The Power of Barefoot Movement with Vincent Vu
Michael Hughes
Welcome to the Gymnazo podcast where you get to peek behind the curtains of what it takes to create and run a seven figure fitness facility that ranks in the top 5% of boutique fitness studios for revenue. But to be honest, that’s the least important thing about us. Founded by me, Michael Hughes Gymnazo has created an ecosystem of services that blend performance with restoration techniques, and attracts top coaches to its facility hosted by stoners Peyton and myself and our top coaches. This podcast shares our best practices on everything from how to build a sustainable fitness business, to how to program for maximum results to how to build a hybrid training module that’s online and in person. We have marketing secrets, movement, innovation, and breaking down trends in the industry. If you’re a fitness professional, or a fitness business owner, this is where you learn how to sharpen your skills and to see maximum results.
CJ
Hey, what’s happening, y’all welcome back to the Gymnazo podcast. I’m your host, CJ Copalis, the director of programming here at Gymnazo. And I have a very awesome guest with us today. Somebody I met a year or two ago now, but I feel like we’ve known each other for multiple lifetimes, especially after a very recent experience at a Spartan Race in Texas that we will dive into very soon. But Vincent man, welcome to the Gymnazo podcast, the owner of Kinis and the movement community that Kinis has brought in
Vincent
excellent CJ, thank you so much. Thank you, everyone for having me here today. I’m excited through I look forward to share the experience that you know we did together in Austin, Texas, and the thing that we’ve been doing the last couple of years with the community.
CJ
Yeah, it’s great to have you on man. I know we’ve had a few conversations on your podcast and also just in different flow jams and community events across the US now not just here in California. But it’s been a been a pleasure to have you here, been able to go out to Texas, hang out with you and then hopefully get out to your hometown out in Virginia. Absolutely. You are currently where you’re at in Virginia right now. But I
Vincent
am in Richmond ama about two hours south of Washington DC that is this hometown for me.
CJ
How long have you been there? Been here
Vincent
for over 20 years, I moved here in 99. I went to high school here and then went to college in Georgia and came back to this My hometown is the Kinis is headquartered here.
CJ
What brought you to create Kinis. And I use about five years old now. Right?
Vincent
Yes, Kinis yeah, the really Kinis I started Kinis about five years ago, stem from a personal injury. And a lot of that has to do. And so when that happened, and that actually go back many years, about 20 years before that, because I grown up I spent about five years of six year live in refugee camp. That’s where I started a lot. I spent a lot of time outdoor, play soccer, barefoot, my feet were strong. And then about five years ago after I immigrate to the state and start wearing a shoe that will pull that will good for me. And then I got into running a little bit and things just kind of falling apart for me at that point. You know, I didn’t know anything about shoe officers or consumers I went out bought a bunch of like running shoe that’s supposed to be good for me. And then the day after I keep buying the shoe it just thing doesn’t get worse for me got to the point couldn’t run anymore. And I got so frustrated the fact that you know everything I try not working in and that’s where I started to diving deeper really understanding what caused the injury and understanding you know, the football and anatomy and the biomechanics, what caused it and a lot of the resources I came across it really boiled down to the problem and the ability to shoot the shooter that really jacked me up and my feet were finding for and I just I’m trying to do about 10 miles a window and I couldn’t run so at the end of the day, I made a decision after looking at all the resources and understanding the root cause I told myself that you know, hey, I want to regain their strength back again. Not because I want to run barefoot but I want to be to move in the most natural way that I can be you know, stay healthy and active for many years to come. And the solution to that point is associated with high interest and that’s because some sort of fall back but in my you know my shoe and wear that for the rest of my life and I didn’t want to do that. So I’m out of frustration and necessity to really fix my own problem. I decided to create a product at the beginning wasn’t this an idea the beginning just I want to fix my own problem the most natural way and that is come boiling down to me actually make my own product because everybody to try to put me into these comfortable shoe that cushioning that actually he’s getting you know is not really good for me. So that really the inception we can that’s when I start to really develop this idea that back to the basic and really take the shoe away and blood let the foot move naturally. Beginning really extremely difficult transition because after almost 20 years protecting them. They just fragile I mean taking them the shoe up they look how they look like they haven’t been moved from years. And it was difficult but I know with all the resources I looking at and in it Listen to my personal experience in the past, I feel like hey, at the end of the day, it just, it’s just a matter of time for me to re acclimate to retrain the body again. And after a couple of weeks, I’m wearing socks, and then trying to buy all these low foam pads and glue the socks and walk around the gym. People think I’m crazy because everybody used to wear shoes. Nobody liked this guy here. Well, I have socks and some it’s weird contraption going on. And but it worked. For me, it worked. It made me understand that hey, did exactly what my body needs is need to be free, the feet need to be moving the most natural right? Optimized range of motion was the opposite were constantly confined, protect and just encase them in the coffin or we call shoe. So that’s really how I strokin
CJ
that’s it’s fascinating man. Especially you said about just putting putting some socks or pads on some socks. And then going to the gym, I feel like nowadays, like where we are currently, at least in the environment that I’m in daily. It’s much more accepted. I got those people that are working out barefoot in a session just people that are working out with barefoot or minimalist shoes this summer working out with with running shoes, everybody has kind of each their own, they find that their comfort and their training, but the fact that you send to find a sock and a pad and put these together and start working out what was that process? Like? I imagine it wasn’t very smooth. Did stuff fall apart? When you started putting them on? We have different styles. What what are we talking about here? What was that process like?
Vincent
Yo, so at the beginning really what I did when I started to take on my shoe and what inside the shoe, I know that this little foam they call the end so I pulled them out. And basically I use this as just a base, I cut two pieces, one for the front of my foot, which is the mid foot and the other one for the ball my foot. So I went to a local art and craft store, I buy these Velcro. And basically I can velcro this thing on and walk around it beginning is, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know, all you know that hey, you say okay, you the body need to transition slowly. So I did, I have to use that foam. And then I went back to a different thickness. Some of them maybe a quarter of an inch thick, some of them maybe an eighth and then they take some of them like 316. So while I would say that a beginning, you might start out with a quarter of an inch thick foam because now you transition and then eventually a couple of weeks later you go down to a 316 and eventually an eighth and then eventually you don’t need it anymore. So that was the thought process at the beginning and what I did where I will go to this and I will cut them out of the law Pat and what basically I put the ground for the bottom and at that point, I went to the gym and gave out to all the people that I know that you know, I see them around and tell them that what I’m trying to do and give to them. Let’s think I’m crazy but but it was difficult. It’s difficult to convey an idea because to me, you know people have the preconceived notion that you need to wear a shoe you need all the cushion you can you need an ankle support you need art support you need all the thing here I am telling people wait a minute you don’t need any of that. People like look at me do your crazy what happened if the weight drop and use your feet? Put my analogy that well? If you tap and why why? Why don’t we try not to drop them because you drop them? Unless you were still toast you the gnome was still not gonna help you much but I’ve been doing it for many years and never I dropped anything and never i i even train our dry never take anything because you more conscious about the environment. We talked about the mind body connection, the proprioception should you were aware of your surrounding where you put your foot. So at the beginning actually difficult but I’m just like everything in life not supposed to be easy.
