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Old Forum Right to Bare Feet
- Thread starter Mattsirpeace
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GeoffreyLevens
Level 6 Valued Member
I have actually been experimenting w/ walking more front/mid foot. Wearing minimal support zero heel shoes and walking a lot of pavement gives me plenty of feedback that's for sure. Changes posture all the way up, not that easy to do really, esp if attention wanders at all.
scilla
Level 5 Valued Member
When I first ran bft, I landed on midfoot. Nowadays, some years later, I tend more to land on the ball of the foot. I haven't had problems neither with the one nor with the other. Curiously, after many months running in minimalist footwear , but walking in normal shoes-and with orthotics for a very pronounced arch-, the summer came and I only wore the same kind of shoes for both, running and walking: aquashoes (just 4 mm of rubber between the floor and the soles of my feet) I walked bft a lot too. I developed some mild Achilles tendonitis, from which I am recovering now.
I think walking was the activity to blame. It is easier to run than to walk on your forefoot, at least for me. The more my heels touch the ground, the worse. Running and walking are slightly different skills. Maybe you can have one without the other. Mine is not the only case I've heard about.
These days I don´t go running and I'm feeling better. I wear my orthotics and normal shoes in the street and at work, and I'm bft at home. As always, I work out barefoot, too and I will begin to run in minimalist footwear soon.
And I have found a splendid way of keeping myself fit for barefoot work, without running: barefoot sled dragging. In sled dragging, to land on the forefoot is actually easier than to land on the heel. Furthermore, the knees are always bent-as they should in bft running. I combine bft sled dragging with kettlebells, etc
I think walking was the activity to blame. It is easier to run than to walk on your forefoot, at least for me. The more my heels touch the ground, the worse. Running and walking are slightly different skills. Maybe you can have one without the other. Mine is not the only case I've heard about.
These days I don´t go running and I'm feeling better. I wear my orthotics and normal shoes in the street and at work, and I'm bft at home. As always, I work out barefoot, too and I will begin to run in minimalist footwear soon.
And I have found a splendid way of keeping myself fit for barefoot work, without running: barefoot sled dragging. In sled dragging, to land on the forefoot is actually easier than to land on the heel. Furthermore, the knees are always bent-as they should in bft running. I combine bft sled dragging with kettlebells, etc
Mattsirpeace
Level 4 Valued Member
Glad this thread has legs, so to speak.
Pavel on squatting:
Rickard, we accept SQ with heels:
* If you are a weightlifter (obviously).
* As specialized variety.
But not as a crutch. You should be able to squat without heels.
Geoffrey -- good point, going barefoot is "deep."
Santiago -- are you barefoot sled dragging on grass?
I see barefoot/minimal as being the default, null hypothesis, norm, goal, GPP, general health standard. With concessions to sport-specific needs and the reality that modern humans are rather sad critters. In a perfect world we wouldn't need orthodontics or eyeglasses either.
Pavel on squatting:
Rickard, we accept SQ with heels:
* If you are a weightlifter (obviously).
* As specialized variety.
But not as a crutch. You should be able to squat without heels.
Geoffrey -- good point, going barefoot is "deep."
Santiago -- are you barefoot sled dragging on grass?
I see barefoot/minimal as being the default, null hypothesis, norm, goal, GPP, general health standard. With concessions to sport-specific needs and the reality that modern humans are rather sad critters. In a perfect world we wouldn't need orthodontics or eyeglasses either.
Mattsirpeace
Level 4 Valued Member
Jeffrey,
The idea with Chi Running is to always land whole-foot, with your foot under your body and not in front. To go faster you just lean forward more. Franz Snideman said something similar about sprinting.
There is a ton of articles and videos on barefoot running online: http://youtu.be/UVsAgPAAqfM
Fun reading comments on this forum, where people are into movement, GPP, kettlebells, martial arts. Pavel recommended bare feet at least fifteen years ago.
The idea with Chi Running is to always land whole-foot, with your foot under your body and not in front. To go faster you just lean forward more. Franz Snideman said something similar about sprinting.
There is a ton of articles and videos on barefoot running online: http://youtu.be/UVsAgPAAqfM
Fun reading comments on this forum, where people are into movement, GPP, kettlebells, martial arts. Pavel recommended bare feet at least fifteen years ago.
GeoffreyLevens
Level 6 Valued Member
One thing worth noting about BF running or walking is that there are very large, more or less ballistic forces applied to entire foot structure w/ every step, in fact all the way up the frame. Mechanics are different from "normal" heel strike walk/run obviously. AND the crucial bit is that we have adapted and trained our bodies for the "normal" for a lifetime. And we all know that connective tissue takes much longer to strengthen than muscle tissue so you MUST go every slowly on increasing time/distance etc or risk damage/injury to connective tissue... Got to give that collagen and stuff time to build up!
Rance Harris
First Post
I'm two fold on Barefoot.
