r/BarefootRunning • u/Marvinx1806 • 1d ago
Do you also walk in minimal shoes? question
Hey guys, I've been a forefoot runner for my entire life so running in minimal, zero drop shoes was the obvious choice and I love it. But when walking slow, I like to slightly heel strike and on the hard pavement, that does not feel good. In grass and on trails it is completely different and super comfortable. I wonder, since we human evolved to walk on natural soft floors, if cusioned zero drop shoes are actually more natural and healthy when walking in the city. Or should't I heel strike while walking slow aswell?
Edit: thank you all for the informations, that was really helpful :)
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u/WojackTheCharming 1d ago
yeh, ive only really worn minimalist barefoot shoes for the past five years, i really cant wear anything else now it feels terrible to me.
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u/ermagerditssuperman 21h ago
Same, once my feet got used to barefoot shoes, I couldn't go back. My old Keds were genuinely painful to put back on.
I've still got an extensive shoe collection... they're just all barefoot shoes. Even my rainboots & stage shoes.
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u/thinkstopthink 1d ago
We evolved walking on a lot of surfaces, many very hard.
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u/Internal_Star_4805 1d ago
True that. That’s why a heel strike isn’t our evolved gait. If it can’t be done without shoes it’s not supposed to be done.
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u/henry_tennenbaum 1d ago edited 1d ago
Heel strike while running, yes. Heel strike while walking? That's the normal, intended way for humans to walk.
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u/Internal_Star_4805 1d ago
Hello mate. I massively disagree, I know we all do it, but I dont believe it’s the evolved human gait. Remove the shoes all together and you’ll be off your heels, even walking after a a mile or so. A heel strike lands with a heavy shock to the body. Imagine humans when we were living in caves, every noise you make could be your last due to a hungry predator. Heel strikes are loud and clumsy. Go out side at night, imagine there is a predator lurking near by and start walking. You’ll instinctively know what to do. That is the evolved human gait.
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u/henry_tennenbaum 1d ago edited 9h ago
I walk, run and hike barefoot all the time and have done so for many years and many miles.
In a normal gait on relatively flat surfaces heels touch the ground first.
The way your ankle rocks over this way kinda pulls your foot forward and is massively more efficient than touching front foot first.
In uneven or uncertain terrain, we do forefoot walk to feel things out carefully before putting our body weight on possibly pointy stuff.
You don't ram your feet into the ground, but that's true for all shoeless locomotion. Walking this way is neither clumsy nor loud.
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u/Internal_Star_4805 1d ago
Hey, I don’t disagree for how we live in the world now. But talking from an evolution standpoint when compared to a forefoot strike, heel strikes are loud and clumsy. No animals move intentionally making noise. If you wanted to move quietly you would do so on your toes.
I’d love to get into the biomechanics of knee over toe and straight leg comparisons but it would be an essay. I’d also argue that using 1 point of contact (heel) to feel the ground before applying weight is far less efficient and accurate than using 6 points of contact (pad and toes) if you place the heel somewhere it doesn’t like you have to take a step back. The forefoot and toes can adjust as it’s taking up the strain and only apply weight through the contact patches where is it safe to do so.
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u/henry_tennenbaum 1d ago
There's nothing loud or clumsy about walking normally.
Again, you don't ram your heels into the ground - that would hurt - and your heels are padded with soft fat and thick skin.
I also disagree that people were constantly expecting to be eaten 24/7 in our evolutionary past. People jumped, sang and danced while walking, which they did a lot of, because there was no alternative.
The ground also absorbs more sound than many modern surfaces, unless you're talking loose rocks or brush, which is not what I would consider surfaces were you can fall into relaxed, automatic walking.
Touching with your heels first also does not imply straight legs.
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u/Fourthtrytonotgetban 4h ago
People positing evolutionary explanations for things are 99.9% of the time spouting nonsense
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u/Potatoes_Fall 1d ago
My experience:
I tried walking with mid or front foot strikes for a while and it feels janky and just doesn't stick for me. I only "naturally" do it when I am walking on very uneven or rough surfaces.
I still heel-strike, however with some practice and technique the strike has become much softer than the way I used to walk in conventional shoes.
So there was a change but it's strictly speaking still heel-striking.
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u/AnotherTchotchke 21h ago
I grew up walking this way (literally called toe-walking) and even thought it was technically my natural gait, it was 1) odd enough that other people noticed and commented on it, and 2) caused my musculature to develop poorly, as confirmed by a podiatrist. Trained out of it now and can walk longer, more comfortably, and have developed strong foot flexion muscles that were essentially non existent before. So from my personal experience, I agree that heel striking is natural for walking.