CJ
No, definitely not. It made me think about kind of my journey with barefoot wear. And I’ve shared the story before but when I was in high school as a wrestler and I decided I want to get myself a little bit more uncomfortable. And my other team captain and I decided to go run barefoot go eight miles for our summer training session in the heat of Sacramento when it’s about 110 degrees out and a lot of asphalt this grass around but slight asphalt and concrete. And we made it about four miles in and then started to feel like oh this, we need to find some cooler ground like five to 10am and it’s already hitting damn near 90 to 100 and we got another hour at least have a run. And when we finish the run I mean we had blisters on the bottom of our feet the next day was actually the worst because everything started to heal a little bit and fester over and we ended up taping our feet with a white athletic tape for gosh three or four months, slowly doing less and less but still wrestling with with beat up beat up feet. And it was definitely the right route to go. It’s just frustrating from normally running and running shoes to then running with pure bare feet on hot ground. And since then that was about 12 years ago. Now at this point worked back into lower and lower drops so that I’m closer and closer to the ground and then doing more and more work or more impact and more training and more time in that tension with less support. And it’s amazing when our feet are are capable of when we train them to do what they are made to do which to support our whole structure, right, they’re the base of our archway, and they are the arches. So far our feet can absorb the landing. There’s muscles in those feet, a lot of them and all these bones are communicating proprioceptors are communicating from the nerves, the bottom to the rest of the body, saying how to move through space. It’s amazing that if we take the stepping stone route to developing our truth than eight foot strength, how much that can support the rest of our body. But certainly with taking the time of like doing not just going straight into barefoot, but going into less and less support, and gradually adding more and more impact. What was what was your experience like physically initially with this, because I know we’ve been doing some barefoot stuff recently that we’ll get into. But your your first experiences with your feet, if you can go back to when you went from, you know, shoes and then wore shoes for 20 years and then took shoes off and started doing socks. Talking about the process a little bit of going lower, lower. Was it a painful experience? Was it like why am I doing this? Were you ever questioning those things? Or did it just make sense and your body started to reconfigure itself on how to move more efficiently and more effectively.
Vincent
It wasn’t a painful experience at all. It was uncomfortable at the beginning. But the body can adapt I mean the first we i It wasn’t running basically just walking by walking the sock is so you have some protection. But by walking, you’re starting to feel the ground you’re starting to add you’re starting to that everything in the pizza to moving right away, you know you more comfortable you’re laying in the you know, pounding your you know pounding your heel, because in the past, I have a thick ass cushion. Or I’m doing a pouting heel strike all day long. But now if I run in my power, there’s nothing there and in my body immediate will tell me there’s nothing there. So the only thing that by the automatic adjusted landing right away now so the body is very amazing because it know how thing when it’s contact court where forcement apply and react right away. That only happened when you get out of a shoe. So for me, at the beginning, it was uncomfortable or wasn’t painful. Because I wasn’t running basically I told myself we have to walk and be so it’s just about two weeks of walking just by the socks and then introduce a little foam the foam help the foam have transitioned no trend to transition. And eventually, I noticed I can gain the strength of ankle stability. The shin splints starting to go away. Now my plan to resign to start go away because now I’m not I’m not touting my heels day in day out anymore with us now and more conscious about my learning and sort of use the big toe push up. So it was a great thing is extremely difficult. No, I don’t because I’m just an average guy. I’m not I don’t play any sport. So if I can do anyone should be to do it. It’s just a matter of fact that we got to go and be mindful, be intentional about what you’re doing. Because the last thing you want to do, you know, make a rough transition and you go into running you definitely hurt yourself. But you can give your body some time and listen to your body. But your body tell you a lot. Yeah, slow down and listen.
CJ
Yeah, I remember when the the Vibram Five Fingers came out, you know the finger, or the toe shoes. And I’m not really a fan of them. But I know that people are, but I remember there was something coming out of like, Alright, now all these runners are going and doing they’re trying to barefoot shoes. And There ended up being a ton of injuries coming from that because they went straight from all this padding and and their shoe is doing the work for their foot and ankle that their foot and ankle should have been doing initially or at least some version of it. And then they went into virtually no support at all and said hey, foot and ankle I need you to perform like you haven’t performed ever before. Because I’ve been told this is good. And I think barefoot thing barefoot as a culture shift got a bad rap initially, because people were jumping the gun, they’re like, oh, I should just go barefoot, my feet are designed to do this, I should just go without considering the potentially decades before leading up to this point of teaching your body how to run with support versus running without support. And you’re certainly gonna run faster and further with support because your foots not taking the wear and tear. But as soon as you take that away, and then you go into getting that wear and tear, it’s it’s like double, triple quadruple the amount of forces that that puts experience. And then you might be good on a run, but the next few days, you’re gonna feel like shit. And so it’s really important to recognize, I think, you know, where if we’re in for entering into this barefoot culture, and maybe not even just barefoot but just with minimalist shoes with less support, recognizing where we’ve been in the past 125 10 years, 20 years and realize either how we’ve neglected our feet or supported our feet, and we’ve been neglecting them. We don’t want to look at them. We don’t want to wash them. We don’t want to have somebody else work on them. We don’t want to FOMO and we only want just we don’t want to look at those feet. They’re nasty. It’s like well, we gotta we gotta give them some love. We got to get them to just walk around the house barefoot maybe for most of your steps and drought at your house and then when you go to work or whatever, wear your shoes and make it a stepping stone process that’s right for you. So that gradually depending on what kind of barefoot training you’re trying to go into, which is just could be just be barefoot on the beach, walking around, could be barefoot at the beach and also wanted to go for a run on the beach. It could be that you want to go do a Spartan Race shorter maybe one to a 26 mile marathon, barefoot just to say did it and feel what that’s like and to, to bring awareness to a cause, right? Yes, just super important. I’ve seen so much success with people that have transferred from big, supportive blocky shoes. And they’re complaining about how they can’t move laterally or rotationally. Because the shoe tilts them over, they can move forward and back. And that’s kind of what the shoe most running shoes are designed to do is take you forward, not even take you backwards, but take you forward in a very efficient way. So we start to lose the ability not only to strengthen our feet moving forward, but we lose our ability to move laterally and rotationally. And don’t even we just kind of neglect those parts of our sphere.
