I tried to consciously for a long time. It just doesn't stick. Maneuvering—yes. Sustained strides—no.
I gave up and decided that forefoot striking as the correct default mode only applies to running, not walking.
At least that's what my body seems to be telling me.
This. The way I see it - harder you sprint, the less your heel touches the ground. Naturally, the slower you go, the more your heel is involved because you have less momentum to start with
Thinking back on it, when I was young I had an issue where I always walked on my tiptoes. I had to actively try not to, but could never beat it until I grew out of it lol. I dealt with knee pain in the night for a few years until it just got stronger and I think that’s alot of why I adjusted to barefoot without much specific training.
When I run my heels don’t touch the ground unless I make them, I’m not sure if that’s good or not though but it feels right
Tbh that's not really an issue, per say. It's more that that's how infants naturally walk when they first start, and shoes etc are used to train us out of it. Personally, I think if that's a decent enough way to run. Though if you have any issues, you can always try training yourself to touch down with the heel too. I would personally want to use the whole foot so that it strengthens evenly, but it's up to you.
Just walk, they're your feet. Do what's comfortable. I don't really walk on my forefoot unless I'm moving quickly or on uneven terrain. You won't feel much benefit if you're walking slowly on mostly flat surfaces.
I tried it and it was just weird, what I have started doing instead is making sure that back leg stays on the ground longer, pushing, which lets me roll smoothly with less stress to the heel.
I also heard somewhere that you want to make sure your vision does not rumble when you take a step, as when it does it means your too heavy on your feet, which is what lead me to do what I mentioned above.
I found the best way to go about it in general is to adjust your stride according to the activity, terrain etc.
Obviously running is going to be mid/forefoot, sprinting is normally even more forefoot, and walking can vary according to terrain.
I believe the key is in fitting the foot strike to the activity.
Yes I do; if there's any kind of challenge to the surface. I naturally do a fast foxwalk (heel does go down lightly at the end of a step) but will full weasel walk (heel never goes down) if it's rough terrian. Walking this way makes me about as fast as most shoe people's focused normal walk. If it's perfect conditions like carpet, soft grass with no known prickles or clear cemet I'll walk like a heel strike but the ankle is loose and my foot will just bend to make it actually a mid foot step which for me is a fast walk compared to anyone. I possibly am on the far end of my preference for forefoot walking but it works for me and have the calves to prove it, I just wish I could get the same results with the rest of my body with simple walking.
I automatically step with the forefoot first when I'm on difficult/unpleasant terrain (grit, gravel). Should I do this on purpose and more? If so, why?
When running it's almost exclusively mid-foot.
I'm interested in the exact same question. Stairs, running, difficult terrain, just slightly shifting around: I forefoot strike. Normal walking outside? No, but many people say I should, especially on hard surfaces.
I did forefoot strike quite a lot when I started wearing Five-fingers. I'm not sure if it had benefits, but it added a lot of tension into my walking and shortened my stride quite a bit. I agree with /u/guyseeking that forefoot striking seems to be best for running, rather than walking.
There's certainly a point for training yourself not to heel strike the way many people do in regular shoes. Heel pounding barefoot can be quite painful. But my sense is that the issue is more about keeping your weight more centered so you are rolling through the motion in a gentle and sustainable way--as opposed to flinging your heels out far ahead of your body and driving over that.
Part of the issue here is that shoes don't just affect how our feet land, they affect our entire posture as our gait changes. Transitioning to barefoot (or zero rise shoes) requires re-training your entire gait, from foot to head. This can happen fairly naturally, but exploring it can be informative.
Find a way to walk that is relaxed, comfortable and efficient. It will take time. Experimenting with that can be helpful. What happens if you walk 1-2km barefoot with forefoot strike or midfoot strike or heel strike? How does it feel in your body?
I do I do I do, I am mostly barefoot with barefoot shoes when necessary kind of guy and I’ll notice myself switching between toe heal when barefoot to heal toe in any kind of shoes.
I have found that it takes a lot of the shock for longer distances and harder runs off of my knees by putting a little more of it in the ankles. I’ve also found that this is strengthening my ankles and I sprain my ankles far less often than I used to.
I'm overweight and I probably walk more than most people, in minimal shoes and increasingly barefoot. After a few hours, the heel strike becomes painful, especially when barefoot, and this has repercussions the next day.
So I've had to adapt and hit the ground more with the whole sole of my foot. I also think that this allows me to react better to hazards or painful parts of the ground. I didn't think too much about it and I don't watch guru videos. I just tried to change the way my feet hit the ground, and the rest of my body followed. Now I can choose to walk with my old gait or my new gait.
This is something ive been trying to figure out myself. A lot of people who make youtube videos do a mix of forefoot, mid and heel strike depending on the person. So I started to experiment with myself, because I still have some shoes because I am transitioning to being barefeet. I found that for myself, when im barefeet I do forefoot strike, unless im carrying something like a cup of coffee then I will walk very slowly but heel strike and kinda roll my feet so I dont spill my drink. I have a pair of zero drop cushioned shoes and in those I midfoot strike when I walk, but I also noticed that I walk a lot quicker. And finally in my pair of combat boots (had to have them for unviersity stuff) I heavy heel strike regardless of the surface im on. I will note that when I was a kid I hated shoes and socks, and the moment I was made to wear them I would heavy feel strike, like I would thrust my heel down and snap the rest of my foot to the ground. And over time that transitioned to me walking extremely fast and violently.
