A while back, Bev asked if you could pass Dr. Oz's push-up test or not. Could you? I could -- but barely; I finished with badly shaking arms.

Here's another fitness test: According to this article from the Daily Mail, and this post from Bev, the majority of people in the UK can't do 20 sit-ups, cycle for 20 minutes or touch their toes while standing up. I can do all three fairly easily, and while I couldn't touch my toes before I took up yoga, 20 sit-ups and 20-minutes of cycling has never been a problem for me, even when I was quite out of shape. But enough about me -- I'm curious, what about you?

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Though I spent many a day of my youth without proper shoes, these days, the only time I go barefoot outside of the house is when I'm recklessly dancing at a wedding. I once went on a 3-day jungle trek through Northern Thailand with a guide who didn't wear shoes the whole time, through swamps and over logs, across branches and bushes and rice patty fields. I looked on with some sort of odd bohemian envy that he could live with little more than god gave him and I needed my expensive sneakers, which still gave me blisters. We were born without shoes, so why do we need them now? Because we've become weak, that's why.

There's a movement out there that I read about on Mark's Daily Apple called the Primal Health philosophy.They believe that the closer we are to nature, the better. Which mean -- you guessed it -- the less we rely on shoes, the better, even when running. There are lots of reasons behind the idea of running shoeless, including this one:When we run in shoes, our heels are the first parts of our body to hit the ground. But if we were to run shoeless, we wouldn't do this. Running with our heels first adds unnecessary impact to the joints in our leg. Interesting. If you want to read more, check out the original post.

Still, before we had shoes, we also didn't have pavement and unforgiving urban landscapes. So I'm sticking to my running shoes for now at least. What about you?

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As a tomboy of sorts, I rarely wear high (or even moderately elevated) heals. I prefer my converse sneakers and my flip flops. But there's no denying that when I put them on, I feel pretty good about myself-- they're an instant confidence booster. There's also no denying that after a few hours of teetering above my wedges, my feet hurt. A lot. What's a girl to do?

This article has some helpful suggestions, including:

• Save heels for special occasions
• Avoid backless heals as they cause your toes to clench, which leads to muscle strain
• Some calf stretches can do wonders for your legs.
  
• Vary the height of your heals and don't wear ones higher than 4cm for daily use.
• Visit a chiropodist or podiatrist
• Also? Use a tennis ball to massage sore feet.
• Get your significant other to massage your feet .... if you can!

What do you for your aching feet?

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Your feet take the brunt of everything, it seems, except when you're sleeping (and none of us spend much time doing that anyway). When your feet aren't feeling well your whole body doesn't feel well, so it's just common sense to do what you can to take care of them. Here are 5 suggestions to help you take care of your tootsies:

1) Don't go barefoot! Many injuries come from seemingly innocent barefoot activities like walking through the grass or dashing briefly across a sidewalk or street. Sharp objects or hot pavement can cause unexpected injuries that take much longer to heal than they did to happen.

2) Avoid heel pain, or at least treat it. People sometimes think there's nothing that can be done for plantar fasciitis, but there are options -- and if you don't treat it things will only get worse.

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Personally, I hate feet. They're ugly, they usually smell bad, and they're highly prone to fungal infections. And unfortunately, since (in my opinion) feet and toenails are already ugly it can be difficult to recognize the signs of a fungal infection.

Here are the major things to look for, according to the American College of Foot and Ankle Orthopedics and Medicine: yellow or discolored toenails, extra thick toenails that are hard to cut, crumbling toenails, or (I would hope this problem is obvious!) nails that have separated from the nail bed.

Happy examining!

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