How To Pick The Right Shoe For Any Workout

Barefoot TJ · Oct 30, 2015

How To Pick The Right Shoe For Any Workout
Lifehacker Australia
Pros: Barefoot running proponents say that by sticking to your natural, unrestricted foot strike you can strengthen your feet and muscles surrounding ...

Other than the "gross" comment, the article is pretty much okay.

Tristan · Nov 3, 2015

Hey I am impressed they were not totally against barefoot

But pretty much all activities that they mention I have done barefoot except pro sports (soccer, football, etc, except in the front yard). But running, weightlifting, biking, hiking, etc all barefoot. I see they make the common mistake that hiking boots provide ankle support. Now there are probably some that do, mainly the much more heavy duty mountaineering ones, but most regular hikers you can flop over the sides pretty easy. Not sure how that is suppose to help stop your ankle from rolling. Perhaps protect it from getting cut up by brush or rocks, but not support it. If anything the chunkier soles put more leverage on your ankle plus tend to catch on more things and cause more ankle rolls.

Barefoot TJ · Nov 3, 2015

Tristan said:
Hey I am impressed they were not totally against barefoot
But pretty much all activities that they mention I have done barefoot except pro sports (soccer, football, etc, except in the front yard). But running, weightlifting, biking, hiking, etc all barefoot. I see they make the common mistake that hiking boots provide ankle support. Now there are probably some that do, mainly the much more heavy duty mountaineering ones, but most regular hikers you can flop over the sides pretty easy. Not sure how that is suppose to help stop your ankle from rolling. Perhaps protect it from getting cut up by brush or rocks, but not support it. If anything the chunkier soles put more leverage on your ankle plus tend to catch on more things and cause more ankle rolls.

They should mention that ankle support comes with natural strengthening and that ankle support in hiking boots is just a cast that will weaken those ankles. But yes, at least they are open to barefooting.

Tedlet · Nov 3, 2015

Not sure why they make the assertion that "....it's not very pleasant to run on any surface besides soft dirt and grass..."?? -Presumably the article is written by someone who has never actually tried it I guess.
The advice to keep initial mileage very low, and very gradually and slowly add more distance is pretty sound though.