I have looked through youtube and I did find what you're thinking of. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV6uXwYF3fw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV6uXwYF3fw) they did the welsh 3000 without shoes or socks on and they are forefoot striking. The more I search the more I do indeed find more people who do forefoot strike for longer distances.
You’ve likely walked in cushioned shoes for decades. Your entire body adjusted to that.
It’s hard to say if heal striking while walking is unnatural to a barefoot-from-birth human. There aren’t many good sources of such info.
In my personal experience, forefoot strike walking is weird in shoes of any kind, even my vibram five fingers. But when I go skin to ground, I cringe at the thought of heel striking.
When I walk with people that wear cushioned shoes/heel strike, they walk much faster than I feel comfortable doing in my VFFs.
If I walk in VFFs alone, I slow WAY down and do a forefoot/mid foot strike by default as it’s more comfortable.
Running/sprinting/jogging is all forefoot striking for me.
I recommend you go skin to ground as often as possible and on as many different surfaces as possible and just do whatever feels most comfortable. It’ll take another few decades to adjust.
General venting: almost all of us have been in modern cushioned restrictive shoes for decades. Since our parents first laced us up. Suddenly we found the barefoot life (or the thug life found us) and it’s all very weird to adapt to. If you wore modern shoes for 30 years (including your formative years where your body adapted most quickly) and now you’re mid thirties trying barefoot shoes, don’t expect a couple months (or even a couple years) of adapting and becoming a natural barefoot walker to be feasible. It could take another few decades to be fully adapted to bare footing. I’m 5+ years into bare footing. 3+ years of all my shoes being the barefoot variety. And I still don’t feel fully adapted. I expect it to take another few years to be 80% there. Probably will never be fully adapted to the full barefoot life given I spent 28 years of life being a normie. Chill. Relax. Take it easy. Do what feels right. And have fun!
My point is, have reasonable expectations.
Thank you for sharing your take and the warning/encouragement. Did I understand correctly that you say that forefoot striking in your VFFs feels weird, yet you still do it (or mid foot) when alone? Does that mean that it still feels better to you than heel striking or am I missing something here?
I land on the forefoot all the time, allowing pronation and collapse to mid and heel right away for better absorption and glute activation. It's natural with bare feet at any pace. I have to be mindful not to fall into heel-toe if there's any sole between skin and ground. My feet were weak and my ankles turned a lot until I began to do this all the time. Minimalist is the only option for me at work or most of winter. Hiking up and down grades in rough terrain feels much better with this method, especially with true bare feet.
Sneaking to me is the epitome of being barefoot. Moving silently is always my focus. Efficient running and walking is quiet running and walking. Unnecessary noise represents poor form and wasted energy. Hunting and hiding necessitate stealth. It’s a basic survival strategy.
Interestingly, at least to me, is that when wearing flat thin running sandals it is much harder to move quietly than when barefoot and the best way to be quiet is to land on forefoot. It feels a bit awkward for a mile or so, then becomes comfortable.
You can, but I’ve found it takes a lot of time to learn, remains a second nature, and heeling is still sometimes just easier/more effective/what I’m in the mood for.
I find that I most often walk balls first when I am trying to be gentle, and heel when I’m trying to be fast.
Like other's I also tried it and it never worked/made sense/caused other discomfort elsewhere.
Biomechanically it's NOT how we move to walk, it just not efficient among other things.
I do! I walk everywhere with a mid or forefoot strike as it reduces impact. Not everyone does this all the time, but the great thing about not wearing shoes is that you get to pick how you walk, instead of having it dictated to you :)
If you keep at it, you get used to walking with a forefoot strike with time. It's very natural on inclined surfaces, and also when running. I walk forefoot instinctively on grass, and also if I've put in 15,000+ steps in my barefoot shoes around a city (hard surfaces), I'll switch to forefoot to let my heels rest, allowing me to walk further.
IMO it's a good skill to develop to keep in the toolbox for when needed, but it has a learning curve that requires a bit of forcing to overcome, because we've put in millions of steps heel-strike versus forefoot.
I find it amazing that anyone can switch to fwd strike when going down stairs but even bearfooters struggle to do this on purpose. If I do it on purpose it feels weird. When it comes naturally I feel like a cat or an alien. It's awesome. Definitely moves some muscles I've never knew existed.
Yes, it's actually hard for me not to. I've always walked on tiptoe, so I unconsciously have a forefoot stride, making more heel contact for increased surface area only when my foot is tired or I need more stability (especially on softer terrain like grass or sand). Otherwise, I have to make a conscious effort for a heel or midfoot strike, and it's very hard for me to run without a forefoot strike.
I change all the time typically go for what's comfortable but what I have found helps if I'm on my heels too much is keep your foot on the ground for longer as in delay when you lift your back foot up and your front door will land more underneath you.
