Chi Running for Weight Loss. What Shoes?

ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running

Lots of people choose running or jogging as a way to boost the number of calories they burn each day and help improve their cardiovascular health. Running is the original exercise -our ancestors have been doing it for thousands and thousands of years before anybody had enough to eat to become obese. You’d think for that reason that we’d be better at it by now, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Indeed, the number of injuries caused by running are astronomical! If you think about it, it make sense, every step causes stress on joints from the lower back to the ankles.

As the trend towards running got going in the 70′s, shoe makers like Nike kept putting more and more cushioning in their shoes, ending up with soles completely covered in air pockets and foam. Recently shoe manufacturers have gone just the opposite way, with a company called Vibram making a shoe that actually has no cushioning and individual toe pockets! Of course, there are thousands of types of shoes in between these two extremes, but it does leave a new runner wondering what the right answer is. the latest idea is to fundamentally change the mechanics of running, and this is where Chi Running comes in.

Chi running is a style that mixes in principles of Tai Chi and Yoga into regular training. Philosophically, the runner should think in terms of efficiency, cadence and mindfulness. Less theoretically, the runner should be keeping their body leading so as to fall into the stride, they should be performing body loosening exercises before the run, and they should be using a mid foot strike. In this type of footfall, the ball of your foot lands first.

As you might guess, a shoe manufacturer, New Balance (the same company who makes the famous New Balance 991) has created a shoe just for Chi Running, the New Balance 801. While these don’t have individual toe pockets, (which would take some getting used to), they have been designed specifically for mid foot strikers, which is the right design for Chi running shoes, without going too far away from traditional foot gear.

June 16, 2010 | Filed Under Lose Weight, Running, Shoes