Barefoot running

One of the best things about spring in Chapel Hill and the associated warm weather is that I can get back to serious barefoot training.

Whenever I talk to people about my approach to fitness I tend to get the following responses:  People think parkour is crazy, Crossfit is too intimidating, and martial arts requires too much of a time commitment.  But barefoot walking/running seems to strike a note, especially after a little conversation.

I first found the following video on my friend JR's excellent blog playthink:

A nice summary of the benefits of barefoot running.  JR kindly links to the original research, which can be found here.

My best advice for starting out with barefooting is to take it super slow.  Start out with walking then slowly progress to running.  I'd start with a quarter mile on grass then move to trails.  A lot of people have been making the transition with Vibram Fivefingers - I don't use them personally, but I've heard great things... just don't come to rely on them - barefoot means barefoot!  You won't get the same volume of sensation with a shoe, no matter how minimalist, on your foot.

Comments

[J.R. Atwood]

Thanks for the shout-out, Colin! I can't echo enough your advice to ease into barefoot running. I broke a couple bones in my foot when I first started running without shoes because I simply went too far, too hard, too fast. After a lifetime spent in shoes, it will take at least a few weeks (maybe even months) of mixed shoe and shoeless running before one can be completely bare.

Side note: Your recipes have been awesome! I see a "The Fifth Ape Recipe Book" in the near future.

[Colin Pistell]

Ouch - Yeah, I hear similar stories a lot. We've let our hands and feet get way too weak and the transition back to health & function can sometimes be bumpy!

Thanks for the recipe feedback... a cookbook eh? hmm.....

[Ryan]

Here's the Professor's website, which has a lot more cool info: http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/

[Colin Pistell]

Awesome - thanks Ryan!

[Mick Dodge]

Yoish! When i stepped out of shoes, walls and machines many years ago and began following my naked soles into training with the land. There was three transitons that i now look back on. The first was the Tender Foot, lots of remembering with a practice that stimulated my animal body memory into remember. Once the pads shifted from the white puffy pathetically weak skin, to a set of naked soles craving the touch of a vast variety of surface areas, all off the monotone forms of the city. I call it the Dirty Sole times, i became a fanatic, vowing never to wear any kind of shoe ever again. But the cold of living in caves and training in glaciers taught me what the front paws are for, to craft my own foot wear. To craft a practice as a animal on foot, requires learning how to craft your own foot wear, instead of turning it over to some company man that calls himself a expert of your own two feet. This was the third level for me, i became a Barefoot, crafting soles that supported my primal footing of the land.
This is a good site you have, lots of good information.

Barefoot Sensei
Animal Exuberant.
mick