1. Going barefoot strengthens the stabilizing muscles of the foot and ankle and strengthens them. Shoes give a lot of stability and support and can make the foot and ankle lazy. Strengthening the small stabilizing muscles of the feet can improve our balance and overall athletic performance.
2. Going barefoot improves our proprioception which will strengthen our balance and movement. Proprioception is our perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body. Going barefoot helps us to feel and connect to our environment, and this helps our balance and develops our natural movements.
3. Go barefoot for stronger ankles and more support. Almost 30% of the joints in our body are in our feet. Our feet are the base of support for our whole body. Often knee and back pain stem from improper foot mechanics. Artificial support from shoes can place abnormal pressure on the knees, spine, and neck. Our foot mechanics affect our whole posture.
4. Going barefoot improves muscle alignment. Different muscle segments are used when we are barefoot than in shoes, and various muscle patterns become habitually recruited and strengthened. In addition, going barefoot improves and enhances the neuromuscular pathways of the foot and leg. These mold the muscle firing sequences and affect the way we move.
5. Going barefoot gives you stronger arches. Wearing shoes will artificially raise your arches and directly remove the responsibility from the arch muscles to do their job. Wearing shoes can create a vicious circle with arch support. First, our arch muscles become weak from not being used, as they are supported by shoes. So you get weak arches, and you need more support to relieve the tension temporarily. But now, if you go for a flatter or less supported shoe, the symptoms will return. So it would help if you had more support, but the root of the problem does not get addressed. This leads to a life of shoes and orthopedic issues. Barefoot training will allow your arch muscles to develop naturally to avoid these problems.
6. Going barefoot increases flexibility and mobility of the foot and gives a much more comprehensive range of motion.
7. Going barefoot will give you healthier feet overall. Shoes are the cause of most foot problems. Shoes often lead to bunions, corns, athlete’s foot, hammer toe, ingrown toenails, and fallen arches. People who spend much time barefoot do not experience these and generally do not even get callouses. Research had shown that people before the invention of shoes had much healthier feet.
8. Going barefoot improves and strengthens the entire body. Our feet are often the only part of us that touches the ground. Shoeless training allows for a release of energy and force that we accumulate throughout our bodies. Going barefoot helps energy to flow smoothly through our body.
9. If stability and mobility of the feet deteriorate, this will affect and change the ankle, knee, and hip positions-thus, making them all more prone to injuries. Many hip problems could quickly stem from having weak feet. Go barefoot now for prevention later.
10. Many athletes who train barefoot have tremendous results and experience fewer injuries.
If barefoot training is not your thing, there are shoes created to mimic barefoot training. We are T/E one as we speak, we will be releasing a review on it soon on our YouTube channel.