Vincent
That is correct. I mean, I think you just look at the shoe design, the shoe anatomy itself, the I call it a traditional athletic shoe is confined, you have a very narrow toe box, you have this big cushion in the bottom. So you have a big huge front drop, which is already causing before even do anything by to put in a shoe, you already changed your body, your body by mechanic, you actually already lean for the front foot, I mean, I’m already put more pressure on my knee, my ankle, my joint in my lower back, just buying putting by elevate my body before I even move anything. So I think it’s important for folks, you understand that. There’s a lot of misconception, there’s two couple things, or there’s a barefoot running barefoot training middle and most you, I think for the most folks unless you’re extremely running, but for the most part, it’s safe to say that focus on transition to minimal footwear is a safe space, that’s something you can do safely and successfully. majority population can do that unless you have some very specific condition that you need certain thing but majority population should be able to transition from a traditional leather shoe with a very cushioning narrow toe box to what I call a minimal shoe. There’s a couple of brands on the market that you can choose from depending where you live. But and then when you get into that and you want to expand more barefoot, that’s something that laid on but don’t go into a thing barefoot for barefoot running that there’s a lot of mysteries actually, I want to clarify, clarify that little bit of this.
CJ
Yeah, the biomechanics. You mentioned, for us biomechanics turns, it definitely puts your foot into more plantar flexion. Like when you have a high heel, you’re you’re basically wearing heels so your your ankles go on to here, and it’s putting you essentially into a shortened Achilles soleus. And a bunch of your plantar fascial tissues is going to shorten is going to kind of hold and it’s gonna be locked in that position. One because you’re already in a heel lift, but to because now that shoe, which is designed to do the pronation and supination for you, now your foot is losing the ability to pronate when you land in the supinate when you push off, so your foot is actually getting weaker, while wearing supportive shoes. And it’s it happens in the long term. It doesn’t happen overnight doesn’t happen in one race. But if you have a habit of having this extra support, and especially the mentality that we’ve we’ve developed, especially in this western culture that we need support, we need help where we don’t have enough within us we know we need something external to help. I think in a lot of cases, that’s true, but in most it’s not it’s a it’s a narrative that we’ve been fed, whether on purpose or not, I don’t think is the is the point. It’s the rationale and understanding that our foot is very powerful. And our foot is was rooting us to the ground. And if we don’t have a good support structure on the bottom, that’s innate within us what happens to the top of the chain to your knees to your hips, now that your ankles are stuck in plantar flexion and you can’t supinate and pronate because your foot your shoe is not folding, it’s just really rigid. I mean, how that that influences the rest of the biomechanics chain, you can develop more knee injuries, low back injuries, even shoulder and trap tightness, because you’re bracing especially when that heel wears down. And it’s only designed to take you What 100 miles. So it’s like 100 hours of training, I think is what it is. And most people go way beyond that when they’ve got supported shoe but they lose the support. And you can see how the shoe like morphs it puts them either into a ton of eversion or a ton of inversion. And they go to the doctor just like Dr. Scholl’s thinking like oh you’re over protonated or over supinated and so you need this type of shoe it’s like I think we’re missing the mark of understanding that we don’t need to be in that we need to train our bodies to handle more to handle pronation to handle supination so that the rest of the support structure can can do its job to
Vincent
yeah you correct CJ and I think I want to touch base on one point real quick if you look at the human evolution and our body took about 2 million years to evolve when we become pi bipedal the reason why we are we are today because we our ability to move we use our Theta Survivor Mode we go out our ancestor How do we do we chase animal not because we run faster but the longer we learn the longer so we can we that’s how we capture that. But the ability and throughout human evolution, we move across terrain throughout the eyes a lot more horse condition than where we are now today and human world survive which means body and engineer to the point that it can withstand a kind, adaptive and terrain. The fact that the notion of preconceived notion that we need support is a point narrative. And I think that Something that I think about the beauty of the human body is we can readapt. Again, you can spend 30 years and chew but you if you’re going when you make the transition, the body can readapt and regain that strength again.
CJ
That’s, that’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. And it’s, it’s tough to recognize in the moment, because adaptation happens over time. But it’s amazing how quick it can happen and how powerful the experience is, when you allow yourself to three months of just experiencing some more minimalist, intentional movement, not even real heavy training or powerful training, just spend more time letting your feet breathe, go put them in the earth and actually get some earthing as well go hang out in the sun, sunshine, and go walk on the beach. And I’ve had conversations, people saying, like, Oh, my calves get so tired, it’s like, that’s probably because they’re very weak, we need to train those suckers, we also need to recover and restore. So when you get tired, go clear their shoes on, you should support when you need it, and then continue to phase yourself out of them more often. I think it’s, you know, people are concerned with how they look when they do it. And not really know if they’re doing it right. It’s like, go do in your backyard, then just spend some time by yourself. Use it as a meditation, go walk around, when you bring in some 3d movement with it
Vincent
too. And go back to Jay, if you ask me what kind of barefoot training is I don’t do any barefoot training exercise to be an idle, the only thing I do to walk, the best exercise the best exercise transition training, I recommend anyone and doesn’t matter what body type, what type of fitness level, you’re the best thing you can do for your biking transition to minimalist footwear is walk and you ride you say if you just walk your phone, your your back yard, in your house around your house, you know it’s safe, you know your environment better than anybody or go to a party at all you can do to walk enough. And when you walk in them for about a couple of weeks, I guarantee you you notice the difference right away?
CJ
There’s no long term to
Vincent
Yeah, you don’t need any special exercise. That’s for later on, if you want to get more, but for the beginning to walk in them.
CJ
Cool. So yeah, I mean rule of thumb, just spend some more time barefoot, but when I really want to dive into events, it is something that I sure haven’t gotten a chance to break down with you a lot which is what two months ago you did a full marathon barefoot in Austin, Texas.
Vincent
That is correct. Do you have flashback one Oh, wow.
CJ
Well, what what came over you I know is for cars. But what? When did you decide, hey, I’m gonna go do a barefoot marathon. I mean, there’s there’s definitely a gap between just doing minimalist stuff and then going and doing a marathon to finish it just to complete it. What brought you to that decision? Because other people you were you did what? Why would you do a marathon barefoot other people like That’s freaking awesome, man. So give me a little bit more in our listeners more insight into your decision making process to do this and why you did it.
