the runners. The biggest difference was, when the runners ran barefoot. They were forced to run on the toes.

Do we have to pay attention on heel to toe drop on shoes?

The majority of running coaches has their opinion that we have to focus on a propper running form, on our body possition and not that much on cushioning. The best technique to learn propper running form is to run barefoot on a grass. The best is to run on a football field or similar. And of course, to be part of a running group on the supervision of the running coach is not excluded. It is recomended. So the answer is; if we know how to run; no.

And now a new prize winning contest. I'll be giving away a pair of running shoes SCOTT T2 Kinabalu 3.0. If you want to have it, your job is to write in th coment section, how many milimeters of heel to toe drop does this shoes have. A winner for this will be known by draw.

SCOTT T2 Kinabalu 3.0

Untill next time