Alex Honnold

When he gets to the top, the first thing he does, is take his shoes off!

Watch this and try not to sweat....

I Am A Barefoot Runner

Thank you for making this one FacePaster

Just Loving It

This is a feature from Boston University TV.  There are interesting points of view, from a runner, a fitness coach, and a running shoe store salesman. Also contains some computer image analysis showing why running barefoot is good.

Many Paths to Barefoot Running Technique

Barefoot running is the fastest way to great running technique.  It quickly teaches the body how to land, how to lift, how to run gently.  Running injuries that are often caused by shoes that are too cushioned for a runner to have any hope of feeling the ground are often cleared up in just a few runs.  Chi Running is a technique that is exactly the same as the technique needed for successful barefoot running.  Indeed, these techniques are necessary for successful running.  Following the techniques suggested in Danny Dreyer's book, Chi Running, is highly recommended for anyone who runs barefoot.  Here is a recent video that presents the basics of Chi Running in a new, clearly visual way.  Having many paths to barefoot running technique is good.

The Guru of The Barefoot Running Community

If you came here to learn about why running barefoot is good, then you should really start elsewhere.  Most web sites that are about barefoot running are stepchildren of Ken Bob Saxton's RunningBarefoot.org.  "Barefoot" Ken Bob put barefoot running on the web first. He has poured much of his own resources and time into personally leading barefoot runners through the convolutions and details related to running and living as barefoot as possible.  He continues to nurture his web site, his Yahoo! Group, and thousands of barefoot runners that are just finding him and his site now, in this post-Born-To-Run time of Critical Mass.  He travels the country every summer on an extended holiday giving free barefoot running workshops.  No doubt attendance at the workshops should skyrocket this coming summer, since running barefoot is good.

Heel Strike Versus Forefoot Strike

This video by NJ Sports Medicine shows a clear comparison of foot-strike when a runner wears classic training shoes for running versus when the same runner is barefoot.  According to the information on the video, it was the inspiration for Lieberman's Harvard study.

Runners that practice barefoot running change the way their foot strikes the ground.  Most runners were raised with running shoe companies and store sales people telling them that the correct way to run was to land on the heel, then to pronate and roll to the toes and push off.  This method led to the development of ever increasingly technical shoes that give support and cushioning for landing on the heel.  This method also sends shock up the leg when the heel contacts the ground.  It is similar to putting on the brakes every time the foot strikes the ground.  When a runner practices barefoot running, the forefoot strikes the ground first and bears the weight of the runner.  The forefoot is a larger surface, the leg acts as a spring and the body absorbs forward motion as a whole.  That is why barefoot running is good.

Critical Mass

It is happening: Critical Mass.  Many people in the so called "Barefoot Running Community" have been running barefoot for years.  Barefoot runners often experience less pain and dramatic improvement in nagging running injuries when they begin to run barefoot.  With the publication of Christopher McDougal's best seller Born to Run in the spring of 2009, there has been a rash of recent converts.  More recently, two significant studies have found legs in major news media.  These studies have further pushed the concept of running barefoot out to the general public. The first study, published in PM&R: The journal of injury, function and rehabilitation in December 2009, showed "increased joint torques at the hip, knee and ankle with running shoes compared with running barefoot."  The second, a Harvard study published in the end of January 2010, found impact forces to be much less dramatic in barefoot runners than those who wore running shoes.

There are increasing numbers of runners beginning to question the use of over supportive, over cushioned shoes. At the same time, scientific evidence is mounting that supports the view that the use of highly protective running shoes may increase a runner's propensity towards suffering running injuries.  The scientific evidence has prompted some running shoe companies, most notably Brooks and Road Runner Sports, to make statements warning of the dangers of running barefoot.

This web site will make a biased attempt to counter such irrational fears, and hopefully influence the big running shoe companies to develop thinner, lighter, flatter, more flexible "minimal" running shoes.  It will also be a catch-all repository, pointing to web sites and articles that support our title, Running Barefoot Is Good.