Vincent
Yeah. So that’s really that was start around the New Year dinner, I was sitting at home my family and I realized that this is the first new year that a lot of Afghan refugees spin away from their hometown, because of what happened in you know, last year. And that reminds a lot of back 1988 When I first immigrate here at the age of 15, didn’t speak any English didn’t know anything. It’s remind me a lot of that so and I want to do something you know I am I got where I am today, because a lot of beautiful human being that helped me along the way. So for me something that can do something to get back. As a refugee I relate to that. So I wanted to do some to get back so and then I realized maybe we can run a marathon. And it goes back five years ago, I don’t like running to be honest with you, I hate running. And now here I am. And I’m thinking okay, we’re gonna do this thing. And we want to create some momentum of that we needed something that will have impactful, you know, so way so I decided that I was signing up for a marathon. And this literally seven weeks away. So I made a decision and I text my buddy who was running, say, Dax and decide to run this can be thing I have enough time can you be helped my Can you help me at my running coach guy, I never run I mean, the longest I run you maybe three four mile and you looking at 26 mile, and I will do it barefoot? And he said why? Are you crazy? And I say yes. I want to do it for a good cause. So we talk about it. He basically came up with a running schedule for me. And I went to training. But what happened right after make the decision, I one week into training, I got COVID and I will ask for the 10 day and I said oh my god now I have literally three or four weeks of training to bring it up to speed. And during that COVID I were more determined than ever as as soon as I’m making. I’ll get out of this and I’ll run the race. So I did it I designed and so what happened is where And we’re because I know that deep down inside I am capable of doing it. But it’s still a very daunting task to run barefoot. So the strategy worked through since I don’t have so much time running training. So I want to finish the race and I want to finish the race and be able to walk so I decided the first 13 will run in a nomad which are very close and barefoot and after that I’ve run the last 13 barefoot unviewable told me, why don’t you the opposite? I say no, I wanted to make sure that I go through the last 13 Miles barefoot so that’s why I did we train I show up. And then going back to the community I have to sister of a wonderful community the last couple of years we bill I would not be to do that by myself. I mean, the mentor string II alone will not get me through but half the team. So I ran the 413 Nomad, and after that, I took it up. And it took me almost seven hours to finish that race. It was difficult, but I’m very happy to last out last few mile the nail and Courtney show up they ran with me the last few miles but it’s worth an incredible experience for me. I’m happy I did it and for good cause so to prove the point that the human body pretty tough itself already. And I proved that point.
CJ
Well, it’s cool to you. I mean, you mentioned something earlier about you know survival and how you’re gonna go and chase down our food we’re going to do a barefoot and we got that’s all about the fastest it’s about just catching up to it and then knowing that it’s gonna be tired, tired out, but you can keep going for longer. And not only that, but we work together as a team as a unit if you’re just the only thing out there only person out there the only human out there trying to catch food probably not gonna happen something’s gonna eat you or kill you first. But you gotta community because end up having to come in together collaborating on how to strategize to finish this but also feed off of each other’s energy. Just kind of full circle in that sense of finishing with the team too and having a drive and they jumped in barefoot with you what an experience what was going through your mind, especially those last 13 miles in fact, what was the first half like compared to the second half
Vincent
the first half were manageable. The first half is what the body trained for. And I think the second half I finished the first half so I coming up this hill to finish up the first half at the you know the row split up for the people who do half in the pool do full so we you know, we finish off with this hill. So I was a little bit thing I got the thing to try. So I ran up that hill. So as soon as I reached the top, I got cramped right away. So I’m running the last 13 barefoot with cramps. So I have to run every every quarter. I don’t have to stop and walk and it because it’s locked up and then after massage and walk again. Yeah, the last the first 13 was what I expect. The last time I was I know that we gotta reach Deep Down Dark place and to pour out everything there’s a lot of at that point even human being you don’t we typically you right hunt, you don’t run for 26.2 mile. Right, you do a couple mile and then you rise and you you strategize like you say you have a group of people here, you’ve got to keep going. But yeah, the last time I’ve worked truly difficult, but that’s where the mentor come into place. And the point is the might have you quit, the body will go on, it’s just the mind will tell you to quit. So I have to go first the support from from the team. Second, I have to reach deep down as to why I’m doing it who I’m doing it for. And when I think about the pain, the physical pain I’m going through and think about the pain of people, the refugee that have to go through you know, could be a lost family member lost a home all that stuff, that nowhere compared to that pain. I know that this pain that will last for the next few hours that I’m in a good spot, I mean, in a good place. But these people have the whole life turned upside down. So that’s kind of the way that I look at it and motivate me keep on going.
CJ
This powerful man, it is definitely a demonstration the power of the mind. And it’s not always bad just competing to finish or competing to be the fastest it’s competing with yourself to see can Are you capable of and you know you are but you got to prove it to yourself too. Because theoretically, you could think I could do that and then never have done it knowing that. I don’t know if I can actually do that thing. So now that you’ve done it, would you ever do it again? Yes, for the
Vincent
for the good, cause I will do it again. I think at the end of the day Yeah, it’s gonna be a toy but it’s not gonna be easier because as long I could not walk I the one thing that so as I crossed the finish line that at that point, the adrenaline rush coming in to you i Oh, yes. And then after that five minutes that I could not walk so basically I set on the low less about concrete latch, and I know that there’s a lot of scooter right there that I need to walk five feet in So I can go get on a scooter and go find the guy because the folks have to park so far away to get the car. I could not walk. I literally just sat there and just stood at the scooter and I talk and I talk to myself all you need to do is crawl but I had five feet. That’s all you need to do not move where I could not move that point. Yeah, it was it will take the life of your body. But I think for me the good thing that is only took my took my body about two and a half, three days and I would pretty much recover. By four days. I’m back to running again, especially with
CJ
the experience leading up to it to have having seven weeks right you said or seven, eight weeks and then having 10 days a COVID You’re insane, man, you’re absolutely insane. And I respect and honor every bit about you.
Vincent
Thank you, brother.
