The Barefoot Revolution: 10 Reasons You Should Go Barefoot
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The greatest pleasure in life, is doing the things people say we cannot do.
-Walter Bagehot
The Barefoot Revolution: 10 Reasons You Should Go Barefoot
1- Injury Prevention
2- Strength
3- Run Faster, Run Longer
4- Feedback
5- As Nature Intended
6- Wow Factor
7- Going Green
8- Simplicity
9- Cost
10- Fun
To quote a relatively unknown song, “The times they are a changing.” Within the realm of runners, this has never been quite as accurate as more and more people are tossing their running shoes into the trash and opting for something more minimalist or –GASP- nothing at all. That’s right, it is the barefoot revolution, so “please get out of the new one, if you can’t lend a hand.”
Disclaimer: The following article makes little difference between “pure” barefoot running and minimalist/semi-barefoot running. If you are unsure as to what “minimalist running” or “semi-barefoot running” could possibly mean, please read more about it:
The Barefoot Revolution: Barefoot Shoes for the Barefoot Runner.
Injury Prevention
Reduce the risk of injury. As many as 80% of all runners get injured every year. Running barefoot improves your biomechanics, strengthens lower leg muscles, and helps to soften the blow to your already over-worked joints.
A major culprit of running injuries is the heel strike, or landing more straight-legged. This forces your joints to absorb almost all of the shock, whereas if you landed more on the forefoot or midfoot, your leg muscles will be taking most of that stress.
Strength
Strengthen your feet. Why is it that we spend so much time strengthening the rest of our body, but ignore the muscles we use, and take for granted, in every activity we do? The fact of the matter is that many of the shoes on the market these days under perform in this very category. Running barefoot will strengthen every joint and muscle in your feet and lower legs, and do it more efficiently than running in high-performance shoes ever could.
Run Faster, Run Longer
Run faster and longer. Running barefoot/semi-barefoot uses up to 4% less oxygen than running with modern running shoes. Imagine what that means.
A 4% difference in time in a marathon could be the difference between a 4:10 time and a 4:00 time.
Feedback
Listen to your body better. Normally, when your body needs a rest, it will give you feedback via a specific ache or pain. The more “in tune” you are with your own body, the less injuries you will incur and the better you will run.
Imagine an automatic heating and cooling system. These systems use feedback in order to self-monitor and work as efficiently as possible. If it gets too hot, any heating would stop and cooling would take place, and vice versa.
This is similar to running. if your personal thermostat is finely tuned, you would be able to tell when it is best to push yourself, and when it is appropriate to back off. Heavy-cushioned running shoes cloud this effect, and your judgment, thereby eliminating your feedback system.
As Nature Intended
Follow the course of nature. Recent studies have suggested that humans have been running since the time we could walk upright. Running, simply put, is what we do.
You can believe me when I say that prior to the modern running shoe, people ran barefoot, in sandals, moccasins, or in extremely minimalist racing flats. This is one area that technology has definitely not served us well.
Wow Factor
Impress your friends and family. What better way to get a conversation started than to say, “I run in these sandals that I made” or “You forgot your running shoes? I don’t understand what the problem is…”
You can trust me when I say that there is nothing cooler than running barefoot. It is time to get in touch with the inner warrior in all of us.
On top of that, there are some definitely fashionable semi-barefoot footwear out there.
Going Green
Save the environment. Buying a new pair of running shoes every few months is wasteful. Running in minimalist shoes, will result in much less wear and tear, and shoes that will last up to and over 1000 miles.
If you decide to forgo any type of footwear at all, what better way to let yourself, and the world, know that you are committed to saving the planet?
Simplicity
Keep it Super Simple. (K. I. S. S.) This is rather self-explanatory. One less thing to worry about means more focus on your goals: running faster, running farther, and running longer.