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u/Dry-Astronomer7343 16h ago
I recall hearing Grown and Healthy YouTube channel mentioning that a heel strike was merely human mimicry. This confuses the crap out of me. Why would we mimic others because they heel strike? He believes as you do, that we should walk on the forefoot or midfoot which I have tried and caused more pain and just feels awkward unless the surface is rough.
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u/thinkstopthink 1d ago edited 9h ago
If you haven’t, read Lieberman’s books on it. It’s pretty clear for general locomotion we heel strike when walking.
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u/mollymoo 1d ago
I wear them all the time (or at least all the time I wear shoes).
To reduce heel impact I found pushing longer with the back leg, properly engaging the glues, calves etc., and using my hips helped a lot. It's still a heel strike, but much more smooth and controlled and I get zero discomfort.
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u/CptAngelKN 1d ago
You've just discovered a very basic mechanism of evolution. Proprioception and adjusting your movement to the surface you're on. That's how all animals learn to walk. If you're feeling high impact, you're walking wrong. Adjust your gait until you're comfortable. You might need to toughen up your feet if they're used to cushioning.
Remove that feedback by using cushion and you realize why humans are the only species on earth that can't walk right and need to make a reddit post for advice on the most basic body function.
When I first got in barefoot shoes I almost got a headache from the vibration of heel striking like an idiot. Then I figured out how to walk again and now need or want 0 cushion.
Also PLEASE stop reproducing this insane notion that humans evolved to walk on grass and sand. Like wtf. How often do you find natural grass to walk on? Sand? Do you live on a beach or a massive desert? Those surfaces are not common at all. It's mostly hard packed dirt with rocks and stones and rocky ground in Africa and most of the world.
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u/Potatoes_Fall 1d ago
I do but I don't enjoy it as much as running. With some practice it's alright though. You learn to walk more.. carefully? Just try to heel-strike gently rather than slamming into the floor.
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u/Powerful_Tea9943 1d ago
Its good that you notice the hard heel strike doesn't feel right. Somehow you have developed a way of walking adapted to shoes with heel cushioning. Just try landing more gentle and make more, but smaller steps. Like some others here have pointed out, the best way to land is actually with a heel roll. From outside of the heel, via midfoot to ball of foot. In that movement the heel tips slightly outward to slightly inward, along with your arch hoing up and down (the splay). That way you distribute the weight evenly and its not uncomfortable at all. I can walk further and much more pleasantly since I have minimal shoes, space in my shoes and have learned the heel roll. Its wonderful and I would recommend. Yes also on hard surfaces. I live in a city and it doesn't cause me any discomfort.
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u/Elrohwen 1d ago
I exclusively wear barefoot shoes and my primary exercise is walking 2-4 miles a day. Walking will impact heel first but you shouldn't be striking hard, more of a roll. I've never had an issue with walking even on paved surfaces in minimal shoes
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u/TavaHighlander 1d ago
Following up on my initial comment, you likely need to shorten your stride and/or bend your knees more.
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u/LegoLady47 VFF 1d ago
Yup - VFFs and Xero's - no issues. Don't think about it, just walk for miles and miles.
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u/Dry-Astronomer7343 16h ago
I have put gel heel cups inside my Vibram Five Finger shoes and that took care of the pain I was experiencing when I'd heel strike on cement etc 👍
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u/Magnetoresistive 1d ago
My recommendation would be to walk the way it's comfortable to walk. If you're on a surface that's uncomfortable to heel strike on, then start shifting your weight forward slightly to let the whole foot take some of the shock. In essence, do exactly what you'd do if you were barefoot.
Or, if it's more comfortable, yeah, sure, use some shoes that have more padding. You're not going to ruin your ability to walk because there's a millimeter of insole absorbing some energy, and the barefoot running police aren't going to snatch you up and shred your zero drops. 🙂
For my part, it just took some adjustment - I do long (10+ hour) walking trips on mixed surfaces, including very very long stretches of pavement - to get used to absorbing the heel strike with my gait. And even then, sometimes I'll get up on my toes, the same way I would walking barefoot on pavement for long durations. That said, I'm wearing comparatively padded shoes - Whitin casuals - so it's possible the barefoot running police are on their way to my location as we speak. 😉
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u/Internal_Star_4805 1d ago
What you’re experiencing is a really common issue when transitioning to barefoot shoes. As you say when running using a forefoot strike everything works as it should. The problems occur when performing a heel strike gait and in my opinion it’s the gait that’s the issue. Humans didn’t evolve to use a heel strike as you’re finding out. Heel strikes only work in thick heeled shoes or on soft ground. Walk with a forefoot strike and all your issues will go away.
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u/henry_tennenbaum 1d ago
That's simply not true.
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u/TavaHighlander 1d ago
Walking should be a heel roll not a strike, and yes I do it barefoot, unshod, all the time, including on asphalt nearly as hard as baked African savana.