How many people will wake up on Christmas morning to open their presents only to find an empty shoe box with a note saying “here are your new running shoes”?
Barefoot running is in it’s ascendancy there are lots of barefoot runners and barefoot running advocates. There are tons of new running shoes with minimal support and cushioning, conversely, there are also a preponderance of big clog like instability shoes! In this instance I think that less is more.
There are a lot of good reasons to do at least some of your run training barefoot. Running barefoot on a suitable surface like semi-hard sand or grass makes the body develop a more natural stride and gait pattern. Barefoot running can help with correct foot-strike, it makes the body stabilise itself and can help biomechanics. But like all types of training it should only be part of your training program. Running barefoot for all of your training and doing your long runs barefoot without years of practice is not advisable. This is because it strongly taxes your stability mechanisms which can become fatigued easily and this can lead to overuse injuries.
The same holds true in the gym where I think that a client who is barefoot often develops stability faster than someone in a very stable shoe. Most gyms won’t allow members to exercise barefoot, sandals are great for lifting weights and yoga classes are great for developing this type of intrinsic strength.
As a martial artist I do most of my training barefoot, both in the dojo and out of the dojo. When I train with my sword I will be barefoot so this is how I train in the gym. I do this is in order to get the biggest functional carry-over into the work I do on the mat. If I was to wear shoes in the gym my body would get used to lunging or squatting in shoes, so when I go into the dojo and perform similar moves barefoot my body would use different muscles and those muscles would fire differently. I want the training I do in the gym to help me become more efficient in the dojo, so that I can concentrate on my technique rather than the pain in my quads! As with all types of training the closer you can mimic the action that you perform in your activity to that which you do in the gym the bigger the carryover.
I have tried to wear tabi, (traditional Japanese indoor booties) when I lift weights to see how this effects things. Tabi have only a single layer of material on their sole, a bit like a sturdy sock. Traditional martial artists often wear tabi. It is amazing to see the difference, muscles fire differently and you lose so much sensation and information from your feet. Wearing these tabi with just this single layer of fabric on the sole of my foot was like wearing a glove to massage with, ok but not the same. Given the choice I would much prefer to be barefoot.
Too much of anything is a bad thing but in the right amount, barefoot training is an excellent addition to most athletes training repertoire. Training barefoot stimulates the nervous system, taxes stability mechanisms, strengthens the muscles of the foot and ankle and overall provides an excellent training stimulus.
Alan
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