I'm in Cross Country and I was wondering if its ok to run barefoot. I imagine it would be inthe grass, but on pavement I think that would hurt my ankles or something. Does anyone have any experience/comments on this?
Dont worry about it! running barefoot is much more important than hurting urself. ps. jk.. i dont know haha, but i wouldnt think it would hurt u, maybe get blisters for a while, cuz i used to. Peace
Running barefoot shouldn't damage your ankles, you will be able to run much faster and will get less tired as your feet will be much more efficient carrying the energy from step to step. Of course your soles will need to take the pounding, but you should be able to handle that with a small amount of practice. Practising running barefoot on grass for a bit should do enough I would have thought. It will also build up the muscles in your feet and legs which you will need to do as you use them differently when you run barefoot, or even walk barefoot. Ultimately though it will improve your performance by a long way, it'd be almost as if you're cheating!
I am a barefooter is the essence of the word. I have not worn shoes in 5 years and i am still a student. I used to and still run to school every day barefoot. I never had a problem with any joints. The only thing that took adjusting was my soles. It only takes about a week or so though. Now, my soles are tough enough that the other day I stepped on a thorn plant with huge 1/2 inch thorns and never felt any pain. I pulled out the thorns and even though my foot was bleeding pretty bad, I just kept going. Running barefoot is the bomb. You must try it.
running barefoot would not give you much ankle support, but your body should readjust itself naturally. i had no problem running bare foot last year when i was waiting for a new pair of mizunos in the mail. your soles of your feet do take a pounding though... peace
I've run track & cross-country for much of my life, but I've never done it barefoot (although that's something I might considert). Since the soles of your feet do take a lot of pounding, I wouldn't recommend running on pavement barefoot. But if your feet feel comfortable barefoot on grass, go for it! (Actually, I think the best place to run barefoot is the beach, and I love running there barefoot).
Ankles don't need support. Ankles are the way they are through millions of years of evolution and work just fine as-is.
Oh, don't be mistaken! You're so wrong about that! We 21th century people are not to be compared with our hunting forefathers! We spend a lot of time sitting behind computers, to write nonsense in threads on the internet Forums! And that means: weaker ankles than our ancestors. Yep.
I walk, jog, and run barefoot in grass regularly. My ankles are more muscular now and my arches are higher. Grass is ideal, as it is soft yet hard enough that your feet don't sink in. The muscles in my legs get more developed compared with when I used to do it in shoes. There's something about bare feet that works every muscle. When I first started doing this, there was one time when I walked and ran barefoot outdoors for an hour. It was my first time at the start of warmer weather and too much at once. My ankles swelled up a little. It's always best to do some stretching exercises of the legs and feet before jogging or running. The ankles will get stronger in bare feet compared with shoes as they have to now do the work that the shoe or boot was doing to support the ankle. Ankles can get weak when the shoes are doing the support. People in the biomed community use the phrase "with you there, why should I?" An analogous case is a bone splint where the bone gets weak because a metal support is carrying the load instead of the bone. People looking from a shod perspective will sometimes criticize bare feet because of weak ankles. Considering that the ankles strengthen when in bare feet, it isn't a valid criticism. There may be a short period at first with weaker ankles if you aren't used to going barefoot, but it isn't a problem for long. I can jog on pavement barefoot and it hasn't bothered me short or long term. I don't really run full blast on pavement barefoot. I find this more difficult. It's not painful but my soles have a way of slapping the ground hard. Some people have trouble walking or running on soft sand. This is because the heel tends to sink into the ground which stretches the achilles tendon more than usual. It's only a problem for some. Jogging on sand that is harder near the shore is probably better than really soft sand.
I don't really have an arch on my foot at all... I'm barefoot all the time, but my feet are always killing me... yuck. It makes my back hurt, too. But I'm persistent. One of these days, I'll be in so much pain that I'll just go numb, then it won't be a problem anymore.
Yes, but that is only the case as long as you carry on sitting behind computers. Once you get out there and start running around your muscles will build up and your feet will cope. It's exactly the same as any other form of physical fitness. Professional footballers can run around the field for 90 minutes and still be able to concentrate enough to play the right pass at the right time. The reason they can do that is because they do a lot of running in training. Feet are no exception, if you run barefoot, you will get better at running barefoot.
I don't think you'll have a problem with your ankles running barefoot. I run barefoot on my treadmill and never had a problem with my ankles. This comes from someone that has 2 bad ankles. Bud
