More of Barefoot Fitness from IDEA

IDEA is a professional organization for people working in the health and fitness industry. Here is the link to a recent article about barefoot training. The gist: it is important for so many reasons (“Most of the population has worn shoes since birth, so foot exercises don’t have to be limited to an advanced or athletic population. Everybody who wears shoes needs barefoot exercise, regardless of whether they want to switch to minimalist footwear or not. The complex machinery of the feet plays a critical role, not only in the obvious realms of gait patterns and ankle stabilization, but also in whole-body balance, nerve conduction and cardiovascular circulation.”) – and take it easy in the beginning. Give your feet time to adapt. The article  offers some foot exercises to get you ready to work out in bare feet (or more flexible footwear) and some training tips.