Running Barefoot

ive taken to running barefoot either at a steady rate or intervals after my workouts. i dont want to run in shoes or socks or anything but is barefoot too damaging to the feet? my feet are pretty tough and only really hurt towards the end of the run but do you think my feet hurting could have an adverse effect on my lifting?

It feels great doesn’t it? Now you’re training the muscles in your feet, just like all the others. It’ll take some time because they’ve atrophied pretty bad from walking around in shoes all day. But I doubt that it’ll get in the way of your training, except maybe calves. But in the long run it should help your calf development too.

http://www.unshod.org/pfbc/pfrossi2.htm

Barefoot sprints on a nice field feel awesome. I haven’t logged any distance barefoot. Don’t run too much to soon barefoot.

Barefoot travel is how our the structure of our feet (bone/muscle/cartliage/tendon/ligament) was designed to be utilized.

It’s my belief most footwear can do more harm than good but due to the hard surfaces we encounter EVERYWHERE, tile, wood, pavement, concrete etc. we need to wear them.

Dirt, grass and sand notwithstanding.

I recently bought these shoes because they promote landing with a mid to forefoot strike. I wanted to change over from heelstrike to midfoot strike because i had chronic shin splints from the heelstrike.

Anyways, they are suppossed to mimic barefoot running, and while I’ve never done barefoot running, i can vouch that they make runnning on the balls of your feet much much more natural.

Shaka Zulu feet…

You run outside on the street or on sand? what?

I’d say running on the grass or sand would be ok barefoot, but a hard surface not to much. There’s a reason you need to properly padded shoes when you run, shin splints may become an issue. Just my two cents.

A friend of mine got into barefoot running to help with plantar fasciitis. He has “shoes” called Vibram Five-Fingers that are a thin rubber sole fit to your foot like a glove to protect a little against cuts, bee stings, etc. I tried them on, and they feel pretty close to barefoot. You have to run differently like evansmi says, avoiding heel-strike. You need weird “toe socks” to go with them. Now he never wears anything else, for trail running, to work, wherever. I know about them because he wore them to a party, and they really stand out. I commented on his funny feet, and he said “What can I say, I’m a freakazoid”. That’s a good T-man attitude!

     - MarkT

I have a pair of Nike “Free” shoes that are a compromise between the Vibram 5-fingers and a more traditional running shoe. They force you to run/walk/lift differently (more as nature intended is the idea). I like them for lifting, still getting used to running in them.

[quote]MarkT wrote:
A friend of mine got into barefoot running to help with plantar fasciitis. He has “shoes” called Vibram Five-Fingers that are a thin rubber sole fit to your foot like a glove to protect a little against cuts, bee stings, etc. I tried them on, and they feel pretty close to barefoot. You have to run differently like evansmi says, avoiding heel-strike. You need weird “toe socks” to go with them. Now he never wears anything else, for trail running, to work, wherever. I know about them because he wore them to a party, and they really stand out. I commented on his funny feet, and he said “What can I say, I’m a freakazoid”. That’s a good T-man attitude!

     - MarkT[/quote]

I am so buying a pair of those. I hate shoes. I wear either flip-flops or chucks, depending on the weather, because they have nice flat soles.

I’ve never done any running barefoot (though I might give it a try when I start doing more cardio), but I can tell you that lifing barefoot, especially squats and pulls, makes a huge difference in how the movement feels. I’ll never wear shoes in the power rack again, I don’t care what kind of looks I get.

i usually workout at 1-3 in the morning so the streets are clear so usually i just in the street or on the sidewalk

I stopped wearing my nike shox shoes a few months ago as my feet would kill me after standing all day in them…I figured the cushioning we do just the opposite…

now I have been wearing my chucks not only at the gym…but when standing all day…no cushioning…NO FEET PAIN…go figure…

I have had this backwards for a long time…

im going to try and do cardio in my chucks and see what happens…