We’ve previously heard from (Dr.) Jawa as he not only runs and does post-run headstands in his KSOs
Tag: How to Run in Vibram Five Fingers, Barefoot, or in Other Minimalist Footwear (a.k.a. “Barefoot Shoes”)
When it comes to running naturally it’s all about landing gently!
And believe it or not, this is how you used to run as a kid, without even thinking about it.
Unfortunately for most adults, it is commonly believed that in order to run, play, or do anything outside, you must wear appropriate shoes — most often cushioned, heavy, thick-heeled trainers or sneakers. But who can’t remember going outside to play, run, and even sprint completely barefoot as a kid? You might even remember hearing your parents yelling as you parted ways out the door to “Put your shoes on!”
Sometimes kids are much smarter than adults — not because they know something, but because they don’t. And in the case of modern footwear, it’s the kids who are the gurus — they know how to run naturally because they’ve not acquired the bad habits that come from years of wearing high-heeled platform shoes with expensive swooshes adorning their sides.
In the case of running, being able to run naturally is all about landing gently; indeed, barefoot running is the most surefire way to run gently — because if you don’t, your foot is going to scream in pain at you!
When you run the trick is to land lightly — barefoot or minimalist running forces you to land lightly because you’ll maximize the feedback from the ground. If you run hard on pebbles barefoot, it will hurt, so you run lightly (and quietly). In turn, impact forces on your body are reduced, allowing you to run pain- and injury-free.
When switching from shod running to barefoot running or running in minimalist footwear such as Vibram Five Fingers, your goal will be to unlearn years of bad habits acquired from running in thickly heeled shoes. This process takes time and it is incredibly important to take it slow. The atrophy to the muscles of your feet, ankles, and legs caused by wearing foot casts can take a long time to rehabilitate. It also takes time to strengthen the bones of your feet and “get” the proper bio-mechanics down!
Below you’ll find helpful resources about how to run barefoot or in minimalist shoes such as Vibram Five Fingers. These posts include introductions to popular natural running techniques like ChiRunning and Pose Tech running — methods that serve as guides on your journey to running pain-free — and also a great guide on how to transition to Vibram Five Finger shoes running.
Guides aside, here’s the bottom Line:
Running is not supposed to hurt (aside from muscle soreness), and if it is, you’re doing it wrong. Barefoot running and Vibram Five Fingers running is about mastering running gently. Do that and you will run pain-free.
Matt is a VFF runner and blogger at Run Luau Run. As he is about to turn 40 on the 22nd of December, Matt’s wife recently threw him a surprise birthday party, complete with the awesome cake pictured above depicting a pair of gray/palm KSO Vibram Five Fingers, made by Sweet Lisas.
Paul, photoed above, recently completed his first full marathon, and he did it thanks to his Sprint
Above are photos of what I’m calling the “VFF Turkey Feet Mod” as created and modeled by Haley for a
Above are photos of Bien and Ben taken at the Nittany Valley Half Marathon at Penn State on Here’s B
Joshua recently ran the Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run 5k — barefoot — as in, with
Bob recently completed his first 5K in KSO Five Fingers — the Cal Poly Midnight 5K:Ran [th
The photos above were sent in by Chris, who recently ran the Richmond Marathon in Flow Five Fingers.
Matt emailed in the above photos taken this past Thursday morning: he ran a 5K in his Flow Five Fing
Tyler sent in the above photos taken after he completed his first half marathon in his KSO FiveFinge