Slip on minimalist shoes12/31/2023 ![]() ![]() What the scientific studies do suggest is that the weight of the shoe matters when it comes to efficiency. Minimalist shoes make you more efficientįootwear companies love to tell you that minimal shoes will make you more efficient, but this isn’t backed up by any research. They key is improving your cadence by making a conscious effort to count your steps or by improving you hip flexor, glute and hip flexibility and strength. ![]() It’s still possible to over stride with minimal shoes. Minimalist shoes help improve cadence because, without the raised heel and additional shock absorption of traditional shoes, it’s easier to feel yourself over stride.īut, again, shoes are not a cure-all. One of the easiest ways to land with your foot directly under you is to improve your cadence. over striding) you can dramatically reduce your impact loading rate. By landing with your foot closer to your center of mass (under you, rather than in front of you, i.e. What’s really going onĪgain, it’s not about footstrike, but rather where your foot lands in relation to your center of mass. It doesn’t take a PhD to realize that increasing your ground impact with each step by 37% can lead to some serious injuries. you continue to heel strike due to over striding), research shows that vertical loading rates can be up to 37% higher than heel striking in traditional shoes. More importantly, if you wear minimalist shoes and you don’t change where your foot strikes the ground (i.e. It’s not your footstrike that is paramount to shock absorption, but rather where your foot strikes the ground in relation to your center of mass.Īs we’ve previously discussed, minimal shoes don’t automatically mean you forefoot strike. The misunderstood theory is that running in minimalist footwear decreases the impact forces on your legs because the lack of cushioning encourages you land on your forefoot and allow the foot to absorb more shock. Minimalist shoes reduce impact forces and prevent injury ![]() This accomplished via hip extension.īy improving your hip extension (how much your leg and thigh travel behind your body with each stride) through strengthening and flexibility, you give the leg the physical tools it needs to stop over striding and land with the foot directly under the ground.įootwear can help you feel when you’re not generating hip extension and over striding, but they are not a magic bullet. The improved feedback and awareness that comes with less shoe and more “feel” for the ground allows your feet to send better signals to the brain about where your foot is in relation to itself, how it lands, and the space around it.īut, even with all the proprioceptive awareness in the world, you still need to first be able to get your foot under you – and this has nothing to do with your footwear. Rather than magically forcing you to run with a certain foot strike, minimalist shoes help you develop the proprioceptive awareness to land with your foot under your center of mass to reduce impact (more on this later). How can this be? Not only were these participants wrong about the foot strike they perceived themselves to have, but heel striking runs counter to the belief that minimalist shoes force forefoot striking. However, after analyzing footstrike patterns with a slow-motion camera, 33% of the runners were actually heel strikers. When researchers interviewed 35 runners who wore minimalist shoes and asked them whether they were heel or forefoot strikers, all 35 responded that they were forefoot strikers. But, it’s not that simple.Ĭonsider a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina. Many runners mistakenly believe that slipping on a pair of minimalist shoes will “force” them to run on their forefoot. Minimalist shoes will automatically turn you into a forefoot striker Here are three common misconceptions about the role of footwear when it comes to changing running form and a more thoughtful approach to how they can help. Footwear is simply one of the many tools in your repertoire to improving mechanics and reducing injury. That’s not to say footwear plays no role in your current running mechanics or how you approach improving your form but, they are not a panacea. Minimalist footwear has become the one-size-fits-all “hack” to running with better form. Specifically, many runners have been lead to believe that switching to a minimalist shoe will automatically improve their form, reduce injury and make them a more efficient runner. This tendency has now made its way into how many runners view running shoes. I think it might be ingrained in our DNA. Even the most knowledgeable of athletes can’t resist headlines that claim to have found the “hack” or the “secret” to better training. It’s a natural tendency in our society to try and simplify complex training ideas and topics into one-size-fits-all recommendations. ![]()
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