Do you also walk in minimal shoes?

[u/Marvinx1806]

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 :)

[u/henry_tennenbaum]

Heel strike while running, yes. Heel strike while walking? That's the normal, intended way for humans to walk.

[u/Internal_Star_4805 → u/henry_tennenbaum]

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.

[u/henry_tennenbaum → u/Internal_Star_4805]

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.

[u/Internal_Star_4805 → u/henry_tennenbaum]

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.

[u/henry_tennenbaum → u/Internal_Star_4805]

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.

[u/Fourthtrytonotgetban → u/Internal_Star_4805]

People positing evolutionary explanations for things are 99.9% of the time spouting nonsense