It's a trade-off: the sensations of the feet versus the perceptions of the eyes. I prefer the former.
Don't shorten your stride!
- Thread starter Barefoot Gentile
- Start date
What kind and how much feedback does one need from the "skin of the feet" to run with proper form?
I don't know. As you can see from my comments in this thread, I'm just beginning to think about proper form. But I love bare feet. I hate socks, and only use shoes when necessary. They feel hot to me most times. I'm not anti-shoe, though. I just like feeling the ground, that's all. Even now my soles are itching for some stimulation, looking forward to my run later today.
I think basically there are too kinds of barefoot runners, or two kinds of backgrounds: Runners and barefooters. I'm in the latter group, but would like to learn more from the former.
What about just being a runner who happens to prefer more skin to ground contact than others??
Lawrence Smith
Barefooters
Isn't that kind of like the rhythm method applied to running?What about just being a runner who happens to prefer more skin to ground contact than others??
Isn't that kind of like the rhythm method applied to running?
Lol, yes and he could call himself "the rhythm runner"
Would a barefoot runner that stops running when conditions get too rough be a "pullout runner"?
And the method you use to learn better form is a matter of individual choice. Arguing about which method is better for each individual is about as productive as arguing which religion is "right."
Some thoughts: http://barefootrunninguniversity.co...od-should-i-use-to-learn-better-running-form/
Some thoughts: http://barefootrunninguniversity.co...od-should-i-use-to-learn-better-running-form/
I think part of the debate was whether there is one proper form or many. If the former, then yes, there are many different ways of knowing god. But if the latter, then there may be a place for crusaders.
I'd argue each of the methods I listed (along with most of the rest) get you to roughly the same point. In other words, there is such thing as ideal form; each of these methods are simply different means to roughly the same end).
Would you say it's possible to run with good form without ever having thought about it? And for those of us who haven't had bad-form-related injuries and don't care about performance, is it even worth thinking about good form?
Yes, I meet a fair number of people that have always run with good form. Their form could be tweaked to maximize efficiency, but I'd leave that for the Olympic hopefuls. I'd argue we'd all have pretty good form if we didn't introduce raised-heel shoes in childhood. For those that have no injuries and don't care about performance, I wouldn't try to fix what isn't broken.
I would think that if you never thought about it, your form would be great. As an adult? I'm not sure. Watching kids run is may be the best instruction. My son, who is not a competitive runner, but is very athletic, has beautiful, natural form.
Cool, thanks for the feedback Jason. That's where I am right now, but perhaps when I'm able to boost the speed up a little more, I'll return to thinking about it some more. I'm old enough to have grown up in the pre-Nike era, so perhaps that has helped . . .
Well, there's limits to proprioception, but I was reasonably fast as a kid, played safety in football, hated track though--the practices were so boring. My wife makes fun of my running, and she's from Africa, so perhaps I should consider considering it more.
You have not seen my kids run yet..lol. Some kids run better just like some adults run better. What kids have going for them is that they haven't had time to pick up longterm bad habits. I always crack up laughing when I read some say that all kids run with perfect form.
Again, it goes back to the introduction of raised heel shoes. Throw a pair of foot coffins on any kid and watch their great barefoot form go to hell immediately. All of us "form teachers" would be out of a job if parents put their kids in shoes that didn't alter their form.
True story, yesteday I was working with an adult male athlete at the gym. We basically work on his running with a variety of excercises both strength and technique along with running. He happened to bring his young son along who was about 13yrs old. As we progressed along to the running portion of the workout the son asked his dad if he could take off his shoes and show his dad just how fast he could run. I was thinking to myself cool. However the dad promptly denied him taking off his shoes. I was abit in shock to be honest but it wasn't quite my place to get into the discussion. Looking back I wish I would have said something to encourage the dad to allow him to take the shoes off. They were indeed not helping him run well. However the dad was very worry that his son would somehow hurt himself stepping on something and cutting his foot. We were on a relatively clean concrete path so not really any immediate danger. It really shocked me with the ingnorance of people :-(
You should see some of the toddlers at my daughter's day care. They can barely toddle! I want to say something but I hold my tongue. At least the teachers let me drop off and pick up my daughter barefoot, and my wife is coming around to the idea of getting 'minimalist' shoes for her and our son. Small victories . . .