Cost
Spend less money. If you’re like me, you don’t have a lot of disposable income. It can be hard to justify shelling out upwards of $100 every few months only because the cushioning has worn away on your new pair of running shoes. It can also be tough not to get caught up in always wanting the latest and greatest shoe. What’s this? Next year’s model? I don’t really need it… but this one has “gel” in it!
I say we do away with this enslavement and spend our hard-earned money more wisely, say on high-tech GPS running equipment or top-of-the-line moisture-wicking running shorts with zippered pockets!
Running barefoot is dirt-cheap. I’m not kidding when I say it doesn’t cost anything. You don’t need to buy any tapes or CDs. Just remove your shoes and socks and run. Rinse and repeat.
Minimalist footwear varies but Huarache Running Sandals (the preferred choice for GrowStronger) is a DIY project and can be done for less than $25, which can last upwards of 2,000 miles.
Fun
Have fun. Barefoot running, running with less material on your feet, is a freeing feeling. It can’t be compared to anything else and is about as fun as it gets within the realm of running.
Most of the time I have to keep a good check on the time, as my desire to run longer while running barefoot or semi-barefoot far exceeds when I run shod. The only way you can really understand this yourself is to get out there and try it.
What are you waiting for?
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October 30th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Very excellent post. I am a barefoot runner, and this weekend I plan on running about 16 miles barefoot, and another 10 in a pair of homemade huaraches, so thats right, a full marathon in total.
I will run barefoot anytime I can, now that the seasons here are changing, its getting colder, and I cant go barefoot everyday. I will always get strange looks, comments like, “WHAT THE FU@%, DUDE!”, and just little smiles from passersby. Personally barefoot running has helped my running in many ways, perhaps in every way that this article mentions.
As any barefoot runner knows, its freakin impossible to heel strike running barefoot, it hurts like hell. Before the running shoe was invented, no one could truly heel strike like the do now. Running on my forefeet has strengthened my feet and ankles and given me way better balance. I also have a higher cadence which means less time that my feet spend on the ground.
I have just rebuilt my training up to the point where I can run fast barefoot for long periods without getting tight calves the next day. I always seem to recover faster after my barefoot runs than when I wore crappy shoes.
It is infinitely more fun to run barefoot in the mud and rain, than with shoes on.
This fun and simplicity combine to remind me of how I used to run when I first started. I progressed quickly because I would run distances that I just kinda felt i could do. Like, I had never run more than 8 miles, but I did a half marathon on very technical terrain because I knew I could do it. I had never run more than a half marathon, but I ran a full marathon with no real training other than just running around 8-10 miles/day, and I ran it in the middle of the night in february in Chicago. I did a 50k the next weekend because I still felt I could do more.
I got away from all that and got way to scientific with my running and I ended up overanalyzing many things and overtraining for a recent 50 miler.
Running barefoot has helped me to get back to just running within myself, and doing fun adventure runs like this weekends marathon run I created online. Whe I get back to just listening to my own body, I end up being able to run much faster, stronger, and longer.
Thank you for this post.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
What a wonderful post from G-Rock. I am a beginning runner and haven’t run barefoot since I was a child. The mind body connection is what interests me. The whole philosophy of connecting your body to your mind is fascinating.
The strength and determination that many runners have is inspiring to me. When I want to quit— thinking of you helps me to reach farther..
The bloggers here set goals and are forever reaching for new ones.
Keep up the fantastic writing.
Thank you so much.
October 30th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Thanks Debbie and g-rock for your comments. We are working on a post about just this sort of connection, the mind/body, and how a sound mind can influence many things and help in many ways of life. I believe that Asics is an acronym for anima san incorpo sanum, or something like that, which means, A Sound Mind in a Sound Body. Not that I endorse or dont endorse Asics, but I can endorse that statement.
Keep up the good work Debbie, and have fun and good luck on the marathon G-rock, let us know how everything goes!
November 4th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Something about this doesn’t sit well with me.
You want me to run. Without shoes. Outside. What’s next? Is running fully nude the real way to experience nature?
I would like to let myself get past this preconception, but this “revolution” simply screams “new wave hippie” to me.
