Barefoot Strong

Barefoot Strong: The willPower way!

   Most of you reading this have probably never heard of the benefits of barefoot training and why it is so important. Within the last several years shoe manufactures have created all types of minimalist type shoes to market barefoot running and minimalist training.  If you think about it, our feet take us wherever we need to go. They contain 58 muscles as well as 33 joints and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons, and ligaments—collectively forming two of the body’s most beautifully efficient mechanisms. 

Our feet may be small compared to the rest of our bodies but they play an important role in our entire body. It’s about time that we got to know them! Every step we take starts with our feet and translates through our kinetic chain; ankles, knees, hip, and lower back. 

Just like every other muscle in the body, it takes time to build a strong, solid foundation. Progression is key. For anyone who has experienced severe foot pain, one might be scared to walk barefoot or even think about exercising barefoot. To build a strong foundation means retraining our feet, and that begins with education. Allowing your feet the freedom to walk around without shoes allows for natural movement, flexibility, and mobility. Wearing continuously high arched shoes over time, limits mobility and weakens the muscles in the foot. Weak muscles in the feet and lower leg can cause plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and other imbalances all throughout your body. 

  We all can learn and benefit from barefoot training. Here are some exercise you can do at home or before work, school, practice, workouts.

1) Toe Fan: Lift and lower your toes. You want your pinkie toe to rise to the same level as your big toe. Repeat 4 times. Then, on the lift, spread your toes as wide as you can 4 times. This exercise will strengthen the muscles in your front lower leg compartment (shin) as well as your toes.  Increased strength and flexibility in your toes can lead to a stronger push off for runners/walkers and better balance.

2)Great Toe Down: Leave all 10 toes up. Press just the big toes down and up. Then do the same with the pinkie toes. Then alternate big toes and pinky toes. This exercise develops smart neuromuscular connections (reconnecting) with your feet. Smart feet are the base of a strong, healthy kinetic chain, and can lead to greater function all the way up the body.     

3) Rock Out: Rock onto the outer edge of your foot and then the inner edge a few times loosening up the ankles. This flexible strength exercises for the ankles may lead to a reduction in ankle injuries. 

4) Doming: Grip the ground with your toes and release. (Grip it rather than curl the toes under.) This exercise stimulates the movement of the arch lifting (called “doming”). 

Since 2009, I have incorporated barefoot fitness & barefoot training in my overall fitness routine. I have personally seen the benefits of barefoot fitness. Throughout high school playing sports I always seemed to roll my ankles due to weak ankle support and being extremely flat footed. Over the years I have noticed an increase in muscular strength within my arches and ankles. I am not considered flat footed anymore which is pretty great if you ask me. This proves that the exercises really do work!

 

Beginning a foot fitness program is simple. 

Be patient with your body and allow for natural progress. Start out by simply being barefoot more often around the house and notice the way your feet feel on different surfaces. Massage your feet and do the exercises above on a daily basis. Before long you will start noticing the benefits of barefoot training.

Currently, I am a certified level 3 willPower instructor through The willPower Method® which is the original foot fitness program. This program & method alone has brought more knowledge, education, smart and mindful movement, and friendships into my life more so than any other program over the years. 

I wouldn't be the instructor  I am today if it weren't for the willPower Method; the founder Stacey Lei Krauss, and  the willPower team of instructors.

 

For more information about barefoot training please stop by the studio or email us at  479-747-2928 or at sole2soular@gmail.com.

 (All exercises above have come from the "SoleTraining" program at www.willPowerMethod.com) (Foot fitness sources come from the willpowermethod.com & vibramfivefingers.com)

I wish you well on your journey to healthy feet, mind, and body!