Running in Bare Feet Running Shoes - The trendless

image via Allen Chiu

It's no surprise to me that people are now starting to turn towards a more natural way of running when for so long people have been fooled into believe that pain and running go hand in hand. This by the way is not true, and can be negated through good training (which is actually re-training the way we run.) It has come from what is now known as either Chi running or what vivo barefoot is now teaching their very valuable enthusiasts through Lee Saxby who has spent the better part of 20 years studying biomechanics, nutrition, athletic training, evolutionary biology and functional medicine. Vivo barefoot now has a more innovative way of training individuals how to run the correct way (and there is a correct way otherwise we wouldn't have as many injuries when we run.)

The bare feet running shoes are important

I mean it when I say that the shoes are important. It isn't about how much cushion goes under your foot to dull the "impact" of the foot, in fact its quite the opposite. Its distributing the impact across the whole body rather than just your feet when you're running. For this to happen you have to fall more on a forefoot/midstrike rather than the heel strike which puts all of the impact on your legs, which I'm sure for many have seen from experience causes a lot of problems when you start running longer distances. Now I'm no expert but I am very mindful of my strides to know that the forefoot midstrike has gotten me through some pretty unforgiving terrain and has allowed my feet to recover quicker, made me stronger as a running individual, and has straightened out my bodies posture all on its own.

I could not of done this without my bare feet running shoes though. Right now I'm currently running on a bare minimum, which are called a Harauche running sandal which I customly made from materials gathered through Invisible Shoe. I am however waiting on a new pair of vivo barefoots sweet line of bare feet running shoes called the Ultimate in the mail which I can't wait to give a review for.

So why bare feet running shoes?

The answer is simple, less cushion, leads to more mindful strides. The more mindful the stride, the more you pay attention to your body. The arches of our feet are meant to be our support, not cushion under our arches. Look at the cushion being more like a cast in which goes around a broken arm. It prevents movement and therefore atrophies the muscles and bones. Well the same thing is true with the cushioning and surrounding that most shoes provide. You take that away and you force your feet to strengthen themselves back up. However, there is nothing saying that this process isn't going to leave your feet feeling immediately better. Just like any type of rehabilitation practice, it takes time to strengthen the muscles in your feet. So take it slow and recover your feets' strength with a nice pair of bare feet running shoes.