CJ
That being said, I mean, just recently, about two weeks ago, we had the experience of doing a 10k Spartan Race in Austin, which six and a half, seven miles, nothing. Nothing this guy can’t handle, you know, 26 miles, no big deal. And I’ve been trying to barefoot stuff. I was like, hey, it’s I’m gonna go to Texas. It was surprised Kansas crew we’re gonna do this Spartan Race in the Nomad. It’s gonna be awesome, but I really want to do it barefoot. And something I told myself this year was that I was gonna do a trifecta Spartan Race, but I also wanted to try to do a trifecta barefoot just to finish it. So a trifecta for time and the trifecta for barefoot so we’re on the we’re on the road right now done to Spartan Races now barefoot one, actually now two supers barefoot and so that it was it was I say I’m ready. I for the first one was actually this again, I think it’s possible. I could prepare for heat in Texas, it was like it’s gonna be 100 degrees and be warm, but we’re gonna race in the morning, you know, and it’s going to be there’ll be cactus out there and rocks out there and terrain that I’m not familiar with. But I can handle this, I’m not gonna, I’m gonna watch out for cactus, like you said, and you’re barefoot, you’re very aware of where everything is. So you’re pretty good at avoiding dropping stuff on or stepping on stuff, you don’t want to step on. Right, you’re very present. But what I wasn’t prepared for was the terrain that we experienced out there. And I’m really stoked that you experienced it with me so that we could heal together. But I want to kind of break down that experience. Because the past two weeks we’ve been talking about it like people just asking, like why the hell would you do such such a thing. And I’ve been trying to find the words to put into my why, you know, I just I like doing crazy stuff and stuff. It’s uncomfortable. I’m not stupid about it, I train for it. But I certainly put myself on the edge in the sense of trying to experience what that edge is like. And my my motto this year, my mantra has been exco the edges are like excavate, where’s that end? Where is the spot where I have this barrier that I can continue to push beyond later, but I need to find out where that wall is. And I experienced the first time this year when did the beast Spartan I did that with shoes on in some minimalist shoes. And then the next race the next day was the was the super with the team. And I was like I know the terrain, it’s not gonna be too bad. But after that 30 miles, I haven’t been running it all this year. I’ve been training just with my gym Nazo performance training, and then hoping that that carries over to my running because a lot of running positions in case like stuff without actually doing a ton of running. And when I finished that beast, I was I was beat up man. Like I was like, I don’t know, I don’t know, how am I gonna be able to walk tomorrow because I ran that thing faster than I thought I was going to run it and it was very elusive 3500 feet elevation. So it was quite a client. And the next day I woke up and I was like I’m having trouble rolling in a bed. If there’s any other day, I would have just said all right, I’m taking today off. We’re not doing anything. We’re gonna be in the Epsom salt float tanks. I’m doing a little sauna session, I’m gonna do probably a little bit of soft tissue work, and some hydrating, but no, I committed to a race and I told myself I was doing the second one barefoot. So I woke up, vaulted my legs drive into the race. And I’m like home, like what did I get myself into, like, I’m just going to be holding the back walking through this thing. I hopefully I make it through you know, and I don’t go to the space mentally if I don’t think I’m gonna make it. But I hit that point. And when after the race, I was like, I’m not gonna I can’t run. There’s no level of impact that I can handle right now. My feet are fine, but my legs are just toast. I thought about hiking and running up hills. And then when that start line, we all took off running and I was like, I can only run I can’t walk now. And it was like using momentum and I was using a different fascial system versus like muscular system to just climb I was like just keep momentum, use the stretch, shorten. Go ahead and just lengthen, shorten, lengthen, shorten and keep stride and you’ll be able to fall up and down hills and it carried me through actually did pretty well. But spent a whole week recovering after that. So going into this one in Texas. I was like I got this in the back. I’ve already done this 10k before. And this one’s not even that hilly like we’re gonna be good. But it proved to be one of the most physical, challenging, mental fuckery things I’ve ever experienced. Everything but what we experienced everything and then what we experienced. And so when I when I showed up and I started to say we’re going barefoot and you said I’m going barefoot What were you thinking that were like, Hey, I’m in for this I can do this. What was what was going through your mind when you decided to go barefoot with?
Vincent
Yes, yes, sAm same thing when he was going back so my whole intention with his raising Spartan in Texas because I ran many Spartan and 10k. So yeah, after my barefoot my marathon I say, All right, well, that’s it. I you know, I’m, I’m 39 this year, I set up on myself for the next decade. I’m ready to go, I did something that I never thought I did, which he, I’m pretty happy. And then I showed you when I saw you, you show me you ran a spark barefoot. Nice, nice. I never thought of that. But that’s all in the back my mind. But mine. So I stopped running. I stopped training after I stopped training to basically stop training. And so yeah, so I say six mile I’m not a problem. I’ll make it through. I’m there to supply mental support. Because a lot a few folks with the kindred spirit actually running for four times I want to be there and I I can guide them through and just beat you to it along. And then you show up because I remember my reach out to you. And you say yeah, I’m not sure you make a nice, I saw you it’s like, Oh my God. And when you told me that you run barefoot. I say, I can’t say no, this guy will fly all the way to California and do this, I have to do it. So but know the fact that it’s gonna be a rough one. Because, again, it’s gonna be I know it’s gonna be eat, which you should be fine. But and do today that compare that the marathon is a different kind of nightmare to deal with. Because marathon is manageable, if you know what to expect. But this you don’t know. Because you don’t know where these catheters gazillion of them. They everywhere. Everywhere, man, everywhere. And I remember so at that point. Yeah, I just say I’m in at least we are going to get toasters, we two of us. I would not, I would not run anybody beside you. So it’s been an honor to experience the probably the most challenged and more difficult race of my life. The Spartan Race. I was at breaking point. Many time more than I did for this. The marathon.
CJ
Yeah, no doubt it is cool to mean barefoot one thing too, but with with the rest of the crew that we had running in nomads, the socks shoes, so for those of you don’t know nomads, when I was talking about the socks, Brillo pads on the bottom, it’s basically a much more streamlined, sexier version of that. But running the nomads it’s like it’s kind of a thin layer there. So those little cactus spikes, and it’s only when the cactus spikes, it was those damn goat heads, the rhinoceros horns from hell, man, they just poked in you puncture you and then stay there. And I haven’t my fingers because I was trying to peel them out of my toe when we were running. And then he caught my finger. I’m like, dude, and then I flick it off. And there’s like, when that start line hit, every step of that race was utter pain. And I was like I am so underprepared mentally for what’s happening right now. So all I can do is smile. And I know I realized, I think in that time, what my why was and I really like to think of life as it’s a ceremony. It’s a continuous unfolding of awesomeness and, and shitty stuff and just experiences things that things that we’re designed to kind of go through to learn about ourselves, learn about what we’re doing here with each other, and how to be supportive and kind of help walk each other home. And it was kind of like, All right, we are, we’re now in a very painful ritual of barefoot training. It brought me back to like flashbacks of the first time just running in heat, but I was like, Man, he’s on a bed it’s these damn pokies that I was just little birds but when I looked at him I was like, No, dude, that thing has got nothing it’s got a heartbeat and a vengeance coming out from my feet. I was I hope Vincent’s All right man, cuz I prefer prefer this and I know he did a nice
Vincent
No, no, neither do I do. And I think you know, at that point is throughout tap into the different parts of the brain, just like you you do an ice bath you you get to the point you tap into the very dark part of the brain and, and it’s a mental it’s a mental game at that point, because there’s physical pain because I remember that section that Lilly where we started just covering the gazillion of these and that’s it you cannot avoid them. You can’t see them. And I remember as a setback section that setback I really I told myself at one point that why didn’t I wear a shirt if I had the shirt that I’ll rip my shirt off and cover my feet otherwise at that breaking point and then the setback I have to drop them in the heat so you’re dealing with the terrain and that’s saying when the bag is 120 degree heat and then I have to put I saw you have to stand back say oh my god I was stupid. I say oh my god and the Hill will only about four foot high and I haven’t rolled this tent back up because so hot and then when I pick up the sandbag some of these doors to get what stuff that sent back and I put on my shoulder. Oh my God and I had to drop them in a bunker about it was at that point. I’m like, Oh my God, there’s a very closer breaking point.
