If you want to see some of the most powerful athletes on the planet compete, tune into NBC tonight to watch the Mens 2 man bobsleigh competition. On an aside, my first year as a push athlete in 2006, I watched a competitor that is still pushing, do Jump Squats with 405 lb on his back. HE GOT AIR! After I picked my jaw off the floor, I went back to my hotel room and felt pretty inadequate.
If you want to watch the biggest aerobic engines, watch as much of the cross country skiing as you can. Saturday I witnessed a Swedish racer named Charlotte Kalla erase a 25 second deficit in the last leg of the relay to win Gold. It was amazing. The men compete today. Here is the last 2 minutes of the race. Pretty awesome.
Those intrinsic foot muscles continue to get some cool research. It seems the abductor hallucis, flexor digitorum and quadratus plantae when loaded, have the capacity to control deformation of the longitudinal arch in the foot. The recruitment of the intrinsic foot muscles increased with increasing load. My take away is that if you always baby your foot, you will eventually weaken these muscles. Progressive loading anyone? The way I interpret it, like with any training stimulus, gradual progressions, back off days and continued progress lead to strength without injury. Going from a tank shoe with an orthotic, to barefoot or even minimal shoe, would not be the correct strategy. Here is the link. Intrinsic foot Muscles.
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