Q&A With Author Mark Sisson

Indeed, evolutionary biology confirms that Homo sapiens have an assortment of genetic attributes for endurance, and that we evolved first as opportunistic scavengers and then persistence hunters. However, the human brain was our key evolutionary advantage, not our legs and lungs. We did not rise to the top of the food chain by chasing prey for miles day after day. The endurance running hypothesis might be better described as the “Walking-sprinting-jogging-hiding-climbing-crawling-expertly strategizing hypothesis.” It’s true that we are capable of performing magnificent endurance feats once in a while under life of death selection pressure. This is different from grinding out 25 or 50 miles a week like a modern endurance enthusiast. This type of training pattern is antithetical to human health and leads to chronic injury, illness, and burnout.

Research confirms that the Homo sapiens have a genetic imperative to be engaged in near-constant low-intensity movement throughout the day in order to be healthy. Moving supports the complex and synchronous interactions between organs and systems throughout the body that make us healthy, strong, resilient, and adaptable to all manner of everyday life stress. Insufficient daily movement drives system-wide inflammation, accelerated aging and disease.

Yes, some humans are genetically gifted for endurance; you’ll find these greyhounds at the front of the pack. Only 2-4 percent of global marathon finishers can break three hours. Thriving runners are a highly self-selecting population with a narrow funnel: they have the genetics for aerobic capacity, resilience against injury, and a willingness to suffer. Economic desperation is also a huge influence in the development of endurance champions. Throughout history, no humans ever ran for recreation until the running boom of the 1970s.

Nike’s invention of the elevated, cushioned running shoe in the 1970s made endurance running accessible to the masses, and indeed getting modern citizens more active by any means necessary is a big win. However, the running boom has been buoyed by fabrications, marketing hype, and false promises that lead aspirants into chronic overuse injuries, exhaustion, and failed weight loss efforts. It’s a difficult concept to grasp at first, but we’d all be much better off with a decades-long walking boom instead of a running boom.

A “chronic cardio” pattern of workouts that are slightly-to-significantly too stressful (above “fat max” heart rate) prompt increases in appetite and general laziness throughout the day–a phenomenon known as the compensation theory of exercise. The chronic overproduction of stress hormones from exhausting, depleting workouts prompts the genetic signaling for fat storage, especially the accumulation of health destructive visceral fat. Many runners develop a “skinny fat” physique, with slouched posture, a lack of muscle mass or tone, and stubborn fat around the abdomen.

Research confirms that around 50% of regular runners are injured every year, and 25% are sidelined at any given time. These rates are higher than the NFL (31% annually; 4% at any time)! The driving cause of running injuries is the same thing that facilitated the running boom: the invention of the elevated, heavily cushioned running shoe. Shoes destroy proprioception and enable poor technique–namely the dreaded heel-strike/overstriding/braking gait pattern. This generates hugely excessive and inappropriate impact forces and microtraumas throughout the muscles, joints, and connective tissue in the lower body.

Running shoes do not cause poor form, they enable poor form, mainly by ruining proprioception and enabling a gait pattern that would otherwise be too painful in bare feet. Harvard research reveals that heel-strike/overstriding/braking form (exhibited by an estimated 80-95% of recreational runners) generates seven times more impact trauma than a barefoot midfoot landing.

Running technique is not as complex as swimming or swinging a golf club, but it requires excellent baseline fitness, aerobic conditioning, muscular strength, mobility, and kinesthetic awareness. Weekend warriors lacking broad-based fitness competency will often take off running and exhibit poor form: an inefficiently slow cadence, an insufficient forward lean of the trunk, deficient ankle mobility, poor glute activation, poor hip extension, and a tendency for “hip drop” (airborne hip drops below landing hip at impact). All these diminish performance and increase injury risk.

