To Transition to Minimal Shoes or Not!
Undecided about Your Transition to Minimal Shoes?
Should you eat meat or do you fancy a green salad? Should you wear jeans or chinos? Should you visit South America or gaze at the jumping kangaroos of Australia? It is ultimately your decision. But more importantly, if you aren’t ready to go through this journey, then you should not! The same concept applies to your journey towards minimal shoes!
The Minimal Shoes Mindset
Switching to minimal/barefoot shoes is a great life choice both health-wise and also because of its environmental impact. The main thing to keep in mind is to get into this concept with an open mind and a slow rhythm. Think about this: you are X years old and since the day you took your first steps you have been placed in narrow, stiff, and cushioned shoes. In due course that’s what you knew – running barefoot was a big no-no and over time, just the concept of it has become unthinkable.
So, your lower leg musculature, your feet, your back, and your brain are used to stiff, cushioned narrow shoes; let’s start from here. You stumble upon this blog and your are realising that – it’s a great idea to start introducing barefoot shoes- BRAVO! But how?
How to Get Started
Best is to start slow, get yourself your first pair of barefoot shoes. Make sure the length of the shoe is around 8-10mm longer than your longest toe (I don’t advise going for your ‘normal’ size although it always depends on the brand) Whilst you wait for your shoes to arrive start by getting more and more used to walking around the house barefoot. If it’s cold no worries! A pair of socks will do the trick. If like many – you look down and see that your toes are squashed together you can introduce toe spacers and a forefoot mobiliser. These will help with stretching the intermetatarsal muscles (small muscles between the toes) which are normally very tight as a result of constantly wearing narrow shoes.
Should I Wear Minimal Shoes All the Time?
While I know the feeling of receiving a new pair of shoes - you just wanna go and wear them all day and show them off - I would think twice about that plan. Start by wearing them for a couple of hours and see what your body tells you. Yes, listening to our bodies is an important part of staying safe and healthy. If you are doing fine, you can wear them longer and longer but if you start getting any tight and sore spots check them out. That means that these areas are not used to the new movement or to the new stretch. Don’t worry, all will be fine.
Final Thoughts on the Minimal Shoes Transition
Remember the first time you headed to the gym and you couldn’t walk for a week? Or challenged your friend to a push-up challenge and you couldn’t grab the plates on the top cupboard afterwards? This is exactly the same thing! Your body is a machine that adapts – you need to adapt and your brain needs to adapt too.
Over time you’ll get used to walking with your new shoes and start appreciating more and more what’s the fuss all about. I will not give you details though - I will let you find that out for yourself.
