WHY YOU SHOULD TRAIN AND WORKOUT IN BAREFOOT FOOTWEAR

Your feet connect you to the ground, providing your base of support during exercise, workouts and sport. Without capable feet - a strong foundation - healthy movement and high performance will be very challenging.

This blog explains why you should train in barefoot footwear. It discusses how your feet move, how barefoot footwear works and how these things combined will help you train better and healthier.

HOW YOUR FEET MOVE

With 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons, and joints, your feet are surprisingly complex - and, dare we say, under-appreciated.

Your ankles allow your feet to move in six different ways, and your toes can move in four directions. Is any other body part designed to move with such variety? This is why barefoot footwear is so important: to take advantage of this natural movement. As the old saying goes, use it or lose it …

HOW BAREFOOT FOOTWEAR WORKS

Most traditional shoes are narrow and padded, immobilising your feet. This prioritises short-term comfort over long-term health, capacity and performance, as this blog will explain.

Barefoot (or ‘minimalist’) footwear, on the other hand, removes padding and unnecessary features to allow your feet to move as naturally and freely as possible, as if they were barefoot. Barefoot footwear still protects your feet - from bad weather when running, pebbles on the court, stubbing your toe in the gym - but with less material. And as we explain below, this not only means stronger, more mobile feet, but healthier joints all the way up your kinetic chain, from your knees to your shoulders.

There are many types of barefoot footwear, but they all have these key characteristics:

NO HEEL-TO-TOE DROP.

Heel-to-toe drop is the difference in elevation, in millimetres, between the forefoot and the heel. A proper barefoot shoe should have zero drop, just like your feet. By comparison, traditional running shoes have an 8-14mm drop. Some supposedly barefoot footwear is actually ‘low-profile’ footwear, with a 4-7mm drop. Less drop than normal shoes, but not truly barefoot.

A LOWER STACK HEIGHT.

The stack height is the height of the sole - i.e. the amount of shoe between your foot and the ground. Barefoot footwear tends to have a stack height of around 3-8mm, so your feet can feel the ground, whereas most traditional running shoes are in the 9-30mm range.

A WIDE TOE BOX.

The toe box is, as the name suggests, the space for your toes. Barefoot shoes have wide toe boxes, with more room for your toes to splay and recoil. Traditional shoes, including normal running shoes, are tapered, pushing your toes together and compromising their strength and agility.

LESS PADDING AND SUPPORT.

Traditional shoes have many types of padding and support, including arch support, ankle support and padded soles. Barefoot footwear has none of this, helping your feet build strength by working harder.

LIGHTWEIGHT AND FLEXIBLE.

Because of their minimalist design, truly barefoot shoes will be the lightest and most flexible out there.

HOW BAREFOOT ELEVATES YOUR WORKOUTS

Given the number of principles in play, natural training takes many forms. Some adapt one or two of the principles above, others display most of them. Three popular examples right now are…

STRONGER, MORE FLEXIBLE ANKLES

Barefoot footwear allows your ankles to move more freely and absorb more impact. This builds flexibility and strength.

Can’t get low enough in your squat? Want to jump higher? Need to improve your weightlifting performance or swimming kicking mechanics? All this and more requires ankle strength and mobility. Strong ankles also means less impact higher up your kinetic chain - probably in your knees - which helps prevent health problems like ACL injuries.

VivoHealth has partnered with PhysioFix to offer The Foot & Ankle Fix: an online twelve-week programme to transform your foot and ankle strength, mobility and health, however you move.

STRONGER, MORE RESILIENT FEET

Your foot muscles, ligaments and tendons work harder and move more freely when training in barefootwear.

A University of Liverpool study explored how this impacts foot strength. 46 participants measured their toe-flexion strength. Then, for at least 70% of their shod time for six days per week, half wore Vivobarefoot Stealth IIs and half wore their most frequently worn shoes. After six months, the control group experienced no foot-strength change, but the Vivo wearers saw a 60% increase.

This kind of research inspires our super thin, light, flexible sneakers, like the Primus Lite III and Primus Lite Knit. Given they make you stronger as you stroll, imagine your strength gains when exercising!

SUPER TOES

It’s easy to take your toes for granted, but your big toe in particular is incredibly important for balance and weight shifting.

Barefoot footwear is wide, letting your toes splay into a broader, stronger support base. This helps you grip the ground, push off and generally move with more balance.

This is particularly valuable for weightlifting, which is why the 2021 Men’s Health Sneaker Awards listed the Primus Lite III as one of the best sneakers on the planet.

IMPROVED TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Being strong is great, but you’ll experience fewer gains and more injuries while working out without proper form.

By building all-round strength and range of motion in your feet and ankles, barefoot training footwear encourages an even distribution of your body weight, which translates into healthier movement patterns as your feet flex, splay, and grip the ground.

Because form is so important - especially when transitioning safely to barefoot training - our VivoHealth courses are packed with useful guidance. Barefoot Fundamentals is the best place to start, and Running Fundamentals will revolutionise your barefoot running technique.