Shoes inhibit the magnificent human foot from performing its three fundamental roles during the running stride: absorbing impact, balancing moving bodyweight, and generating forward propulsion. Elevated heels prevent the Achilles tendon from lengthening and coiling, causing atrophy. Elevated heels load bodyweight over the midfoot, promoting hunched-over posture and inappropriate skeletal loading. Stiff/contoured/heavily padded soles interfere with the arch lengthening and tightening, worsening impact trauma and compromising forward propulsion. Toes encased in a single box (even a “wide toe box”) inhibit toe splay and individual dorsiflexion. Because shoes destroy proprioception, you can’t tell how crappy your form is, and you are well on your way to chronic overuse injuries that have become the norm in running.

There has never been a single study showing that running shoes lessen impact trauma can prevent injury or lessen impact trauma, and numerous respected studies have proven otherwise. The marketing of running shoes is laden with deception and fraud. A major study published in the British Journal of Medicine concluded that shoe manufacturers are engaging in “deceptive advertising….that may represent a public health hazard.”

No. A lifetime of wearing elevated, restrictive shoes has resulted in widespread atrophy, weakness, loss of mobility, and poor foot functionality. It’s essential to gradually and safely regain lost functionality by spending more time barefoot in the home or other safe areas, and walking and doing everyday activities and low-impact fitness activities in minimalist shoes. Walking is an extremely safe way to go minimalist and strengthen your feet without risk of injury.

This describes a pattern of steady-state workouts that are slightly-to-significantly too stressful. These workouts promote sugar burning, fat storage, chronic fatigue, persistent muscle soreness, recurring overuse injuries, mood and appetite dysregulation, and hormone and immune dysfunction. Unfortunately, the vast majority of recreational runners engage in chronic cardio, because their workouts are too stressful to emphasize fat burning and instead drift into the stressful glucose burning zones.

Fat max (aka “aerobic threshold”, “ventilatory threshold”, “Zone 2 max” or “MAF heart rate) represents the exercise intensity (measured by heart rate beats per minute) where you are burning the maximum number of fat calories per minute, with a minimum amount of anaerobic stimulation. Fat max pace is very comfortable: you can converse easily, and feel refreshed and energized afterward instead of fatigued and depleted. Fat max workouts improve aerobic conditioning with minimal risk of injury, burnout, or compensation factors (increased appetite and general laziness) kicking in. Many endurance runners will be shocked to realize that their fat max pace correlates to a brisk walk. This can be frustrating, but your fat max speed will increase over time (perhaps from a brisk walk to a slow jog) as you improve your aerobic (fat burning) system.

Years and decades of dedication to extreme endurance exercise can lead to elevated cardiovascular disease risk factors, especially atrial fibrillation. Extreme endurance training has also been shown to disturb immune, digestive, hormonal and mitochondrial function. The problem is further exacerbated when poorly prepared enthusiasts tackle extreme events like marathons and ultras and experience acute system-wide damage. The sweet spot for optimal cardiovascular health is surprisingly low–a few hours a week of comfortably-paced cardio. You really can walk your way to longevity, and run yourself into the ground.

Shockingly, elites train in a less stressful, more sensible manner than the typical novice–relative to their respective fitness levels. Legendary Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge runs 82-84 percent of his ~130 weekly miles at intensities designated as “easy/50% capacity”–some 2-3.5 minutes slower than his 1:59 marathon race pace. Accordingly, most runners should be training at a walk or brisk walk (29 to 43 percent slower than race pace, ala Kipchoge) for the vast majority of their weekly volume.

Yes to emphasizing aerobic development! However, in our celebration of Zone 2, we must not discount the fantastic aerobic conditioning benefits offered by Zone 1 exercise–very low intensity such as walking. Honor the example of the elites and realize that comfortably paced exercise is an essential element of developing an outstanding aerobic base and achieving competitive potential.

Doing hours of steady state cardio every week for many months and then running 26.2 miles is entirely antithetical to health. This is not opinion, but scientifically validated. This is chronic cardio overlayed onto chronically stressful modern life. Then, race day inflicts extreme acute system-wide damage–especially if you are poorly prepared, inflamed, and overtrained heading into the event (which most are.) As we continue to glorify the marathon (or ultramarathons) as the ultimate accomplishment, we might reflect on how walking the neighborhood to start and end every day, enjoying weekend destination hikes, or running an occasional 10k might be more sensible, satisfying, and health-promoting goals.

