Excellent advice! I started running barefoot about three months ago, and I’m glad someone told me to take it slow give my body time to build up the foot and calf muscles. I was a 6-8 mile a day runner, but I started running only a mile in Vibram FiveFingers at first, and the rest of the run in shoes. I also slowed down by about a mile a minute and focused on form. After a month, I ran exclusively in VFFs, and increased my distance and speed to what I had done in running shoes.

So… as hard as it is for hard-core runners to “take it easy” at first I’m glad I took the advice.

I’m torn between the “stay tall” and “bend your knees” advice I’ve heard. I suppose keeping your back straight and vertical is the key? Or am I missing something?

Hi Branton,

Try thinking of it as a dancer’s pose. They stay tall even with a bent knee. It’s the core we’re keeping tall, from the pelvic floor straight on up. Your stomach, your back, your shoulders, your neck – everything’s tall, but relaxed. Most people just starting out, forget to stay relaxed and hold tension, especially in the shoulders.

ok. i need a LOT of help on this one guys/gals. long story short..lifetime runner, lower back problems 2 years ago, doctor said i would never run again, didn’t believe him at first but found it to be true so pain caused me to stop. it has absolutely devestated me to not be able to run. going to try this barefoot thing to see if my back can handle it. started last night walking barefooted. any suggestions?? please

Hi Steve,

While I’m not a doctor, I’ve both worked with others in your situation, and my medical background may help as well.

First off, I injured L4 and L5 of my back when I was hit by a car while in a race in the French Alps many years ago. It took dozens of doctors, PT’s, a pain-treatment center, and then a LOT of work on my own before I figured things out. At the time swimming, pilates and the trails helped me heal. Yet since then, until I started into barefoot running I was STUCK in the pool…meaning, I enjoyed swimming, but if I didn’t swim almost every other day my back would begin to spasm and revert to the injured back of ‘ole.

Now I’m not saying barefoot running is for everyone, or a ‘miracle cure’ but barefoot running, along with religious stretching and core strengthening did the trick for me.

I DO believe you’ll be able to run again, the fact you’re ‘speed walking’ three miles a day gives me this strong suspicion that if we can teach you to run incredibly light, AND strengthen your core, there’s no reason you couldn’t run again.

What I’d recommend is transitioning into barefoot running as silly-slowly as I did 3 years ago. As someone who’s had an injured back, chronic plantar Fasciitis, 10 knee surgeries, no ACL, and has a titanium femur and hip, I got into the game SLOWLY.

It was a rebuild period of about three months for me, at which point I was the healthiest runner I’ve ever been…and before that, I COULDN’T run anymore, not at all.

To begin, I started with 100 yards on the bike path. I focused on staying high on my toes, and keeping my core ‘tight’ or engaged. Then I iced my feet for two days, rode the exercycle during this time, then went out for 200 yards…followed by another two days, then 300 yards.

After the first week I alternated every other day. I was careful to stay up on my toes, which turns the entire lower leg into a 2 ½ foot long shock absorber, and keeps any force from traveling up the spine, and I made sure to keep the ‘core engaged’. To me, this means consciously focusing on what I call ‘snapping the belly button to the spine’ while standing tall and erect…relaxed but as if a magical string was pulling through your head and up into the sky.

My recommendation is to start with this progression, while at the same time, getting into a good beginners pilates course or private one on one instruction with a rehab pilates specialist (a surprising number of PT centers have one of these on their teams).

Additionally, I would head on down to your local running store and invest in a foam roll, along with picking up a tennis ball. Then I would work on ‘rolling’ yourself out on the foam roll…all up and down your legs, looking for tight spots or knots, and staying on these spots; in particular roll on your IT bands (the tough fibrous band that runs from the outside of your knee to your hip…just don’t go w/in 2-3 inches of your knees) for at least 10-20 minutes a day…and then sitting on the tennis ball in your glutes (look for any tight spots, and stay on that spot for a minute or two before moving on).

You can additionally look for a ball by Eric Franklin, a specialist in dancer rehab, who has a type of double ball that you can use like a foam roll safely on your back and spine (though I haven’t tried this one personally).

