Working on the premise that "knowledge is like an onion, there always another layer" this is going to a brief overview. Future posts will go in greater detail.
You might have read articles that discuss barefoot running which mostly mention that you should transition into it, by wearing minimalist style shoes, by starting on grass or the beach, by doing strengthening exercises etc.
These articles are always written by people who do not run barefoot at all. The hard truth is that there is nothing you can do to prepare yourself for running barefoot, except running barefoot. And by barefoot, I mean no foot covering of any sort.
An important concept is proprioception. For barefoot running, this means that the soles of your feet tell your body what is happening. They feel your position, movement and acceleration. Think about picking up an object with your hands. You do not have to consciously think about your hands movements, how the muscles in the arms tense and relax to move the object, how your torso stiffens and moves if the object is heavy and you need to counterbalance the weight. Your feet will do this all for you and they know how, if you let them just get on with the job. But to activate the feet and soles, you must start with bare soles.
A good idea is to spend as much time as possible barefoot around the house. Try picking up Lego pieces with your toes. Feel the different textures between tiles, wooden floors and carpets. If you have a garden spend time there barefoot. (A future blogpost will discuss dangers going barefoot but, trust me for now, it is so small that you can safely ignore any perceived dangers)
And now for the part where most people get it wrong- select a hard, flat surface like a pavement or a path through a park. If you choose to start on a soft surface like grass or beach sand, you will have bad technique. All you have done is changed a soft, cushion sole for a soft, cushion surface. Your feet will be unable to tell you if your stride is wrong so you will continue to make the same mistakes.
Standing barefoot on your chosen hard surface, start jogging gently in one spot. Naturally your body will be doing it with slightly bent knees and landing on the front of the foot. Now lean slightly forward from the ankles, not the hips, and move forwards. Keep that gentle jogging movement taking small, quick steps as if you are running on ice or hot coals. And there you go, you are now a barefoot runner!
That is all there is to it. But don't go to far! Lots of people love that effortless and free movement so they set off for a half hour or more, and then the next day their calves will be like blocks of wood. At most, only run 500m at the beginning. Do not run the next day if you are feeling sore. Remember that you have not properly used the muscles in your feet and calves before.
The muscles in your calves are using eccentic movements to control your body weight. Eccentric movement (or contraction) is when your muscles are lengthening at the same time that they are under stress. You might have come across this when doing squats in the gym or feelig very sore the next day when hiking downhill. This is a totally different movement from concentric contractions which is most gym work. But don't worry, the body quickly adapts if you give sufficient stimulation and rest.
What we have now done is make the feet, calves and knees the cushion for the body. The hard surface stops us from landing on our heels, which would be too painful, and helps give feedback via our soles to our body.
In the next blog post, I will discuss cadence (how fast your legs rotate), using the strongest muscles in your legs to run with, and correct body posture.
Congratulations on making it so far!
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