Barefoot Training - Why I never wear
shoes
“It’s a simple way to upgrade your workout and rediscover muscles you
never knew you had. It’s critical to high performance and decreasing your
potential for injury.
-Mark Verstegen,
founder of Core Performance.
I often get asked why I don’t wear shoes. Here is my reasoning behind this choice.
The goal of coming to the gym is to train your muscles and
get your body moving better. But did you
know your feet have over 100 muscles
and 33 joints? So one of the simplest things you can do to
make the most of your time at the gym is to take off your shoes. Now that’s a bang for your buck exercise!
If I told you to wrap your bicep so it would atrophy you
would call me crazy, but we do it to our feet all day long for most of our
lives. I understand we have to wear
shoes in most public places, but I don’t understand missing the opportunity to not wear them. I first learned of
training without shoes in 2006 as a student of Jason Turko and from watching CraigWolfley lift without them. Without
knowing it at the time, I went through a series of progressions to the point
now where I rarely wear shoes.
But here is the important word – PROGRESSION. Progressions are important as you have to rebuild your
foot slowly to counteract all the time you have spent in shoes. If you wore a neck brace every day for 20
years and then suddenly took it off, you wouldn’t expect to have the muscle
strength to hold up your head. The same
holds true with your feet. Think of it
as a PennDOT project - it may take a while, and jumping right into working out
barefoot may cause problems.
Here is a simple way
to start your transition:
Start with warming up barefoot for
about 3 weeks
Then move to barefoot for 1 round
of the workout for 3 weeks
Then move to barefoot for 2 rounds
for 3 weeks
Then move to barefoot for 3 rounds
for 3 weeks
Another way to progress into barefoot-ness is to buy shoes
with less and less support over time.
Don’t go crazy right away buying “barefoot” shoes, but instead shoot for
ones with a thicker but flexible sole (look for the word free in the name). You can gradually build up the length of time
they are worn or start wearing them every other day or every other
workout. Once those shoes have worn out
you can move down to a more minimal style, and then down to no shoes at
all. Minimal shoes are a happy medium,
and if your feet hurt you can always take a break and put the heftier shoe on
for a bit.
There are some concerns about working out barefoot, the most
common being plantar fasciitis. Going
barefoot most likely exposes a problem and does not causes it. The
longer you have been wearing shoes the slower you have to progress out of them. Build up gradually! You also want to be cautious when your feet
are leaving the ground (such as running, skipping, jumping, etc). You may want shoes for this.
My favorite question is “what if you drop a bell on your
foot?” A shoe is not going to protect
you much anyways. Watch your feet! And what about germs? As Pam says: “Can you put your feet in the
same places you can put your hands?” You
have more risk of germs from a doorknob than bare feet on a floor.
So remember, running shoes are for running not the gym. In general, a flatter and more flexible sole
is a better choice for the gym. You are
born without shoes, so let your feet be free!
Owner and Head Trainer at Instinct Fitness
“Anatomy of the Foot and Ankle
The human foot combines mechanical complexity and structural
strength. The ankle serves as foundation, shock absorber and propulsion
engine. The foot can sustain enormous pressure (several tons over the
course of a one-mile run) and provides flexibility and resiliency.
The foot and ankle contain:
- 26 bones (One-quarter of the bones in the human body are in the feet.);
- 33 joints;
- more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments (Tendons are fibrous tissues that connect muscles to bones and ligaments are fibrous tissues that connect bones to other bones.); and
- a network of blood vessels, nerves, skin, and soft tissue.
These components work together to provide the body with
support, balance, and mobility. A structural flaw or malfunction in any one
part can result in the development of problems elsewhere in the body (such as back
pain). Abnormalities in other parts of the body can lead to problems in the
feet.”
