Paul Miller Hawkes Bay Personal Trainer shares why he wears minimalist shoes…
We were all born barefooted and certainly not in a shiny new pair of Nike’s. Is this enough to demonstrate that we should all be running barefoot or at least in a minimalist shoe?
First off let’s look at the benefits of a minimalist shoe
– running barefoot significantly reduces impact on the ground by forcing you to land on the balls of your feet opposed to your heels
– barefoot running increases strength in the muscles of the foot, ankle and hips ultimately improving running stability, agility, balance and co-ordination.
– many people that have switched to barefoot running have noted a reduction in injuries and an improved sensory enjoyment of running.
– research has shown that running barefoot can be more economical due to greater amounts of elasticity in the lower leg during a foot strike.
Here is why I don’t like supported trainers
– by having supports in your shoe you take away from your own natural supports. Its like putting your feet in a cast – your feet are very well supported but they will become weak.
– when running in a supported trainer you have a tendency to strike the ground with significantly greater force causing problems with not only your feet but knees and back too.
– your supported trainer has a big comfy heel (B.C.H) This heel leads to shortening of the Achilles’s tendon, tightness through the ankle joint and at some point Achilles tendonitis even planterfaciaitis.
Here is a quick test to see if you have tight ankle joints / shortened Achilles tendon
Step 1 – Perform a bodyweight squat aim to get as low as you can while maintaining an arch in your lumber spine. Note how it feels and how low you can get.
(The picture above is what your squat should look like)
Step 2 – Repeat the squat only this time raise your heels around 2-3 inches. Again note how it feels and how low you can get.
(Figure 1 is what your squat will look like if you have tight ankles and figure 2 is what will happen when your feet are raised)
If there was no difference between the first and second squats then your ankle joint is probably ok. However if you found it was significantly easier to drop into a lower squat on the second test then your ankle joints are too tight. As I mentioned before…
Tight ankle joints = Injuries
And finally, while running in supported trainers you will have a tendency to heel strike putting excessive tension through the lower limb
combine this with a pronated foot strike and you’re asking for shin splints. While training for the Motatapu marathon a few years back I fractured both my left and right tibia simply from excessive pronation while wearing a pair of supported trainers.
Now you could argue that I wasn’t wearing the right supported trainer and if I was wearing a trainer with greater arch support I may not of pronated quite as much and my tibia’s would have been fine.
HOWEVER what I would say is that this would be a case of treating the symptom and not getting to the root cause of the problem.
The root cause being excessive pronation due to lack of stability and control in my foot due to wearing over supportive trainers
Before I finish
If you do decide to make the transition from trainer to bare feet or a minimalist shoe then take it very slow. If you have been in trainers a while then your feet may be very weak. Take it slow and spend time gradually increasing both your run speed and distance.
Here are my top 5 picks for the minimalist shoe
1 – Nike Free’s
These are a great transition shoe as they are not too extreme and provide just enough support – not too much but not too little either
2- New Balance Minimus
These are my personal favourites. They’re super comfy, lightweight and extremely breathable
3- Vibram five fingers
They fit like a glove and give you a great feeling of awareness of the ground during foot striking. The only problem is you might look a little weird.
4- Merrell Glove
Similar to the New Balance they are light weight and breathable
5- Vivobarefoot Evo
A very low profile sole almost forces you to run on your toes. They have very little in the way of cushioning making them a great shoe but not recommended for the newer minimalist shoe’r!
For more information about training, nutrition or even minimalist shoes visit our website at
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