Saturday, June 23, 2007

jay d [ 8:18 PM ] | 0 hooked me up!

rate well: nikefree
i have no qualms with stating how much of a brand whore i am for apple and nike. it's no secret.
with nike especially, you can knock how nikes aren't the perfect running shoe, biomechanically and suggest a new balance or an asics. that's fine.
i'm a kinesiologist, ahem, a certified kinesiologist and i even give their sports science team props.

you can cut them up for exploiting the developing world, and that's fine too.
but i am rooted from the developing world and you can catch me on the street rocking a crisp pair of nikes. you just gotta think on the positive side....it could've been a cousin who made that shoe you're wearing; why would you want to take their job away from them? and who's to say your own cousin can't make a quality product that you can't rely on?

k, now i'm just being sarcastic.


it's been 3 weeks since i copped my new gear for work and i'm still building on my collection. where corporate brass have to wear suits and look all spiffy, i gotta be professional in doing what i do and rock the hi-tech gear. who wants a trainer that wears cotton???? seriously. from dri-fit shorts to thermal warm up jackets, my whole being is a science, mannnnnn!!!

that's where nike comes in. nike never lets me down. i copped a pair of nikefree 7.0s a while back and i've been rocking them during training sessions like a religion.

a famous quote from bruce lee goes:
"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."

thinking of nikefree, this quote is more than fitting. the latest studies in my field reveal that an unstable training environment leads to (core) strength and an increased awareness in personal balance (i.e. increased firing of nerve impulses all along your backbone, pouring gravy on your brain - knowutimsayin'???). this is precisely why you see a lot of people using those fitness balls in the gym; they're unstable, making you train your nervous and muscular system indirectly. on top of that, those giant goofy balls make you do more work. the more work you do, the more calories burned - that in itself, my friends, is a perfect science.

perplexed by kenyan athletes who run barefoot during their training sessions, the sport science team at nike headquarters wanted to develop a shoe that mimicked being shoeless. the concept behind nikefree is to be shapeless, formless, and unstable. instability leads to stability. with minimal to no stabalization on the sole of the shoe (except for slight stability found on the lateral and medial aspects of the sole and cushioning on the heel only), the nikefree can make a grown man feel joy through wearing ballet slippers without the blush and embarassment of actually wearing a pair.

"then why not go barefoot", you ask?
because most public places say no shoes, no service. besides, your feet (yes, you!) stink; cover them up with a cool pair of frees that are lined with dri-fit sweat-wisking technology.

"then why not wear ballet slippers?"
because i'd get jumped at the gym.

"but seriously, wear wrestling shoes then"
wrestling shoes have good traction and no stability. good choice, but wrestling shoes lack cushioning. most training requires running, bounding and stepping, wrestling doesn't. nike frees are unstable but that doesn't mean they don't absorb shock. forceful impact tracking from your feet up to your joints to your hip and up along your spine during training is never fun.

i can talk on and on about the shoe but the fact of the matter is the nikefree shoe is a handsome and advanced training shoe. shoot, they've strengthened my lower extremities to the point where i'm cracking open walnuts with my toes. if you want the personal trainer's trainer, then cop a pair, now.

[nikefree official site]

Labels: rate well