May, 2012

Company / Rewards — 15 Comments
22
May 12

Donate Your Earndit Points to Charity

Almost everything we do at Earndit can be boiled down to one purpose: to give you reasons to value your Earndit points. In doing so, you’ll continue to exercise in order to get those cherished points, and in turn we can help create a healthier population. So far there have been two primary reasons for you to want Earndit points — so that you can redeem them for rewards, and so you can be eligible for prizes in the sponsored challenges. For most people, these two value propositions are compelling enough to get them to be active. But now we’d like to add a third value proposition: charitable donations! We’re thrilled to announce that you can now spend your points for a social cause.

How does it work? Whenever a community goal is reached for one of the charitable efforts we support, we will make a donation in support of that goal. By redeeming your points for a certain cause, you’ll bring the Earndit community closer to the goal and closer to unlocking a donation. There are currently 6 causes that you can support.

In full transparency, we generate revenue whenever you redeem your points for a reward or whenever you participate in a sponsored challenge; on the contrary, charitable donations will cost us money. It’s our hope that you’ll continue to see value in the rewards we offer & the sponsored challenges we host and continue to use Earndit in those ways. Ultimately though, these charitable donations are an extension of our social mission of making this world a slightly healthier place.

To see which causes you can donate your points to, just go to the tab titled “Redeem” and click the sub-section called “Giving”.

Please let us know what you think of this new dimension of Earndit.

Andres & Your Earndit Crew

Company / Features / Rewards / Website — 2 Comments
13
May 12

Filtering Your Rewards on Earndit

Now that the number of rewards available on Earndit has grown to close to 40 (wow!!), we figured it’d be good to give you a way to easily filter the types of rewards you’d like to see on the page.

When perusing rewards on the “Redeem” page, you can use the filter tool in the top-right of the page (see the red box in the screenshot above this post). This will allow you to filter the rewards by categories such as food, clothing and lifestyle. You can also sort them in order of popularity, or how recently they’ve been added to Earndit, or in order of points needed. Finally, you can check the box to only show rewards that you have enough points for.

This should make finding and redeeming rewards more convenient for you. Please feel free to let us know what you think.

Andres

Exercise — 7 Comments
8
May 12

Barefoot Running vs. The Modern Shoe: Which is the real fad?

The following is a post by Jesse Schwartzman. He holds a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology from Columbia University. He’s also a Tier 4 personal trainer at Equinox, an Advisor to Earndit and an all-around great guy!

According to a 2011 article by Dr. Daniel Lieberman entitled “What We Can Learn About Running from Barefoot Running: An Evolutionary Medical Perspective”, 30-70% of runners have a running-related stress injury each year; and despite tireless efforts from biomechanics researchers and shoe developers over the past 40 years, the injury rate has remained constant. The question therefore becomes: are modern running shoes helping to prevent injury? Or even worse, are the supportive technologically advanced shoes doing more harm than good? It stands to reason that since we have been running in minimal shoes for about 45,000 years and have only been in supportive shoes since the 1970’s, our musculoskeletal tissue has better adapted to running with minimal support.

Dr. Lieberman states: “How one runs probably is more important than what is on one’s feet, but what is on one’s feet may affect how one runs.” There has been much written on the subject of forefoot vs. heel strikers. The idea is that heel striking puts much more strain on the hip and knee as the leg is in a more extended position when it strikes the ground.

It is important to the function of the foot, ankle and hip that some pronation (the medial arch of the foot collapsing) be allowed for impact absorption and proper muscle firing of the hip. Supportive running shoes allow for heel striking that severely limits pronation. Remember the foot is meant to pronate! I am tired of shoe companies putting people on treadmills in the store and showing how the ankle should not be rolling in. The ankle has been rolling in for thousands and thousands of years. Pronation is a GOOD thing and is meant to absorb impact through the body.

The problem comes not when the foot arch collapses upon impact but when the foot does not RETURN the arch between ground strikes. This is called flat feet and can be genetic, or in many cases a result of wearing shoes with too much arch support so that the foot weakens over time, atrophies and eventually collapses. If you have flat feet, these two exercises should help but need to be done consistently on your recovery days.

As of now research is limited and there is no proof that forefoot running has an economical advantage or that barefoot running mitigates injury. In the end people can run however they would like. In fact some people can go a lifetime running with supportive shoes with no problem. However, in Dr. Lieberman’s opinion and in my own there is nothing unnatural, faddish, or controversial about barefoot/minimal shoe running. I would encourage you all to try running on a smooth surface like a road with a minimal shoe (Vibram, New Balance Minimus, Nike Free, etc) to understand how your gait changes and how it feels.

Humans evolved to run long distances and run barefoot so give it a try! However, if you have been running in motion controlled shoes I advise you to start slowly, and build up your calf and arch strength with the aforementioned exercises. Make sure to listen to your foot fall and cadence as it will feel markedly different with more of a forefoot strike – just as our bodies are intended.

Jesse