CLEARLY, if you’re going to run in bare feet, you need thick, calloused feet… right?
Well… watch and find out.
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The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.
Good points, Steven!
It would be good for foreigners if you had subtitles (Sock Doc does that).
I disagree. It was necessary to toughen my feet to start barefoot running. Most of us that are starting have very soft feet. I am not advocating for thick stiff calluses. When I was 13 and spent a lot of time barefoot my feet were tougher. After 30 years in shoes, socks and sweat my feet had no ability to stand up to the rough surface of the bike path. I started running then taking my shoes off to walk the cool down portion of my workout. At first this was painful at spots on the path just walking. After a couple of weeks the skin on the bottom of my foot is a little tougher and its not painful to walk on the rough surfaces. If you are on very smooth surfaces maybe this is not the case but older asphalt with the gravel sticking through requires some toughening of the feet.
We’re not actually disagreeing. I didn’t say that there’s no toughening of the feet… one point I tried to make is that you don’t have to do some toughening *first* before you can get started (as you demonstrated); another is that people overestimate how much “toughening” they need (or will get); a third is that much of what changes — flexibility, reflex arc, responsiveness — is independent of “toughening” and, arguably, more important.