When doin any Strength Trainin I'm all fer Barefeet, I also run in Finger Toe Shoes.
I firmly believe in the Mobility and natrualness of the Barefeet/Minimal way of doin things Often I try to preach it to others especially the runners I know, nothin better fer whole wellness of the body than literally startin from the ground up.
However Six Years in the USMC and Thirteen years in a Steel foundry has more than given an appreciation fer Boots as well as doin Krav Maga where we fight like we train and wear normal street clothes includin shoes.
I keep the outlook "In Para Omnia" and train my feet and Ankles to run walk and do all things as equally in all manners of footwear so I'll switch up runnin and other activities in Finger toe shoes as well as boots because both take effort and a certain conditioning to train in properly.
When doin any Strength Trainin I'm all fer Barefeet, I also run in Finger Toe Shoes.
I firmly believe in the Mobility and natrualness of the Barefeet/Minimal way of doin things Often I try to preach it to others especially the runners I know, nothin better fer whole wellness of the body than literally startin from the ground up.
However Six Years in the USMC and Thirteen years in a Steel foundry has more than given an appreciation fer Boots as well as doin Krav Maga where we fight like we train and wear normal street clothes includin shoes.
I keep the outlook "In Para Omnia" and train my feet and Ankles to run walk and do all things as equally in all manners of footwear so I'll switch up runnin and other activities in Finger toe shoes as well as boots because both take effort and a certain conditioning to train in properly.
scilla
Level 5 Valued Member
Matt, I always sled drag on the floor of the backyard of our building. It is made of slabs of a very rough and hard concrete. So far, no problem. Once the soles of my feet got used to their patterned surface, no problem. You can't go so ballistic with sled dragging.
Geoffrey, I totally agree to what you say about connective tissue. Not only it takes more to strengthen it, but also to heal it once injured. Bft running will reveal our weaknesses. Care and enough time must be taken to overcome them.
It is a self limiting exercise, a self assessment. For most of us.
Geoffrey, I totally agree to what you say about connective tissue. Not only it takes more to strengthen it, but also to heal it once injured. Bft running will reveal our weaknesses. Care and enough time must be taken to overcome them.
It is a self limiting exercise, a self assessment. For most of us.
crt1
Level 5 Valued Member
Here are my observations, perhaps right or wrong: There are two issues with shoes we should talk about separately, heel wedge and cushioning.
Heel wedge is a correction for short hip flexors and is popular is societies where sitting is the norm. Societies that still squat a lot seem to prefer flat sandals and shoes.
Heel wedge leads to adding cushioning since the wedge alters the mechanics of the ankle joint and negates the natural shock absorption provided by the calf/achillies.
The body searches for stability and will drive through the sole cushioning to find stability, forcing a hard heel strike in walking and running. This leads to 2-4 times or more knee shock when running in modern running shoes compared to barefoot running. (1)
In the spirit of disclosure, I am not a runner and never have been. I am a martial artist and I do all of my training and cross-training barefoot or in minimal shoes. If you are a runner I am not suggesting you throw your shoes and run a marathon next weekend barefoot. Geoffery makes a good point that most people have changed their bodies over decades by never training, walking or running, barefoot or with minimal shoes. It is prudent to build barefoot volume slowly as you would any other training program.
There are obvious impracticalities to never wearing shoes, but it is good to have our eyes wide open about what different types of shoes can and will do to and for our bodies.
Best,
Chris
(1) http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/
Heel wedge is a correction for short hip flexors and is popular is societies where sitting is the norm. Societies that still squat a lot seem to prefer flat sandals and shoes.
Heel wedge leads to adding cushioning since the wedge alters the mechanics of the ankle joint and negates the natural shock absorption provided by the calf/achillies.
The body searches for stability and will drive through the sole cushioning to find stability, forcing a hard heel strike in walking and running. This leads to 2-4 times or more knee shock when running in modern running shoes compared to barefoot running. (1)
In the spirit of disclosure, I am not a runner and never have been. I am a martial artist and I do all of my training and cross-training barefoot or in minimal shoes. If you are a runner I am not suggesting you throw your shoes and run a marathon next weekend barefoot. Geoffery makes a good point that most people have changed their bodies over decades by never training, walking or running, barefoot or with minimal shoes. It is prudent to build barefoot volume slowly as you would any other training program.
There are obvious impracticalities to never wearing shoes, but it is good to have our eyes wide open about what different types of shoes can and will do to and for our bodies.
Best,
Chris
(1) http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/
alex88
Level 3 Valued Member
I'm running barefoot now for two month and i really like it. I run only on concret and havent had any problems yet but i trained barefoot for two years before starting to run barfoot so this might be a reason for it. To me running is just cool so i don't really " train" that hard but try to have fun. After reading some articles and books on the topic this seems to be the right way to go( kinda satisfied that my intuition was right )
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