Care to ease my woes?
November 4th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Funnily enough, on the Nike website, when talking about their “free” line of shoes, they have a training camp for elite athletes where they all run around nude in their Nike Frees!!
Let me try to make this idea a little more clear. Modern running shoes have a heel lift. This means that the heel is higher than the forefoot. being barefoot you have no heel lift. Before Nike came out with the waffle racer back in the 70’s, everyone who ran did so in “flat” shoes. This meant they ran in shoes with no heel lift and basically no cushion.
Before shoes, we had sandals. The greeks set many records and are famous for distance running, as were the Incas and the modern day Tarahumara indians and the Masai warriors. These people all ran/run in sandals. Before we came up with Sandals we ran barefoot, and were good at it. There are footprints of paleolithic hunters in Australia that allow anthropologists to calculate that this person was running at about 30km/hr on soft muddy terrain…Usain Bolt runs at 37km/h with track shoes and on a track.
The idea is that wearing a running shoes is like wearing a brace. You cant feel the ground so you lose some sensations that can help with balance. You also dont exercise the foot as much as if it werent in a shoe.
When you work out other parts of your body, lets say by doing bicep curls, you dont wear wrist guards do you? No, you put some chalk on your hands and know that in addition to your arms, you are strengthening your wrists and hands.
This is analogous to going barefoot. You allow your ankles and feet to get a better workout. Stronger feet and ankles is good in that muscles surrounding a joint(there are many joints in the foot and ankle) stabilize a joint.
Another thing that separates running in normal shoes compared to barefoot is stride. Take of your shoes and run down the sidewalk. the first and most important difference is heel strike. It hurts o heel strike without cushy shoes. Running barefoot or in more minimal footwear allows you to actually sense this difference and shock, and adjust by running toe-heel-toe, instead of heel-toe. There have been studies done on shock to the joints with cusioned shoes. The study found that the more cushion, the greater the shock to the body! This happened because the body needs sensory input in order to attenuate that shock of impact. When the body doesnt feel this shock right away, it pushes down harder to try to feel the ground, causing more shock in the end. When running in minimal footwear or barefoot, you learn to “kiss” the ground. since you are landing with a much more bent knee and on the forefoot, your arch does what it was designed to do-absorb shock and spring back some energy, and your ankle and knee flex to allow the muscles to absorb impact. Hitting on your heel you land more straight legged causing the shock to be transmitted directly to the joints. There is actually more impact force landing this way regardless of how cushioned the shoe is.
You dont have to run totally barefoot, and going totally barefoot is not feasible in every situation. In a previous post we gave some examples of minimalist footwear that will allow you to get some of the benefits of going barefoot without risking stepping on something.
Running barefoot/minimally will help to improve your stride which will result in less injury if you do it properly. Many people keep their current training loads the same and just take off their shoes, this wont work. You need to very slowly work up to doing this. Imagine starting back all over from when you first started running. Go all the way back to the beginning until your calves and achilles and feet adjust to it.
If you currently dont suffer many injuries, then dont worry about it. If it aint broke, dont fix it. However, last time I checked, over 2 million years or evolutionary tweaking went into the foot. A foot that evolved to run for very long distances. A foot that had to find you dinner or you didnt survive. Somehow we have come to think in only the last 30 years that we can trump all that time and come up with the idea that we are somehow broken and need special things to fix that.
The hippie thing…i agree…it does ring of hippie, and there are those barefooters who are totally hippies. If you dont want to help yourself grow stronger because of how something looks, fine, but there are many alternatives as we listed in the post- Barefoot Shoes for the Barefoot Runner.
Does this answers your question Leo?
Blake
November 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Leo,
Many “hippies” are also interested in becoming more in touch with nature and creating a lifestyle that is more suitable to a sustainable environment.
I guess my point is that I don’t necessarily understand why you have any woes about this in the first place. Is it that you are afraid that people will associate you as a hippie?