Category: Barefoot Running Tips

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Dr. Mark’s brilliant Natural Running video

Dr. Mark Cucuzzella is not only FAST (he won the US Air Force Marathon this year), he’s committed to understanding the facts of barefoot running (and minimalist, too).

As a physician, professor, and owner of Two Rivers Treads running shoe store, Mark is all about getting people running safely, enjoyably, and easily. Plus, he’s a really nice guy.

Mark just released an incredible video about “Natural Running.” His emphasis in the video is about running barefoot, but his point is that if you run with a natural gait, you may be fine in a minimialist running shoe, too.

Check out this video and let me know what you think.

One of my favorite parts is simply seeing mark run… FAST. There are so many critics who say “You never see barefoot runners who have any speed” (forgetting, of course, Abebe Bikila, Zola Budd, Ron Hill, and many other fast, barefoot Olympians).

I also like how Mark doesn’t emphasize exactly how your foot is supposed to hit the ground other than “don’t heel strike.” A number of us, including Mark and Pete Larson (of www.runblogger.com) have been saying, “There will be individual differences in how you land on your foot — from flat-footed, to fore-foot — that will depend on your physiology and biomechanics as well as how fast you’re running and whether you’re running uphill, downhill, and even on the surface.”

That said, most new runners may want to focus on a forefoot strike at first, if for no other reason than many of us have lost our proprioceptive skills from years of wearing shoes and may think we’re mid- or fore-foot landing when we’re still heel striking. I’ve had more than my share of runners try to convince me that their heels never touched the ground, even when looking at video showing them clearly heel striking.

Thanks to Mark for this great addition to the world of barefoot and natural running.

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

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How To Run Barefoot

“How do I start barefoot running?”

“What’s the best book/course/coach for learning to run barefoot?”

“Can you show me what barefoot running form looks like?”

I get these questions a lot. And, frankly, I don’t want to answer them. In fact, I’ve resisted writing this post for, well, months. Continue reading How To Run Barefoot

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Perfect barefoot running form

I’m often asked to make a video showing correct barefoot running form.

To say that I’m reluctant to do so is an understatement. And I want to take a moment to say why I’d LOVE to point you (and everyone) to a video that shows “correct” form, I can’t… and don’t really want to.

Here’s why:

  1. There are MANY types of “good form.” How you use your feet and legs depends on the terrain, your speed, the condition of your feet, the strength of your calves,  your body type, and many other factors.If you listen to different barefoot running teachers, you may notice some of them contradict each other when it comes to “good form.” It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong, it’s that there’s not ONE WAY for everyone. So, I couldn’t point to one video, I’d have to point to a dozen.
  2. The most important skill in barefoot/minimalist running is learning to listen to your body (sensations) and to learn to make adjustments based on what you’re hearing.If someone learned “the way” to run (or even a few ways), and the terrain changed in a way that made that particular style inappropriate, and they kept trying to do “the way,” they’d be trying to fit a round peg into a square hole (or a straight foot into a shoe with a curved last, if you will).Think about this simple idea: The way you run going uphill, downhill, on a flat, or on a trail will not be the same. Ditto for running at 10 minute/mile pace vs. sprinting.Your body and your sensations are the best teacher once you know the absolute basics (think about lift your foot off the ground, try to be light and quiet, aim for landing on your mid- or forefoot, etc.)
  3. It is a VERY rare human being who can watch a video, and then accurately imitate what they see. It is, on the other hand, common for people to THINK they’re imitating it and be off base.Hell, when I’m working with my sprinting coach, he’ll show me a simple drill and I’ll be doing it right next to him and I won’t be able to replicate what he’s doing… and he’s giving me moment-to-moment feedback… and I’m a former All-American gymnast thanks to my ability to pick up movement patterns.

Remember that one of the other great things about running barefoot, or in barefoot running shoes like huaraches, is re-igniting that childlike sense of curiosity, play, experimenting, and exploring.

