How Effective is Barefoot Running?

Bare Essentials of Barefoot Training

The concept of barefoot training is nothing new. In fact, just operating as a human being without foot wear, is something that in the last 5 decades has become more and more common. The basis of this movement or belief system stems all the way back to our evolutionary origins. The really smart people in the world looked at primates and how they operated particularly with regards to their feet. The strength of primates, their speed, their joint stability and lack of injuries prompted multiple probes into researching the efficacy of barefoot training; and to some extent living without footwear. To be fair, even though there are significant similarities between primates and ourselves, our anatomy and biomechanics are still very different.

The Logic Behind  Barefoot Training

The logic behind this training modality really stems from the belief that we were never meant to cover our feet in any form of footwear. Of course, that is way easier said than done. But that is just of it; we need to use our feet as they were designed to be used - naked.

Okay, so that might be the more idealistic approach to the concept of barefoot training. But there actually is scientific research that forms the basis of this concept. There is a lot of information out there, but all of it really comes down to one fundamental principle - Proprioception.

What is Proprioception?

Proprioception, also known as kinesthesia, is your ability to sense the world around you and your position relative to everything around you. In layman’s terms, Proprioception refers to your ability to subconsciously discern your current position.

Therefore, the really smart people advocating for barefoot training believe that shoes inhibit our ability to access our Proprioceptive receptors found on our feet. Now this is actually a fact, without shoes on we don’t get the full picture because we’re blocking off receptive signals directly from the ground to our nervous system via our feet. Therefore, barefoot training allows us to fully utilize that aspect of our nervous system and should, theoretically, make us perform optimally.

How Will Increased Prioceptive Responses Help you Perform Better?

There are many theories and beliefs surrounding the correlation between performance and barefoot training. But in my personal experience barefoot training only enhances performance in two ways:

Now before you guys come for me in the comments and call for my head on a chopping board because there are so many more benefits to barefoot training. Just take a moment to understand our point of view. Yes, there are many proposed benefits to this type of training modality BUT the above mentioned two are the only two factors that have concrete research to back them up. So unfortunately, the rest is simply anecdotal claims. Sorry guys, don’t kill the messenger.

That being said, during my postgraduate studies, one of our professors was at the end of her own studying, looking at the correlation between barefoot training and ankle stability and by extension ankle injuries in high impact team sports. So I do have first hand experience on this topic and can confidently say that there is real science backing this movement.

That being said, force production relies on an efficient and fluid system that allows our body to generate force through different joints in order to create substantial power output. And it is scientifically proven that this needs to happen at all levels of force production through all joints, depending on your end goal. Being barefoot facilitates this, because our bodies’ can more accurately and more efficiently generate force when our Proprioceptive systems are firing at all cylinders.

Injury prevention is quite self explanatory, barefoot training strengthens your feet, ankles and lower limb. This prevents injuries far more efficiently than when we wear shoes. Exposing our feet to the direct stimuli, instead of using a shoe to facilitate movement is the real golden key here!

How to Start Your Barefoot Training Journey

As you might have noticed by now we keep referring to barefoot training as opposed to barefoot running. And there is a reason for that, the two aren’t necessarily interchangeable. Secondly, we believe that if you are going to incorporate barefoot ‘anything’ into your training regime you need to incorporate it into your training as a whole.

I’ve seen far too many guys and girls just focus on one singular aspect of barefoot training. Now this might not be a red flag per say, but it does increase the risk of developing red flags in the long term. And it is those red flags that have athletes’ stuck on my treatment bed for weeks on end simply because some guy on the interweb told them to do barefoot backflips on a bosu ball suspended from a 50lb gym plate!

But I digress, the best and most effective way to start barefoot training is to understand the logic behind this training modality and to incorporate it systematically over a consistent period in all aspects of your training life.

That means if you’re planning on running barefoot, how about we start walking barefoot. Now I know that is not what any of you want to hear and before you abandon this article just entertain us for a second. Because barefoot training has to do with the nervous system and more specifically your Proprioceptive system; you are going to need to activate those receptors in your feet. Think of it as base training for your feet. This is because for the majority of our lives we’ve spent some form of foot wear on our feet. I mean I saw a toddler the other day with mini cycling cleats? Really guys?

Anyway, you will need to restore those pathways relating to your body’s ability to sense its surroundings through your feet. And the best way to do that is with low impact repetitive stimulation. IE: Walking.

Over time your body will start adapting by preparing your feet, ankle joint and lower limbs for the stimulation of barefoot training.

How to Start your Barefoot Running Journey

Now we can get to the good part! Let’s run, for an excessive amount of miles, with no shoes on, or socks, or arch support, or any support of any kind. Just your feet and the ground. Starting to sound a lot less fun now hey? And that ladies and gentlemen, is the reality of barefoot running. And you know how we do it here on this page, we call a spade a spade. It is not easy and in some cases it’s barely fun at all. But it could be, you just need to give it some time and incorporate a bit of strategy to it. So let’s discuss a few points for you to focus on when running without shoes:

Why Should you Bother with Barefoot Training at All?

Honestly, you shouldn’t bother training barefoot. Yes, you heard me correctly. Barefoot training and even more so barefoot running isn’t for everyone. So if you’ve made it to this point of the article and can’t seem to be bothered then that’s okay.

However, if you’re a true running enthusiast with a keen sense of curiosity to understand how true biomechanics work. If you’re someone who wants to understand your body in order to get it performing at the most optimal level. If that sounds like you, then barefoot training is something you should consider.

Barefoot training might not be as sexy as all the cool gadgets and gizmos on the market right now. But from a performance perspective it might be all you need to take that next step up in your training. All you need to do is to take it one step at a time. Okay, I am done with the puns now. Happy training!