Ever since I read Born to run over a decade ago I've been interested in strong feet, barefoot running, zero drop and wide toe boxes on shoes. I don't actually run barefoot but in the summer I do some strides and shorter runs in sandals. The rest of the year it is all about foot strength and shoes without too much drop and with enough space for my toes to spread. Big fan of Altra but also have some Topos to mix it up. Do you pay attention to strong feet? I believe it is good to avoid many of the classical running injuries like plantar facities and achilles troubles, and that it can lead to a long life of running.
Photo from thefootcollective on instagram.
Recently I had a lot of ankle and foot problems @consciouscat got me onto born to run, zero drop and wide toe boxes seem to be really helping, though I have had a lot of hassle converting as I have always used hoka, nike and orthidics.
Keith and Heide talk and teach a lot of bare foot strength stuff too
I have not read this one. Yet. Thanks, it'll be on my list. Btw, if you look on instagram there is tons of stuff related to this.
Love it! Yep, definitely believe in the importance having strong feet and no longer own any shoes that aren't zero drop and don't run in anything that hasn't got a wide toe box.
Tried running in Xero sandals but the skin on my feet crack too easily. Definitely, want to work on resolving that this summer as I want to run actually barefoot rather than just minimalist more often!
(BTW, remember to link the source for your photo as giving appropriate credit is one of the things that Hive really values. I'd hate to see your awesome posts penalised for an issue with the photo!)
Hm, I mentioned in the text where I found it. How do I properly link the source? I really am not fancy with such things and can find them difficult.
I own a pair of luna sandals, bought them back in 2017 and try to do short runs and strides in them in the summer. Unfortunately the sandal season is not that long where I live. I have been looking at vibram fivefingers as an alternative but I have not tried them. Focusing on barefeet indoors and doing foot strenghening exercises.
When I first made the transition to minimalist shoes 12+ years ago I started with Vibram Five Fingers and just walked in them for an hour or two each morning until my feet hurt then switched to my "normal" shoes. I increased my foot strength just by doing it this way. I only switched to an enclosed toe box style of shoe after almost breaking a toe on a trail run. (Nothing wrong with the shoes, I was too fatigued to be running a race that long and that hard and didn't pick up my feet enough; I kept hitting roots and rocks with my toes!). I would happily buy a pair again now but I don't always want to have a conversation about minimalist running when I go out. Sometimes I just want to run.
I also bought a pair of Luna Sandals in the first year or two of the barefoot journey. I can't remember why I ditched them. I'd probably happily buy a pair of them again if they came up in my Feed.
Yeah, because we make money on Hive it's really important that we all learn how to credit sources properly. Otherwise, we risk being muted or downvoted. It's not worth the hassle. I just learned how to do it.
You need to use photos that are free to use (not copyrighted, i.e. owned by someone else). I use unsplash.com but pexels.com and pixabay.com are other options.
You could just put the link directly underneath the photo without any coding (fancy stuff). If you had express permission from The Foot Collective to use their photo then you'd just link it like this (since Insta doesn't give you a way to link to a specific post):
https://www.instagram.com/thefootcollective/
But again, you would need to own the account or have their express permission to use their image. That's why I use Unsplash so much; it is full of free to use images.
This is really helpful. I should probably make sure I use my own photos as much as possible just in case. Thanks for clarifying and sharing tips!
You're welcome!