Don’t miss out on that opportunity by looking to imitate “the way.”

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

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Getting started with barefoot running

Imagine that you haven’t lifted weights in a while… or ever.

And imagine that you got the idea that you wanted to bench press 500 pounds.

Would you go to the gym, put 500 pounds on the bar, and just go for it?

Of course not. There’s no way you could budge 500 on day one.

Would you go to the gym and put, say, 100 pounds on the bar and lift it, over and over, until you felt tired… and then do a few more reps until you were wasted?

I hope not.

Would you take a small weight, like 20 pounds, and lift it for an hour or two?

Boy, I wouldn’t.

But for some reason people think they can get into barefoot running with one of those plans.

They think they can just whip off their shoes and replace one of their regular runs with a barefoot run. Or, worse, they think that even if they haven’t run for a decade, it’ll be fine to go for a 5 mile barefoot run. Or they get out for a barefoot run, feel some strain or pain in their feet or calves and think, “Oh, I’ll just work through this, it’ll be fine.”

And they pay the price.

They wake up with freakishly sore calves or Achilles tendons. They get blisters. They get plantar faciitis. They get stress fractures.

Look, over-training is over-training. Doing too much is doing too much.

Especially with barefoot running, TAKE YOUR TIME. There’s no rush to get to the point where you’re running an ultramarathon every day for 1000 days in your bare feet. And there’s no way to rush building up the strength in your muscles and ligaments and tendons, or to develop correct and efficient form.

It happens as it happens. No sooner, no later.

How long that’ll be is a mystery. Maybe it only takes you a week or a month. Maybe it takes you a year.

Who cares?

First of all, it’s not all-or-nothing. It’s not like you won’t be able to be barefoot and then, BAM, 6 months from now you can! It’s a process. Maybe today you can only run 100 yards and then need to ice your feet for 3 days. That’s fine. In a month, guaranteed, you’ll be doing more. And a month after that, you’ll be doing even more.

Secondly, nobody is telling you to throw away your shoes the moment you realize you want to become a barefoot runner. Keep your shoes. Enjoy your shoes. And look forward to when you don’t want or need them.

But, please, give yourself time — the amount of time that YOU need — to make the transition.

Honestly, there’s enough to learn and experience and benefit from if all you ever do is an occasional 1 minute jog without shoes.

I hate to toss out “prescriptions for living,” but in this case I can’t think of any better way to say it than, “Enjoy the journey… because there isn’t really a goal.”

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.” to the bottom of the blog post.

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

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Running Barefoot — The Importance of Core

Usain Bolt’s coach, Glen Mills, talked in an interview about what helped make Usain Bolt the fastest man in the world.

He revealed something that will surprise most runners, namely, the most important muscles required for fast, efficient running.

Have a guess?

Think it’s the quads? The hamstrings? Glutes? Calves? Eyelids?

Let me quote Glen:

Usain is an extremely gifted athlete. When I started working with him, one of the things that stood out like a sore thumb was his poor mechanics. Part of his poor mechanics was because he was not able hold the sprint position during maximum velocity running, so we had to do an intense programme to develop his core strength. In Beijing he showed a mastery of the technique that we had been working on, but the transformation took two years.

He goes on to discuss in more detail how important the core — primarily the abdominal muscles — are critical for running.

Now, what does this have to do with your running? EVERYTHING.

Next time you run, tighten your core (as if you’re bracing yourself before someone hits you in the stomach). See what that does to your running form.

Play with this. See what changes as you tighten your core, especially the transverse abdominis (the muscles you use to suck in your stomach when you’re trying to fit into a pair of too-tight pants).

Well, if that’s not the motion you make when running, is it the best thing to use for training?

Strength coach Michael Boyle discusses this and suggests that if you want to keep your core stable, you should train it to remain stable while some force is trying to move it.

Looking forward to hearing what you discover when you activate “the most important muscles for running.”

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.