How to start wearing barefoot shoes
Photo: Masudong Pasan/Getty Images
You’ve probably been wearing padded shoes for most of your life. Don’t expect to cover the same distance walking or running in barefoot shoes. To some extent, you have to relearn how to run and walk. It requires conscious effort on your part and it can be quite difficult. Not only are you learning, but you are also unlearning ingrained habits. The key is to go slow. Very, very, stupidly slow.
How you approach barefoot shoes depends on what you want to do. I happened to start running, which worked out well for me because I needed to run slowly (it was the worst). If you’re currently an ultramarathoner and want to try barefoot shoes, you’ll have a hard time restraining yourself. Even if you are between these extremes, it will be difficult not to overdo it. Focus the discipline you normally use to distance yourself on not distancing yourself.
If you don’t know where to start, check out Graham Tuttle’s YouTube channel, especially his leg strengthening exercises. These can help develop the foot and ankle strength you lack if you’ve been wearing padded shoes for years, and can help reduce muscle soreness if you start running barefoot. Tuttle also offers several paid programs (I haven’t tried any of them) that aim to provide more personalized guidance. Another YouTube channel that I found helpful is the MovNat channel. While this channel isn’t specific to barefoot, there’s some good barefoot advice sprinkled throughout the content. If you haven’t read Christopher McDougall yet, Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes are both fun barefoot-related reads. In fact, Born to Run arguably did more to popularize barefoot running than anything else since the advent of padded shoes in the early 1970s.
It should also be said that barefoot shoes are not a zero-sum game. For over a year, I wore barefoot shoes for running, regular shoes for other tasks, and sandals the rest of the time. It’s not all or nothing. It’s okay to wear your favorite Converse immediately after a barefoot run. It is equally important to know that everyone is different. It took me 6 months to fully transition to barefoot shoes. But that’s just me. It may take from 2 months to 2 years. Go at your own pace and don’t worry about other people’s experiences.
