I became interested in barefoot running in the same manner as most, I assume. Knees, ankles, hips, and lower back could not take the pounding of years of running with incorrect mechanics. Fancy shoes and arch supports were no help. The conclusions were that my physical pain was the result of age, repetitive stress injuries, or there was a great mistake with regards to what I thought I should be doing for fitness. As with most complex problems, the answer was in a lot of places.
Googling the symptoms resulted in a lot of interesting cures and pictures from Popular Mechanics, Liverstrong.com,and others. The first item thatdrew my attention was the use of a treadmillto reduce impact, so that is where I started. Still running incorrectly resulted in the same pains, but not to the degree that running onroads and sidewalks provided. Thankfully, Istumbled upon a copy of "Born to Run" at the local library. That was the beginning. Iresearched every referenceChris McDougall made in the book, which considerably enhancedits value. The numerous YouTube videos on barefoot running were very helpful. However, the best education came from (and still does) from running barefoot.
Slowly working my way up from 1/2 mile to 4 miles on a treadmill enabled me to take advantage ofthe softer impactwhile learning the basicbarefoot running form. Now it is time to spread my toes and run on a variety of surfaces, so Itook my dog for a BFR yesterday.We ran up hill on a sidewalk, across blacktop roads,up and down a couple of grassy hills, and back home.Therange of textures was fun to experience in contrast tothe single surface of the treadmill. The pine needles on the sidewalk were definitely a rapid learning curve in stepping lightly. I will make friends with thisroute!
Run lightly,
Barefoot Dad
Googling the symptoms resulted in a lot of interesting cures and pictures from Popular Mechanics, Liverstrong.com,and others. The first item thatdrew my attention was the use of a treadmillto reduce impact, so that is where I started. Still running incorrectly resulted in the same pains, but not to the degree that running onroads and sidewalks provided. Thankfully, Istumbled upon a copy of "Born to Run" at the local library. That was the beginning. Iresearched every referenceChris McDougall made in the book, which considerably enhancedits value. The numerous YouTube videos on barefoot running were very helpful. However, the best education came from (and still does) from running barefoot.
Slowly working my way up from 1/2 mile to 4 miles on a treadmill enabled me to take advantage ofthe softer impactwhile learning the basicbarefoot running form. Now it is time to spread my toes and run on a variety of surfaces, so Itook my dog for a BFR yesterday.We ran up hill on a sidewalk, across blacktop roads,up and down a couple of grassy hills, and back home.Therange of textures was fun to experience in contrast tothe single surface of the treadmill. The pine needles on the sidewalk were definitely a rapid learning curve in stepping lightly. I will make friends with thisroute!
Run lightly,
Barefoot Dad
