News

I recently was introduced to Zumba by OESHer, Ann Mangino, a Zumba expert and enthusiast who does Zumba as her go-to everyday workout. Zumba is a Latin-inspired dance fitness program created by dancer Alberto Perez in Colombia during the 1990s who took it to the United States in the 2000’s where it has become very popular […]

Pete Larson who writes a terrific, informative blog on all things running, asked me to put together a post on stress fractures in barefoot runners, which he posted here. In that article I talk specifically about second metatarsal fractures though what I describe relates to stress fractures throughout the entire lower extremity. Stress fractures are common […]

One of our favorite people here at hq is Remarkable OESHer Carrie Lane. Carrie has been involved in coaching elite (D-1 and the occasional legendary Olympian) throwers for a few years at the University of Virginia. She is probably the best in the world at what she does so well, which is to get that […]

My friend Bill Katovsky over at Zero Drop asked me to comment on this New York Times article published today that basically lambasted toner shoes. The article starts by discussing a recent study showing that toning shoes really don’t burn more calories despite marketing claims (no surprise). Then it cites research showing that toning shoes really don’t […]

I’m underwhelmed by all the “cures” out there for chronic aches and pains. But there is, and always has been, that one thing that really does work… exercise. I asked Paul Ingraham, a health science journalist and copyeditor for ScienceBasedMedicine.org if he would write about exercise and more specifically to the point that even just […]

Too Cool. We learned yesterday that some extremely intelligent and thoughtful professionals were launching a fabulous new site named the Natural Running Center at http://naturalrunningcenter.com/ The NRC promises to be a superb resource, central to the sophisticated give-and-take presently growing like wildfire throughout the athletic footwear (especially running and walking) world. Of course, all at […]

The heart of OESH, the midsole, is made in the United States. In downtown Charlottesville, Virginia to be precise, arguably the best place to live (and this from someone who grew up in San Diego, California)! We are a college town (home of the University of Virginia) at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains […]

The Harvard Indoor Track Revisited (page 4 of 4, the gun lap) For a shoe midsole to behave like the time tested Harvard Indoor Track, this midsole would has to compress and release in perfect tune with the rise and fall of the peak body weight force. It would have to be a sole that remains […]

The Harvard Indoor Track Revisited (part 3 of 4) Okay, so the first big difference between cushioning in a shoe and the successful plywood structure of Harvard is that the plywood does not give at impact like a typical cushioned shoe. The second difference, which needs to be emphasized, is that the plywood maximally compresses […]

The Harvard Indoor Track Revisited (part 2 of 4) Dr. McMahon’s results were just as he expected. In the 1977-1978 Harvard indoor track season, injuries were reduced by one-half compared to the prior season. Running efficiency also improved as evidenced by faster race times of approximately 3%, not just by members of the Harvard Track […]