Walking helps improve cognitive function, digestion, sleep, and stress management. Walking makes you feel alert and energized instead of fatigued, hungry and depleted. It helps regulate mood, appetite, and alertness all day long—no crash and burn effects as seen after strenuous workouts. In contrast, lack of daily movement patterns prompts system-wide inflammation, diminished cognitive function, and accelerated aging–even amongst devoted fitness enthusiasts (per the active couch potato syndrome.) Researchers discovered that the most prominent common lifestyle attribute among the highly-regarded Blue Zones longevity societies is “Move Naturally.” People who live long, healthy, happy, energetic lives are on the move, every day, but they don’t push themselves to exhaustion and injury.

Walking improves aerobic efficiency, boosting fat metabolism around the clock without triggering compensations. Walking helps regulate appetite, mood and energy levels, setting you up for success with adherence to a natural, nutrient-dense diet. Walking also provides a good foundation for high-intensity strength training and sprinting. These workouts prompt the genetic signaling for muscle building, fat loss and a higher metabolic rate.

We have an essential human obligation to reclaim our natural foot functionality that has been egregiously destroyed by spending a lifetime in elevated, restrictive modern shoes. A barefoot-inspired lifestyle improves foot strength, balance, mobility, stability, injury resilience, and peak performance in all manner of fitness, labor, and everyday life activities. However, you must be careful and patient in transitioning to minimalist shoes, because our feet have become stiff, atrophied and dysfunctional. Walking barefoot or in minimalist shoes is the best way to improve foot functionality without injury risk.

Yes! As DaVinci said, “the human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” Through principles called pre-activation and muscle tuning, we calibrate to a harder surface (or a lack of cushioned footwear) by increasing the stiffness of our muscles and connective tissue, and increasing the bend in our ankles and knees during impact. It’s astonishing to realize that we have the innate ability to gracefully run barefoot on a hard surface and generate less impact trauma than running in the latest, greatest super-cushioned running shoe. That doesn’t mean you can head out for a five-miler down the sidewalk tomorrow, but carefully and gradually improving foot functionality is an essential goal for all fitness enthusiasts.

Execute a midfoot landing over a balanced center of gravity. Knee, hips and shoulders are in vertical alignment over the landed midfoot, and a straight and elongated spine is preserved throughout the stride pattern. At impact, the toes splay wide, the arch flattens and tightens, and the Achilles stretches to absorb impact, balance moving bodyweight, and harness rotational kinetic energy. Takeoff is initiated by the dorsiflexion of the toes and the uncoiling of the spring-loaded arch and Achilles tendon. With 33 joints, 26 bones, and over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments–many of them sponge-like, the human foot is able to absorb multiples of bodyweight impact vastly better than any shoe.

Someone who feels a compulsive drive to run that comes at the expense of fulfillment in other areas of life, and can display classic symptoms of addiction and withdrawal, especially when it comes to overuse injuries. The obligate runner forms an identity around running, and can experience anger, frustration, and depression when things don’t go as planned, i.e., overuse injuries. Ideally, running becomes a harmonious passion, where the well-conceived struggles and challenges bring personal growth, happiness, and long-term contentment.

With unregulated competitive intensity, and a results-focused, self-flagellating approach driven by marketing hype and unsavory peer influences. To avoid or extricate from these unhealthy dynamics, focus on the process of making effort toward improvement, and release the attachment of your self-esteem to results. Understand that incessantly pursuing the runner’s high is a form of addiction. When you slow down and emphasize aerobic development, you can better balance brain chemicals and experience both immediate gratification and long-term contentment from your fitness endeavors.

First, strive to increase all forms of general everyday movement, especially walking and comfortably paced, steady-state cardio workouts at or below fat max heart rate. Perform brief, intense strength training sessions focused on full-body, functional exercises a couple times per week. Conduct brief, explosive all-out sprints. Make time for spontaneous, unstructured outdoor play to balance the confines and predictability of modern life. You can get fit or even super fit in less time and with less pain, suffering, and sacrifice than you might think. It all starts with getting out and walking as much as you can every day.