CJ
And that was like the last like mile and a half. I was doing pretty good. I’ve ran into quite a bit of rocks out here like Bishop peaks or St. Louis stuff that’s pretty rocky, but doesn’t get too hot out here. So it’s always just kind of the pressure and usually wait for a good little bit of rain or mist. So kind of softens the rock in the dirt a little bit. And I was like this is the complete opposite end of the spectrum. And what I was so stoked about was the conversations that were had, not only with our team, but with other people in this Spartan Race, really what I love about the Spartan Races, nobody supportive of each other, never just like everybody’s running their own race, because some people are running for speed, some people are running just to finish the thing. So we were doing their first one, some have no idea what they got into their friend, just sign them up. Some people like they’re they’re just having a blast that they listen to music and running around. And it’s everybody’s very supportive. And like one of the conversations, because, you know, we’re jogging by running by nobody’s really looking at your feet, they’re like, oh, this person is running faster than I am, or like they’re cooking. So to say, Hey, good job, you know, fist bumps and say, Hey, you’re almost there. It’s very positive atmosphere, very supportive. And one guy actually has two of them. They’re like, yelling like, Man, I’m dying. And they’re like, up in front of us. Like, I was like, ah, yeah, this sucks. And like me, and Braden took off past him. And do like, what we’re dying, and we got shoes on, they’re dying, and you guys don’t have shoes on. And I’m like, Hey, man, you can either die and not have a good time or die and have a good time while you’re dying. Like, we’re all going there anyways. And I was like, oh, yeah, and it kind of gave us a boost to keep rockin. And like I said, it’s not that it’s not that long of a race, but it’s the the terrain, the temperature, the the obstacles, kind of the combination of sorts, and then it’s dry heat, and it’s dusty. There’s just all these components that like, there’s no comfort, opportunity. It’s a lot of discomfort. And one of the big things I really pay attention to is how comfortable I am in my life, I need to, I need to offset that with some kind of discomfort. And I feel very blessed to have a very comfortable life and to live a very comfortable life. And I know that when I get too comfortable, shit starts getting haywire, I get mental phone, I just I’m not having a good time and things just seem to be out to get me I’m like I need to go do a physical challenge. And again, I feel blessed to have the opportunity to make the choice to do things uncomfortable, but it makes everything so much more vibrant and beautiful in life having gone through something so uncomfortable. And so it’s expansive like new the thing goes no discomfort, no expansion, no say no pain, no gain, I think there’s this new way of looking at it is that you put yourself to uncomfortable things to learn and to grow and to adapt, to expand yourself and to see what you’re capable of. And for this race for everybody, whether you’re barefoot or not, Spartan Races kind of helped bring somebody to that place of like, I can do this. I just need to stay mentally tough, and keep moving forward. And I think there’s a point you and I like I think it’s like the last half mile that was the place where it was the hottest ground. The obstacles were so warm as well. And there’s probably the most of those goat heads any spot so if you’re looking for shade or like grass grassy, softer area, the grassy area was sharper than the dirt and the rocks. Yeah.
Vincent
Yeah, you say something that resonated with me as well, you know, being we have the luxury of living and comfortable environment, I think. And that’s why I love our Spartan Race, I get the opportunity, what I trained for, you know, we bought athletic, we enjoyed the physical activity, but I think it’s good for me mentally to put myself in that difficult. physical toughness is not mentally, but it’s physically but you have to overcome mentally with that. And that’s what I enjoy with Spartan racing. And going back to the community aspect of it, you run your own race, the beauty about this array this cards 40, is that something that you can do for many years your you can do, you run your own race, and you run with the community and is very supportive and something that at the end of the day, I keep telling myself that hey, because so difficult, because so hard this, the guy experienced that we’ve seen it last a lifetime.
CJ
Now forever, man, like just journaling about it, we’re doing a podcast on it. And having conversations with people here about just challenges they’ve gone through. And it’s kind of like opened up a portal to either relate or just to share or kind of just be in a space together that we realize like there is some hardship our bodies have to go through and the more things that we’re able to put it through intentionally, kind of under our own power, when those things are thrown at us in life, when we’re when we’re faced with some discomfort or an uncomfortable challenge or an uncomfortable situation or pain. And injury is something that pops up where do where do we go? Do we go into a negative spiral? Or do we know that we have the ability mentally, physically, emotionally and as a community as a whole net of our web of people if that we can get through it together? It’s kind of reaffirming those points. And I know there’s definitely more challenges out there that I think teach their own you know, some people are doing some crazy physical feats, and I’m like, There’s no way in hell I would do that in a million years, maybe another lifetime, but not the next few lifetimes. But for where I am right now, where you are right now where anybody is right now we have the choice to put ourselves through something uncomfortable, put ourselves through something that is not it’s a little bit dangerous. It’s a little bit outside the box or outside the norm. And when we experience that, the stories that come from that, I think that’s the most important we continue to share what we’re going on internally Because I may have had a smile on my face that whole race but man inside it was it was burning me alive. Like my heart My heart felt like it was getting wrung out and I’m like, What the fuck did you decide to do, man? Why? Why and having just being able to visit that place that dark corner or that that wall and say because because I can’t because we will and we will get through this and then to finish it and go like, Look what we did. You know? Yeah, I think it’s easy to underwrite it but you can’t deny a physical experience that is the proof is in the practice what you do, you could talk about things all the time. But if you don’t keep setting yourself up for success with these with these challenges, or put yourself through some of these miserable things, when you have the choice to what happens when you don’t have the choice and you’re facing it. How are you going to handle it?
Vincent
You’ve right and I think this type of this kind of activity prepare us mentally because right now for me when I go when shit happen I’m prepared mentally because I know that have done Tough shit before I’ve done we overcome so it’s gave me the the ammunition if when I need to go to dark space, I know I’m capable of do that. Now. I never I never thought that by my body be able to do that. No, I’m you know, and I was like, Hey, we are we did that. And that mean, there’s a lot more than body can take physically and mentally that we can take a deeper but what happens if you put your body and your mind through this kind of this tough environment? What it does at the end the day it’ll teach you a lesson. It gives you a comfort zone to go back and when should happen in librarianship when thrown at you thing may well work out something Yeah, you can sit and just contemplate on that and reflect in your life stronger. A lot of us all by law stronger than we think we tabled. It just the fact that being constantly protected. And so we need to get ourselves out of this uncomfortable condition so we can grow
CJ
no doubt about it. What was your after the race? I mean, I know like the last episode, we just got a walk the thing and we’re like hobbling, we got some videos of like, Oh man, that last obstacle is just this metal sheet that you did climb over and then get to the other side. And like it’s right there. We just got to get it done. And then finishing, I mean, we’re in so much discomfort under our feet. And I was like, I really can’t wait to put my shoes on now. You know, and then I put my shoes on. I was like, this isn’t any better. They’re still on my foot. You know? What was your post race? Like if you think about like the I know you’re busy, busy guy for the next few days after that, I got to go home shower, you know, they pull stuff out of my foot i in time, what was your experience, like in terms of the restoration, not I’m imagining people were like, where your feet all bloody, where they all beat up and like mine were bruised, and I found myself running in new ways to avoid more surface contact in my foot on the ground. And so I have bruises. I know. And I was like biomechanically, I was tripping out like, Man, I’m like, I’m inverted on this foot. I’m like, extra pronated on this, but and now Ooh, the arches hurt and I need to shift my positioning and I end up with bruises on spots my feet that I’ve never had bruises on before it was like wow, this is this is an area that has not been faced with this. So I rest and I’m quite a bit and it was amazing like walking afterwards versus trying to jog afterwards, I could walk afterwards but jogging, all the muscles were fine but my feet I still had a goat head stuck in my fourth toe it right here and so I would walk out dodge it but I would run like that point kept hitting directly and I was like wow, that’s the point that I rock off of when I run it I help tie together a lot of loose ends of stuff that I was working on with wack and with my own running mechanics and so I went through this whole spiral of like reflection of how my feet are feeling and how they’re walking and as I was recovering and pulling out thorns out of my foot What was it like for you
Vincent
just take your time doing go back to the main I saw you running on the edge and that’s where you’re survival mode that the instinct that innate in us when you have for survival mode you do that because now you minimize the ground contact so for me what I did for my instinct survival mode at that point was when it got so hot I get to these water station what I did was I looked at the bottom there’s a puddle of mud so why I went there and it shoved my feet in there and then cover with much is a way for me to naturally just protect the feet a little bit but that’s why I did post writing because what happened is just like you I mean I got got 100 of these slow frequent thing but on my peak so I went in and I didn’t really take them off and have the opportunity to actually because I were busy busy that weekend so I I were walking with them and me so every step pressure point become a lot more challenging walking into them but but for me the most part that my feet okay, except for a few bruises as expected by them that they’d be fine. they’ve recovered good but I think you know there’s a few of them do and then but for the most part I spent the next three days trying to pull them out.