Each of these sitting and rolling exercises will help decrease tension and ‘stretch’ out your tight muscles…each of which can pull on your back (for instance your IT band runs from your knee to your hip and then right up into L4-L5 so if stretch out on your quad, suddenly you feel great relief in your back…the same with the tennis ball in the glutes…sitting on the ball magically releases tension in the back because everything’s attached.

These stretches are far more effective than a traditional stretch because they’re targeting the tight spots of the muscle, rather than the attachment points, and the over-all goal is tension reduction.

So the goal is three-fold…one strengthen your core to hold your back in place through your abdominals and to learn to do all of your running through your core…the strongest muscle groups in the entire body.

Second, reduce tension in muscle groups that may pull on the back.

Three, learn to run impact free.

Now to do the latter, I’d recommend starting fully barefoot IF weather permits. This allows you to best ‘feel’ the ground and keeps you from overdoing things. If not, you can begin in a Vibram Five-Fingers, though I’d actually recommend the Feelmax Panka, Kuusa, or Osma more…each of these has a better ‘feel’ of the ground and will keep you striding extra-light. If you do start in the Vibram, do a fractional amount of what you think is far enough…aka it’s incredibly easy to overdo things in the Vibram because of the lack of ground feel, and to run with poor form.

As for preventing blistering…that’s the simplest. If you’re blistering, you’ve gone far-too-far. Bring your shoes with you on your ‘runs’. They’re now called ‘handweights’ And when your skin starts to get hot or fatigued, throw on your handweights and WALK…do not run, home slowly…you’re done. Whatever’s going on with the skin is going on far more on the inside of your feet…so if you’re toasted on your skin, you’re ligaments tendons and muscles…all working hard to learn a new dance, are getting cooked too. That’s why it’s best to start barefoot, and let your skin be your guide.

I hope this helps. I bet you can do it, and run to your hearts content again, and lighter and freer than ever before, but it’s gonna take starting slow…something we’re NOT good at as runners. But you CAN do it. Please keep in touch, both on the forum, and through email, and let us know how things go.

With blessings,

~Michael Sandler

great advice! my calves are thankful. i just started natural running in VFFs and am having a great time learning.

unfortunately, im from mexico and absolutely NO ONE knows about barefoot running, minimalist running or anything akin to that. so im taking as much info as i can from sites likes yours and other barefoot runners blogs.

thank you!

You are a very inspirational person. I’ve enjoyed reading all I can about you & your ‘barefoot running’ techniques. Have learned a lot. Thanks for the great advice & inspiration. Best wishes for the coming year & all that follow. George.

Running Tall – while keeping knees bent ….. the tallness here come from the trunk/neck/head.

Use your imagination, your powers of visualisation to help. Tailbone “moves” more towards the floor, while your head “moves” up, the effect being that your spine lengthens. And to help your spine lengthen check that you are breathing “simply & easily” so that your ribs can move, reducing any holding. Let your belly go so you reduce any “pulling in”. Hands soft, arms easy swing so that your shoulders can also “move” away from your ears, giving the feeling of lengthening your neck.

Now being the creatures we are, we don’t “stay in place”. If we did, we would become rigid, creating new problems.

So you will go in & out. That’s what we do, we “move”. Keep checking-in, be kind to yourself, & NOTICE the differences, & that will help you develop new habits & ways of being.

And on that note, I would HIGHLY recommend taking Feldenkrais Method classes & hands-on work, especially to help recoup from injuries but also to enable you to develop your self-awareness & self-understanding.

I’m considering barefoot running but I’m wondering about having problems that I have with shoe running. I get shin splints, BAD! I can barely run one-half mile with out being crippled with pain. I’ve tried all the stretches to relieve the pain, but not only does that not work too well, when I try running again on another day, there is the pain again. I’m hoping that the problem is that I’m wearing shoes. I’ve tried all different kinds too. I usually end up wearing Nike because I have a very narrow heal, and Nike shoes seem to accommodate that. Also my feet are pretty bony. I usually have to put extra soles into my shoes so I don’t feel the construction of the shoe. Any recommendations? I’m thinking of getting some Vibrams first, just because my feet don’t seem to have much padding, or yet. Do you think barefoot running will alleviate the shin splints? Thanks!

