#1392 - Zach Bitter

Joe Rogan (0:03)

What's up, Zach?

Zach Bitter (0:04)

Hey, how's it going?

Joe Rogan (0:05)

Good, man, how are you?

Zach Bitter (0:06)

Good, good. Thanks for having me back on.

Joe Rogan (0:07)

My pleasure. Hey, thanks for turning me on to those shoes you wear, too, those Ultras.

Zach Bitter (0:11)

Oh, nice.

Joe Rogan (0:12)

I started running with those. I like them a lot. They're great.

Zach Bitter (0:15)

Which ones? You got the Lone Peak RSMs?

Joe Rogan (0:17)

I've got whatever the trail ones are. I like the wide foot, what's it called? Footbox?

Yeah, what's it called? Toebox? Yeah, those are great.

Zach Bitter (0:27)

Cool, man. No, I'm glad you like them.

Joe Rogan (0:29)

And I feel like this is what you wear, so it gets me excited when I'm running.

Zach Bitter (0:33)

You know, it's really interesting when you dive into the world of footwear and stuff, and I learned this recently. The number one indicator of low injury risk, which is what runners are always looking for, they're going to minimize risk. So comfort is the identifier for that. So if you find yourself going into a special running shop, ask them to try on a variety of different pairs, a variety of different models, and find the one that's most comfortable for you, and that's probably going to lower your risk to the lowest you can get from your footwear anyway.

Joe Rogan (1:01)

What if you like really smooshy ones? Aren't those supposed to be not so good for you?

Zach Bitter (1:05)

Yeah, no, that's a good question. I think it's one of those things where it's kind of half true, half not, where you kind of have to look at what's the purpose of what you're doing.

So the way I kind of describe it is, if I'm trying to strengthen my lower legs, you know, I want that low cushion, that firm platform, because that's going to really activate the muscles in the lower part of the leg. But if I'm dealing with some lower leg issues or a little sore, I did a workout and my calves are kind of sore or my ankles sore, then cushion can be great because it's going to relieve that kind of initial impact on the lower part of your legs.

And the caveat, though, is those impact forces have to go somewhere. So they're kind of going to move further up the kinetic chain. So what I usually tell people, if you're dealing with lower leg pain or injury, then you might want to consider something a little more cushioned. And if you want, if you're dealing with something like in your knees or your hips, then getting rid of some of that cushion is going to just keep that kind of more precise foot plant and maybe alleviate some of those impact forces from ending up in those areas. But at the end of the day, the mechanics of it all are going to be the real driver. You want your foot to come underneath a bent knee because you're using your legs as kind of like a three foot spring, essentially. So if you can get that foot plant under bent knee, it's going to absorb it in the way your body intends versus absorbing it in a way that could maybe send those impact forces into the wrong areas.

Joe Rogan (2:20)

That's really interesting. You know, I was watching a video with this guy who was in his 70s, who runs an under three hour marathon. And he said that five years ago, he hired a coach, which is kind of crazy, like a 65 year old dude hiring a coach, but trimmed a bunch of time off of his marathon, I think more than five minutes off of his marathon. I think it was quite a bit more than five minutes.

And, you know, he was running for a long time before that, but yet a coach sort of shortened his time in finishing a 26 mile race at 70 years old.

Zach Bitter (2:55)

Yeah, it's never too late.

Joe Rogan (2:56)

Yeah.

The bent knee is really important because a lot of folks who don't pay attention to the history of footwear don't understand that this fat cushioned heel that everybody sort of thinks of when you think of a running shoe and when you watch a lot of people run that don't know any better, they run and they land on their heel, which is sort of something that was created by Nike. Is that what it was that created that fat bottomed heel thing?

Zach Bitter (3:22)

Yeah, I think they were the first one to do the offset where it was traditionally, I think it was like 12 millimeters where your heel would be that much higher than your forefoot.