Remember the scene from “Major League” when Charlie Sheen’s character put on his horn rimmed glasses for the 1st time? Well if you don’t, you missed a great scene from a great movie. After realizing that his character had eyesight problems that were keeping him from being a successful big league pitcher, his manager rushed out and got him a ridiculously hideous set of horn rimmed glasses. One teammate responded “Don’t worry about it kid, seeing is the most important thing.” Another teammate, looking at the glasses says, “It ain’t that important…”
That was how I felt the 1st time I saw minimalist training sneakers. I didn’t care if or how they worked – they just looked too stupid to wear.
Lately, the proliferation of barefoot training or training wearing “minimalist” sneakers has become increasingly popular. We’re here today so I can give you the basic rationale behind minimalist footwear, and to tell you I was 100% wrong about it. I made a mistake that I criticize other people for making all the time: judging something, or someone, simply based on how it looks.
Yes, you heard me, I was 100% wrong. Stop smirking, I actually admit being wrong quite often, smarty pants.
First, the rationale behind minimalist footwear:
A quick lesson on bio-mechanics: remember that song in kindergarten? Your shin bone is connected to your thigh bone, etc etc? Well it’s 100% accurate. And since our feet are what’s in contact with the ground when we’re moving the positioning of our foot is crucial. If our foot is not in an optimal position, our ankle will not be in the correct position. If our ankle is not in the correct position, our knee won’t be in the correct position, and so on and so on. Therefore, the correct bio-mechanical positioning of the foot is crucial to the rest of our body being in the correct position. If joints such as the knees, hips, spine and shoulders are out of position, this is deleterious to both our joint health and our performance in the gym.
The problem with traditional sneakers is that they automatically put your foot in the wrong anatomical position. Your heel is instantly placed higher than your toes and your toes are squished together. To optimize function, your heel needs to be on the ground (not on a 1” high wedge) and your toes need to be separated and spread out, as opposed to being in the perpetual vice grip of your cross trainers.
Problem #2: Every single thing about the way you move is reliant on sensory information from your feet. Doesn’t make sense to you? OK, here’s the short version then: we’re going to revisit 6th grade science class.
When you are walking, or doing anything for that matter, when your foot hits the ground nerves in your foot send messages to your brain. Your brain then interprets these messages and quickly sends messages to every muscle in your body, telling them how to respond so you can stay upright and keep moving. For example, during normal walking, your brain would get one set of messages, if you slipped on a banana peel, it would get a different set, if you saw a car coming right at you, a different set, and so on and so on. The rest of your body would move differently in each one of these situations depending on what messages the nerves in your feet gave to your brain, and then the subsequent messages your brain gave to every other muscle in your body.
It is impossible for your brain to receive accurate information about your movement and therefore impossible for it to respond optimally if your feet are on pillows with your toes squished together.
Your movement, and therefore your exercise program, is solely reliant on good information reaching your central nervous system. If it receives shitty information, it doesn’t really matter what kinds of muscles are running the show and making you move. This is why there are people who look fantastic, but may be the most uncoordinated injury prone people on the planet. Conversely, there are people who don’t “look” athletic, but actually are pretty coordinated and catch on to workouts quickly. It’s simply because their brains work better when it comes to movement.
It’s like 2 people driving the same model car: both cars have the same engine, the same brakes, handling, etc. But one is driven by Jeff Gordon and the other by a little old lady. Which one is going to get better more accurate information about starting, stopping, turning, accelerating, etc.?
And more importantly, from practical, personal experience and observations, I can see a difference since switching to minimalist footwear. I’ve done it and a good chunk of the TR membership has as well with great results. Not one of us who has switched to minimalist or barefoot training has returned to wearing regular sneakers when exercising.
Since trying out the Adidas Adipure, I can tell you I will never exercise in regular sneakers ever again. Frankly, I wouldn’t limit it to exercise: if it weren’t winter in the northeast I’d be wearing them 24/7.
And before I go on, I must be clear I receive no compensation to endorse Adidas or the Adipure. (Although for the record, I must admit I like the fact that Adidas DOES NOT give $100 million to quarterbacks who torture dogs, like some other brand name sneaker company. Sorry, had to get that in…)
Does working out barefoot work? Sure. You may have a problem with traction and stepping on things can be uncomfortable, but it’ll work. The Adipure have a thin rubber sole so if you do step on something like a pebble or tack you won’t be injured.
And for those of you who still say “Well, don’t your feet need some support?” My response is this: Following your logic, you should be wearing knee braces, back braces, shoulder braces and neck braces too when you work out because those areas need support as well.
But I know you won’t do that because THAT would be stupid. J
Jon
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