Emily,
As a former non-runner who had chronic shin splints, bad knees, and flat feet with even 1/2 mile of running, I can only tell you my experience. I started running in VFFs last September, and though my calves and feet were achy and sore as they “woke up” (and I probably didn’t go as slowly as I should have in the beginning), one of the INSTANT pieces of positive feedback was no shin splints or knee pain. At all. For the first time in my life. I’ve learned from various websites and the book Born to Run (highly recommended!) that shin splints are mainly caused by heel-striking impact, which minimalist shoes and/or barefoot running basically eliminate by necessity….you can’t run that way for long because it hurts! I encourage you to start slow and try walking barefoot to see how your feet begin to change shape and wake up! It’s an amazing experience to become aware of your foot connection with the ground.
Good luck!

Nichole

[...] Barefoot I&#1495 succession Tips f&#959r Beginners | RunBare Barefoot I&#1495 succession School [...]

[...] Don’t overdo it! You HAVE to start out slow.  If you go too far too fast, you can injure yourself.  Working up slowly allows your feet to build calluses, and allows your muscles to strengthen.  If you are a regular runner, start out by simply taking off your shoes for the final leg of your normal run.  Gradually increase the time that you go barefoot until you can barefoot your normal distance. [...]

Hey guys I`ve stumpeled over this barefoot running, by desperately looking for advise to bad knee and tendonitis….I`ve now been reading and looking almost nonstop for two days and evenings….facinating. Even just reading everything clicks so laud and logically….that it`s almost stupid not to have seen or know this logic as life “remembering” you have and are doing. Off cource and thanks for the help.
Just one question…for now…that I can`t seem to find an answer to yet: my feet are the opposite of flat…the mucle that`s supposed to tuch the ground, on the outside of the foot and connect heel and front are not touching the ground….what does your experience say about that…..????

By the way,I from Denmark, so I`m sorry if my english isn`t up to normal standard:)

I’ve started running barefoot and love, love, love it…except for one thing. My calves! It’s not just sore calves, I feel like they won’t relax. Like they are in a constant contraction. It hurts while I run and then after my run, I can barely walk because they are so tight. Does this just go away eventually, or have I injured myself because I’m not doing the right technique, or I ran too far or too fast?

Mandy:
I cannot agree with you more. I experienced the same thing; however, the pain in the calves seems to have subsided over the last 10 days. May be I am getting used to it now and it is not hurting any longer. What I am still battling are the blisters I get after running.
Any ideas anyone about dealing with these blisters? My guess that once I build strength, they will go away.

One more question? Do you ware VFF with special socks or nothing it all?
Thank you,

Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!

Just purchased my first pair of VFF; wore them in my house for a week & ran around my house in them. Took them for a spin in my neighborhood for the first time & loved it; I wanted to keep going, but remembered the blogs to start out slowly, I went about 2miles. My calves are so sore, I couldn’t walk with out my shoes on. So I’m going to rest for a couple of days and if I feel better take them for a spin again.

Hi everyone! I came through this site just now because I was browsing the internet for running barefoot. I’ve been running pose method for 2 years in my puma h street, then three days ago I gave a try to my new vibram five fingers.
I always thought that your advise n.5 “stay tall” was wery important to perform pose in the right way. With the v.f.f. this advice is as important as the “s”-shaped position of the pose method.
I’ll go through this site looking for new tips. Usefull!
Regards from Italy!

To Emily:
I have yet begun to barefoot, but I can tell you I had the exact same problem as you. After reading ‘Born to Run’ I was inspired to just try running on the balls of my feet. After a little experimentation, I was amazed to be able to run with NO pain at all. I now know it’s called ‘the forefoot strike’. Went through a period of sore calf muscles but after a couple weeks it disappeared. I am now really working on my form, and intend to start easing into the barefoot world.