I have been doing some looking into niko niko running. It is fascinating and I like how it looks like a gentle, slow shuffle. I can manage that! I was going to say that Dr Tanaka's book doesn't look like it is being published in the UK until next January so I might have to import but then I realised that that is only next month. LOL fully engaged and up to date with the outside world, that's me!
One book I think you (and other RFA fans) would enjoy is "Run for Your Life" by Dr. Frank Cucuzzella. IMO, it's an AMAZING book regarding health-focused exercise. It covers just about everything you need to know (about food, how the body works, why bodies start to store visceral fat, how to train the body to burn fat instead of glycogen, posture, full-body exercise, rest, sleep, how nature affects us, and much much more) and it's still easy and very inspiring to read. And you'll notice that his main message (move your body and have fun, and you'll feel better!) resonates very well with RFA.
Some reasons why I think Dr. Cucuzzella is a particularly interesting voice (compared to the average doctors or coaches writing books) regarding health-focused running:
* He's an excellent runner with a long experience himself. (He has run sub-3 hour marathons for 30 years in a row.)
* He has made some huge mistakes himself in the past, and learned from them. For example: he believed in the "high-carb" approach for athletes during the 1980s and 1990s, which ultimately made him pre-diabetic (a similar thing that happened to Dr. Tim Noakes BTW) - which made him realize that the research data from the past was incorrectly interpreted.
* He has transformed the hospital where he works to a sugar/sweetener-free hospital (for patients/workers/visitors) as a first for his U.S state. This was quite an achievement IMO, since the hospital has a contract with Coca-Cola.
* He uses pictures of himself as examples, when explaining bad/good posture etc. He knows how to do all the stuff that he suggests, in practice.
* He's hired by the US army, for the purpose of reducing the number of running-related injuries there (injured personnel apparently is a big cost for the army).
The examples from the medical world is mostly from his US perspective, as he sees his main mission as a working doctor to reverse the obesity pandemic and make people healthier there. So some of his reality might not be identical to how it works in other countries, but I believe most stuff is universal to all developed countries. He also gives many examples from other countries, such as the "mile runs" at schools in the UK and how that have improved the school results.
