Barefoot running shoes are a new type of footwear to hit the footware
market. The Vibram brand of barefoot running shoe is particularly
distinctive with its trademark shape that actually fits around your
toes. Are bare foot running shoes just a craze like a lot of things in
the fitness and health industry or are they actually benefits to be had
from wearing bare foot running shoes? Throughout this article I am going
to look at the running shoe from a science based approach and evaluate
its pros and cons.
The craze of bare foot running was most likely created by the first homo sapien to walk on planet earth, and caught on pretty well with every other human that walked the earth for the next 195,000 years or so until recently when in the last decade when cushioned running shoes caught on. But in all seriousness, this is one of the reasons why barefoot running can be superior to wearing highly cushioned running shoes. Humans have evolved over thousands of years to run bare foot, without any cushioning what so ever over large distances. If we were designed to run bare foot, dose running in high healed cushioned shoes change any of the biomechanics of how we run for the worse? The answer is yes, as studies have shown people who are used to running in well cushioned running shoes strike with their heal first when running, where as people who are accustomed to bare foot running strike with their forefoot. The results from these studies show that force of running with a forefoot running strike is better absorbed on impact when compared with someone who runs with a heal strike style or running. This means that potentially you will be at less risk of injury when running bare foot due to the lower impact force of running on your joints. Along with this, studies have also shown that bare foot running (forefoot striking) is a more economical way of running when compared with running in trainers (heal strike running), although further research is needed to make this finding conclusive, current research can defiantly be interpreted to suggest that forefoot running is infact more effective.
Other benefits of wearing barefoot running shoes such as Vibrams are that they are great to lift weights in. Not only are you closer to the ground, so lifts like the deadlift are made easier, but you are on a stable and even surface that has not give, unlike regular running shoes, that are unstable and cushiony when lifting weights, making it easier for you to loose balance and end up in an unfavourable position when lifting.
I think barefoot running shoes are great, my only caution would be that when first transitioning from regular running shoes too your new Vibram fivefingers is that you do this gradually. People that immediately put their new barefoot running shoes on for the first time and try to run a marathon run the risk of injury, because your feet simply aren’t used to running bare foot, and your style of running needs to change from being a heal striker to a forefoot striker. Start off just walking around in your everyday life with them, and then gradually start to introduce them into your workouts.
If you have any questions about health, exercise, nutrition, anything at all with living a healthy lifestyle. We will do our very best to answer them in detail. Send your questions to friday@everfree.co.uk
The craze of bare foot running was most likely created by the first homo sapien to walk on planet earth, and caught on pretty well with every other human that walked the earth for the next 195,000 years or so until recently when in the last decade when cushioned running shoes caught on. But in all seriousness, this is one of the reasons why barefoot running can be superior to wearing highly cushioned running shoes. Humans have evolved over thousands of years to run bare foot, without any cushioning what so ever over large distances. If we were designed to run bare foot, dose running in high healed cushioned shoes change any of the biomechanics of how we run for the worse? The answer is yes, as studies have shown people who are used to running in well cushioned running shoes strike with their heal first when running, where as people who are accustomed to bare foot running strike with their forefoot. The results from these studies show that force of running with a forefoot running strike is better absorbed on impact when compared with someone who runs with a heal strike style or running. This means that potentially you will be at less risk of injury when running bare foot due to the lower impact force of running on your joints. Along with this, studies have also shown that bare foot running (forefoot striking) is a more economical way of running when compared with running in trainers (heal strike running), although further research is needed to make this finding conclusive, current research can defiantly be interpreted to suggest that forefoot running is infact more effective.
Other benefits of wearing barefoot running shoes such as Vibrams are that they are great to lift weights in. Not only are you closer to the ground, so lifts like the deadlift are made easier, but you are on a stable and even surface that has not give, unlike regular running shoes, that are unstable and cushiony when lifting weights, making it easier for you to loose balance and end up in an unfavourable position when lifting.
I think barefoot running shoes are great, my only caution would be that when first transitioning from regular running shoes too your new Vibram fivefingers is that you do this gradually. People that immediately put their new barefoot running shoes on for the first time and try to run a marathon run the risk of injury, because your feet simply aren’t used to running bare foot, and your style of running needs to change from being a heal striker to a forefoot striker. Start off just walking around in your everyday life with them, and then gradually start to introduce them into your workouts.
If you have any questions about health, exercise, nutrition, anything at all with living a healthy lifestyle. We will do our very best to answer them in detail. Send your questions to friday@everfree.co.uk
