Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the fitness industry about barefoot running due to the popular book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  To be honest, I never did read the book because it had so much hype and I find that hype often amounts to disappointment on my end.  Besides, I’m not personally very interested in distance running.

However, the discussion in the industry lead me to wonder more about whether we should limit the use of shoes and whether things like Vibrams and other deconstructed shoes like Nike Frees had any merit.  Around this time I mentioned to my friend Carson Boddicker that he should do a blog comparing barefoot and shod running and he certainly didn’t disappoint. 

In the end Carson put together the most comprehensive series of blog posts I’ve ever seen on this subject.  But before you dive in, be forewarned that Carson is crazy smart and he doesn’t hold back on his biomechanical understanding for the sake of the lay reader.

If you’re looking for a cake walk and someone to say “shoes are bad, feet are good” you’re not going to find it here.  But if you’re looking for an in depth, research based series on shod versus unshod running then you need to read each and every piece below.

(Despite looking like a ton of reading, each blog in itself is relatively short and certainly worth the effort)

Barefoot Running: Anatomy

Barefoot vs Shod Running

Running Economy and Barefoot vs Shod Footstrike

Normal Gait Mechanics

The Big Toe and Windlass Mechanism

Mobilizing the Big Toe

Afferent Control and Running

Irradiation, Concurrent Activation Potentiation, and the Feet

Shoelessness and Injuries

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.