CJ
Though gnarly as is amusing that I had like one in my I got all of them out except for one in this finger. One in this finger like in this little engineer. And then I had one in my left foot and one of my right foot and the worst one was the one of my right foot and I was like pushing on it pushing on it. I was like man, I guess this whole next week I’m not going to be training A lot of impact or steps, I’m going to be doing a lot more of Mace 360s swings, and throws and coral work and landmine stuff without the switches and it paid off. But it definitely took more more recovery time than I was anticipating. And it was like the the hot bath with Epsom salts, soak them and then an ice bath to like restoring muscles and then go get the tweezers out and pull us out and get the get the LZ even with a needle because I couldn’t get a needle and I was like so in my foot I’d always little scrapes on my foot and I was really happy with how they turned out though. I mean, especially with like the the nomads the Apollo’s and just feeling better contact with the ground beforehand leading up to it is like I could do this again. But I’m gonna choose not to. Not to Austin when at least barefoot. Totally. How are you feeling this week? Now that it’s been about two weeks after back
Vincent
to running back and good back running training and one a while when I land I feel we’re the one that is still in there. I feel them a little bit. So I’ve constantly every night come back home with the needle again. You know it’s now be so you got to dig in a little bit get after that some of the callus and get in and get them out. But they are good. I mean they are they are very happy to how they perform with the condition then. That wasn’t anything but yeah, the bruise expected but three, four days, they are pretty good to go. Thanks.
CJ
Shifting gears a little bit, man. I want to know a little bit more about what you’re stoked about with kennis. We’re just talked about with this community. Because I know people are seeing kinases like it’s a shoe company but really kindness is a is a community of athletes and trainers and therapists and coaches, movement practitioners people from all over. Not only the US, but in the world. It seems that they’re kind of coming out of the woodworks in this community. I know right now. It’s kind of main hubs kind of coming towards Texas and Virginia and the West Coast. What do you see is kind of a stepping stone for kennis in this fitness, community wellness health flow. Where do you see it going? And what are you stoked about?
Vincent
Yeah, well, thankful asking the question I yeah, we can as I always say this in cannabis as a movement company, rather than machine company because I think we have the point that we are bringing together different modality and then get you like you say, Yes, we started investment, but we’re expanding taxes, but we’re growing outside the US as well. So why don’t we try to do it in the long term, my vision in a five year term, a fine way to bring technology into the cannabis within the cannabis ecosystem that we hope to democratize fitness and wellness. And the way I look at the last five years that I immersed myself in this industry, I learned that the fitness and wellness industry still very limited space. Maybe because of way the business is set up the way the business model is set up, it’s still very limited. So what we want to do is, last year, we did a study on a platform that we hope to create we attention to bring online within the next 1218 months in a way that we can bring people bridge between you know a client, the the fitness community in term of into trainer coach nutrition and bring them all together and less also almost like a two sided market play and let them optimize a transaction. So by doing that we allow, we can bring the people who have the service in the pod to serve it together and then mostly in that way and let the transaction happen within our platform. So with that being said, we allow people to access you know, you can be in the US you can access a client coach training in Europe and Asia, and the Philippines and South America. So we bring everybody together with a goal intentionally democratized fitness and wellness in a way a gave people more access than ever before depend on the modality they’re looking for dependent type, you know what their end goal in mind at the same time, what we are that is the bigger part of the business that you know, a little bit farther out in the between time. The next product, we’ll get into ways to bring technology and physical product is more like wearable tech. But what we want to do is we’ve been tossing around the idea of Smartsheet for about couple of years now we have done enough research to support the reason why I want to solve this problem is about to you know, because there’s a lot of you know, you have the app or the fit the work the ring, but there’s a lot more moving activities of mechanics that the bottom teeth that nobody really addressing, we want to bring that by bringing them these proprietary sensor technologies into this and also allow the end user to capture data. And then what we want to do is build in a world called AI driven training, smart training. So based on the data that you’ve come, that you provide to the system, we should be able to recognize recommend certain exercises that you need to focus on to prevent the other two ways you can do injury prevention. Or you can do performance optimization, depending on what the end goal of the end user so that is the immediate step before we get into the more a bigger problem we want to solve which connecting the fitness community and the end user and hopefully with intention to democratize that it’s ultimately
CJ
a big project but yeah, The role is headed there wearable tech underneath your shoes.
Vincent
Yeah, that may be something that we look into start kicking off the summer kick off that project
CJ
red and right now you guys lined up you’ve got three main styles right in terms of the shoe component, not the technology, the community side but just the shoes itself. So he chose to step in and start working into minimalist footwear and kind of sharing the differences between the three styles that you guys are currently offering.
