I’ve read two articles in common publications in one week about barefoot running. The first was in the Winnipeg Free Press and the other was in Running Times magazine. I’ve had many clients asking me about it ever since. I’ve actually been studying this and moving in this direction for a good year now. I’ve been reading and researching a fair bit about running form/technique and so the notion of barefoot running is nothing new to me. It’s just interesting to see how long it takes to enter main stream media.
So…should you run barefoot? The key to the answer to this question is twofold. First, the word “should” is always a marker of an interesting question. It usually implies that there is one right way to do something, and this, most often, is just not the case. The short, and I’m sure unsatisfactory answer is “it depends”. Don’t worry…I won’t leave you hanging…
The second key to the answer is in the word “you”. Should you run barefoot? Not everything is for everybody. As much as I’ve been studying this, acknowledge the arguments for barefoot running, and have been incorporating these principles in my own running, I do not run barefoot — not yet anyway.
Barefoot Running Form
To run barefoot one needs to have good running technique, and adequate strength throughout, but especially in the lower leg and foot. The strength is needed not only in the muscles, but also in the ligaments. I would have to say that the most important thing is developing excellent running technique. In order to develop excellent running technique, your neuro-muscular organization or motor planning (how your brain co-ordinates your movement patterns) is the most important thing to improve. No amount of strength can compensate for this. And, any lacking strength will develop with much, much greater ease and speed once you have improved your neuro-muscular co-ordination. Some will argue that running barefoot is the thing to do to develop the technique and strength. Although it is true that running 10 meters barefoot on a nice safe surface can be very instructive about running technique, if you aren’t ready to run barefoot, 10 meters is about all I’d recommend!
All this improving co-ordination, strength and resilience can take time to develop. It’s a process. Some of us need more time, some of us less, and some of us are there already. It always comes back to listening to our own responses to our actions and really feeling what serves us best in any given moment. But here is the key — working towards the possibility of running barefoot you will develop your running technique and improve your overall strength and resilience. Whether you run any length at all in bare feet or not, you’ll be running better, more comfortably and faster.
If you want to know more about improving your running technique, come to the FULL BODY RUNNING WORKSHOPS this May.
Watch this video to learn how the Feldenkrais Method can help you with your running…
Go to www.sunyatamovementstudio.com and click on Workshops for all the details.
