How to Prepare for Barefootingby
Mark Sisson Recently by Mark Sisson: 7 Home Remedies to Relieve a Sunburn
"Just go barefoot." How many times have you heard that from the dude with big calves, wide feet, and soles like supple calf skin? (Hmm, that came out weirder than I imagined.) Or maybe you're that guy, and you've said it. Heck, I've probably said something to that effect before. It's a casual recommendation that we long-term barefooters toss around… but maybe we shouldn't. (Heresy!) Okay bear with me, here. Everyone agrees that shoelessness is the foot's natural state, and that getting to a place where you can enjoy that natural state is ideal. Natural isn't always synonymous with good, but in the case of the human foot a sensitive, capable, highly mobile appendage packed with innumerable nerve endings, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and fascia that responds and reacts to the environment as you walk and/or run natural is almost certainly desirable. The human foot is pretty amazing, and sticking it inside a restrictive shoe obscures that fact. I think we can agree on that. But before you tell your friends to burn their shoes, consider something: the shod foot has been living in a cast most of its life. It occasionally enjoys a bit of freedom, but it's a fleeting, temporary freedom that's usually only granted when there's nothing to do but lounge and sleep. When the modern foot is called into action, like at the gym, on a walk, or when going about daily business, they are usually wearing shoes that restrict muscle engagement and turn the feet into passive pieces of leather and rubber that slap along the ground. The feet are merely along for the ride; they do nothing, while the hips and ankles must shoulder the load. Ever seen an arm that's just had a cast removed? It's a skinny, withered shell of its former self. The muscles have atrophied, so it's weaker. The connective tissue can't quite handle the demands of regular use, so strains are a real possibility. It'll even smell bad until you wash it (just like some feet), because it's been cramped up for so long. The perpetually shod foot is in a very similar state. All that reactive organic material (the bones, tendons, muscles, fascia) has either atrophied, tightened up, or weakened from disuse, so you need to ease into it. Eh, "ease into it" is another phrase that gets thrown around with very little substantiation or elaboration. How, exactly, does one ease into barefooting?
Let's explore some concrete strategies. Buy a Lacrosse BallI'd like you to purchase a lacrosse ball and use it on your plantar fascia and your calves. Huh? Allow me to explain. The fascia, that interconnected sheath of connective tissue that surrounds our muscles, gets extremely tight and ornery when the muscles aren't used, or when they're used incorrectly. The plantar fascia, located on our feet, supports the arch and can get notoriously tight and unresponsive after a lifetime of shoe wearing. You've been wearing shoes for most of your life, and your plantar fascia is likely tight. This will impede your abilities to use your feet and develop natural arch support. Walking and running barefoot loads the calf muscle far more than walking and running in shoes. In fact, one of the most common complaints I hear from new barefooters is the calf pain. They go from rarely using their calves to absorbing the impact of a footfall with them and the soreness can be excruciating. Reducing that tightness before it gets worse can go a long way toward making the barefoot transition a smooth one. So, how does one roll one's plantar fascia? Extremely intuitively. Place a lacrosse ball on the floor, stand on it, and roll around. Just explore your foot with the ball. It'll be really painful at first, but that's how you know it's working. Roll each foot twice a day for about five minutes. Be sure to flex your foot and move your toes around as you roll over tight spots try to put your foot through every possible range of motion it might see in the real world. You can do it while sitting, too, while watching TV or messing around the computer (at your standing workstation). It's simple and can be done almost anywhere. There's no excuse not to. Rolling the calf takes more dedication. You have to be on the floor for it to work, and you have to focus. It's still really, really simple, though: sit on the ground with your leg outstretched and the lacrosse ball underneath your calf. Place as much weight on the ball as you can handle, and roll up and down your calf. When you hit a tight spot, flex and extend your ankle until it starts to feel less tight. Be sure to hit every aspect of your calf. Roll each calf once a day for about five minutes. All said, this won't take more than thirty minutes out of your day. Furthermore, you don't have to keep this up forever. Just do it for the week leading up to your barefoot transition, and thereafter on an as-needed basis. Strengthen Your FeetIf you had spent your entire life barefoot, you wouldn't need any specific foot-strengthening exercises foot strength would have developed naturally but you haven't, so now you need them. I discussed similar exercises before in an old post on strengthening flat feet. July 29, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Mark's Daily Apple
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