Vincent
Yeah, sure. Sure. We have the Nomad which barefoot sock the closest to being barefoot and then we have the Lucy Lucy’s and everyday active. And then we have the Pro Apolo Pro is the pro training shoe for folks who are new to this I’d highly recommend go with Lucy Lucy’s minimalist shoe design again you still get all the benefits but at least is designed in a way that transition too slowly. And then when you transition you have two options you can go more extreme closer to barefoot which is a nomad or even more low performing driven that do a lot more performance training high explosive exercise and you go for Polar Pro but the Lucy something that I got a product that doesn’t matter the body type doesn’t matter the fitness level Lucy’s a great product to start with. Yeah, that’s
CJ
what I started with and Lucy’s spirit if I’m wrong but yet cleared by the American podiatrist association for health Yes, so
Vincent
both the Lucien and Pola probably seek medical approval from the American podiatrist association so that’s something about candidacy very Kenneth approach the way we design a product very more science approach very, very assigned very data driven approach. So the shoe looks that way because the logic behind is derived from the movement How can we optimize a match movement where the other company look the shoe the movement was never a second thought everything is about how it look how you know why style what color where can you see we what we say less is more we focus on the idea of what can we do to give you the bare minimum so you can optimize movement, the most natural way that we believe I believe, according to the folk the Doctor, I’ve been working with lots to be the physical therapist, pro trainer, the athlete why I learned at the end of the day that it’s not about the shoe is about the movement, the shoe is just the medium look at us don’t look at anything is a meaning. It’s about the movement and that’s why we focus so much on with you we do a lot now is this workshop, the workshop can is designed to do it’s different than any other workshop I’ve been to where they sell product can it works out designed to be free, designed to be more education and that way, because to me, whenever I do a workshop, I say, Well, let’s not worry about the shoe. Let’s break down the sign behind let’s get some the basic foundation understanding of the body anatomy, the foot anatomy, get some of that information first, when we understand that first and I can talk about the shoot we gave a talk that shoe is made doesn’t make sense. Let’s focus on that. And that’s something that we find that is powerful, we find something that resonates people and we find that something that nobody talks to them about when you go to to store the first thing they wanted to tell you, hey, this new technology come from our support, new form, give you all that but nobody explained anything else about biomechanics. So that’s something that we hope in the long term that we continue to do more workshop to give people more value. I think at the end when people can when I believe that when we create more value people and then people can make the decision. They are beside kennis barefoot, there are people barefoot, there’s zero shoe, there are other brands out there that make the same product you find but ultimately what we want to understand the reason why not just the style, we want to be more than just a fat fat. Yeah,
CJ
you guys definitely build yourself as that and you’re continuing to with the different communities that you’re that you’re a part of. I mean, I just saw the the flow jams and stuff that are going on and workshops that are going on just this year and through summer. Like I can’t wait for ours in July. And yeah, getting that fan a lot finalized. But getting a few different practitioners in here, talking about different mechanics and coiling and, and we’ll do some movements, specifically looking at the biomechanics of the foot and ankle, the hip in reference to like functional fitness, and how to how it’s good and it’s actually brilliant to do fitness barefoot. When you’re the right environment for it, you’re doing things that aren’t just extremely heavy loads and you’re living in dangerous space, but you’re in a very safe space submaximal lifting and getting a lot of reps that are kind of simulating walking in gait and balance and different surfaces like walking on the beach versus walking on rocks, uphill, downhill, side hills, wobbly rocks, river rocks, you know, opportunities to expose our feet for what they really can do and it really comes down to the proprioception and the connection we have to them and if we don’t know much about our feet, how can make a good decision on how to train them right so we got to start with start with the foundation first. And as you guys say the stronger feet make stronger bodies I think is such a beautiful testament to what you’re creating.
Vincent
Yes, yes, yes at the end of the day, I think a body pretty strong the way they design and I think we just need to let things function the way to design stop interfering. So Ken is about less is more.
CJ
Yes, visit as we close out today, man. How can people find you find tennis? Get involved with tennis can Maybe even jump into a workshop around the US what’s the best way to go about that?
Vincent
Yeah, the best way you can find us on our website tennis.com. And you will also find us on tennis barefoot on IG. And that’s where we do a lot of moving activities. And we also will have a workshop schedule on the website as well. So, we are continued expanding our workshop flow jam. So what is different flow of workshop flow jam flow jam and basically they get together need to do some movement and some really basic you know, functional movement. Workshop is desire free, intentional, very education driven work progress behind us. So to give people more of a more understanding, the why the sign behind why we do what we do. But yeah, you’re growing. And we love to continue to go out and meet new people and share the thing that we learned last couple year with everyone but the community
CJ
communities everything man, it really it really provides a space to grow and to evolve and to set the stage for what’s to come. Now I got stuck a lot in the science side of it and just pushing, pushing, pushing information. I think we all have gone there. But it’s amazing. When we are practicing together, the proof is in the practice. And especially when you’re doing it together, you’re learning about each other, you’re learning about different ways of solving certain issues, or just relating to people who have gone through similar discomforts or tough things in their life. And a lot of times finding movements and recognizing that movement is the medicine and the motion is lotion, and that we can heal together through movement communities. So appreciate appreciate everything you guys are doing Vincent with cannabis and with the whole community. Everybody that’s involved with Kinis highly appreciate and respect everybody in this comedian stoked to be a part of it. So
Vincent
thank you so much, CJ. Thank you so much for inviting me and and just you know, we’ve been sharing the same move and practice for the last couple of years. I’m excited I look forward to coming back and hanging out you guys but like I say this movement you know, product come and go movement will stay no movement, we need a community and I think that’s something I think that’s communities grow and take a group of people a village to make this happen. I think everybody seemed like they’re getting a lot of value out of that. So I’m excited and I look forward to continue to expand his community and his movement with everyone, so it’s gonna be a fun ride.
CJ
Yes, everybody’s looking just jumping in minimalist training, go check out Kinis feel free to check out us on gymnazo.edu and our Gymnazo YouTube channel for ways to integrate those minimalist shoes and barefoot training into your practice. And y’all. Until next time, peace.
Michael Hughes
Hey all. Hope you guys enjoyed today’s episode. And if you did, please share with your fitness obsessed friends and peers who are also navigating this world of fitness and trying to succeed the trends and misinformation. As you guys can see this podcast is basically a masterclass for trainers, one to level up in their coaching skills, and a fitness business model. We launch this in 2020. Because you and your fitness tribe deserve to see an unfiltered look at all the aspects of what it takes to stand out as a next generation coach and build a successful fitness business. So share it far and wide. And please, when you do do me a favor, take a screenshot of this screen and share it to your social media accounts and use the hashtag Gymnazo podcast that’s hashtag Gymnazo podcast that way we can see you and share your post with our audience. And finally, when you’re ready to go to the next level as a coach or in your business, and to reach more people, please go check out gymnazoedu.com. We have put together the best 90 Day coaching program on the market for trainers wanting to become a masterful practitioner and build a business that gives them the freedom and impact. So let us help you do just that. We have online training and one on one coaching to guide you through a whole 90 Day certification. We even get you 20 Our clients live because it’s always better to work out your kinks on someone else’s clients than yours. But we promise you this, your clients will be blown away by the transformation our program will help you make you’ll be masterful at a whole new level and part of an incredible community of coaches worldwide, taking their skills to the next level. So if you thought so this episode had some fire to it, and inspired you to take action, waiting to see what would deliver on this program. So just go to gymnazoedu.com. And we’ll see you on the other side. Remember that turning your passion for fitness into transformation and sustainable business is critical to reaching the people and lives you were put on earth to help it matters and truly can make an impact in other people’s lives. So I hope you do that. Keep sharing your passion and I will talk to you soon.
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