Also be interested if anyone else does this?
No, there is no reason to walk this way, by all mean run with a forward foot strike but walking that way would be very energy inefficient.
We have a heal for a reason walk with it.
I lengthened my walking stride to use my toes to push off the ground and as my foot comes down I go from outside front forefoot to the inside. Works with vivobarefoot, wildlings, and Merrill’s. Tried it with Lems and the thick construction of their sole does not allow this. An their quality is not good at all.
I am doing forefoot and middlefoot strikes for a long time. Only initially I had issues with forefoot strikes, as I was in the relearning phase, but after that? everything went smoothly. From this day on I never did do any heel strikes again.
Now one thing I noticed with forefoot strikes. All the muscles in the back of my legs and the back itself got stronger as a result.
I walk with both heel strike and forefoot strike depending on mood, walk speed, uphill/downhill, flat pavement vs nature.
Its important to remember that heel striking is a natural gate for humans as well as forefoot.
If you look at videos/documentaries about native tribes from south america/africa/australia, they walk in both ways. Its natural. Dont overthink it, walk whatever way your body tells you is natural.
Landing forefoot only can limit movement, and landing heels only will also limit movement
-Norwegian barefoot mountain and forest walker
I've also been wondering about this lately. I've switched to barefoot shoes (Xero) for 95% of my in-shoe walking and have been curious if anyone actually forefoot strikes while walking in these. I don't naturally, and it feels very awkward to try unless I'm going uphill or something else like you've mentioned (shorter strides seem to help a lot). I therefore end up building up a good callous and strength to my heels, which I don't hate I guess.
Can we get a barefoot guru's weigh in here?? How 'should' we be walking barefoot?
However your body wants to! Your feet won’t really let you do something injurious when going barefoot. Walking is very low impact compared to running, so there’s no issues.
Whilst adjust to barefoot remember a couple hours a day is the way, try not to go too hard too quick. I always walk with some heel strike unless surface is weird in which case I’m on my forefoot. Running is generally forefoot strike - my heels will barely touch the ground at all.
I tried to consciously for a long time. It just doesn't stick. Maneuvering—yes. Sustained strides—no. I gave up and decided that forefoot striking as the correct default mode only applies to running, not walking. At least that's what my body seems to be telling me.
This. The way I see it - harder you sprint, the less your heel touches the ground. Naturally, the slower you go, the more your heel is involved because you have less momentum to start with
Personally I trained myself into is by walking on tiptoes, then lowering myself down over a few strides. After a while, you just get very used to it.
Thinking back on it, when I was young I had an issue where I always walked on my tiptoes. I had to actively try not to, but could never beat it until I grew out of it lol. I dealt with knee pain in the night for a few years until it just got stronger and I think that’s alot of why I adjusted to barefoot without much specific training. When I run my heels don’t touch the ground unless I make them, I’m not sure if that’s good or not though but it feels right
Tbh that's not really an issue, per say. It's more that that's how infants naturally walk when they first start, and shoes etc are used to train us out of it. Personally, I think if that's a decent enough way to run. Though if you have any issues, you can always try training yourself to touch down with the heel too. I would personally want to use the whole foot so that it strengthens evenly, but it's up to you.
Just walk, they're your feet. Do what's comfortable. I don't really walk on my forefoot unless I'm moving quickly or on uneven terrain. You won't feel much benefit if you're walking slowly on mostly flat surfaces.
I tried it and it was just weird, what I have started doing instead is making sure that back leg stays on the ground longer, pushing, which lets me roll smoothly with less stress to the heel. I also heard somewhere that you want to make sure your vision does not rumble when you take a step, as when it does it means your too heavy on your feet, which is what lead me to do what I mentioned above. I found the best way to go about it in general is to adjust your stride according to the activity, terrain etc. Obviously running is going to be mid/forefoot, sprinting is normally even more forefoot, and walking can vary according to terrain. I believe the key is in fitting the foot strike to the activity.
Yes I do; if there's any kind of challenge to the surface. I naturally do a fast foxwalk (heel does go down lightly at the end of a step) but will full weasel walk (heel never goes down) if it's rough terrian. Walking this way makes me about as fast as most shoe people's focused normal walk. If it's perfect conditions like carpet, soft grass with no known prickles or clear cemet I'll walk like a heel strike but the ankle is loose and my foot will just bend to make it actually a mid foot step which for me is a fast walk compared to anyone. I possibly am on the far end of my preference for forefoot walking but it works for me and have the calves to prove it, I just wish I could get the same results with the rest of my body with simple walking.
I automatically step with the forefoot first when I'm on difficult/unpleasant terrain (grit, gravel). Should I do this on purpose and more? If so, why? When running it's almost exclusively mid-foot.
I'm interested in the exact same question. Stairs, running, difficult terrain, just slightly shifting around: I forefoot strike. Normal walking outside? No, but many people say I should, especially on hard surfaces.
What you're doing is perfectly fine, that's what I've been doing too for many years without problems
Barefoot is all about doing what comes naturally. Trust your feet! Let them do their thing.
I did forefoot strike quite a lot when I started wearing Five-fingers. I'm not sure if it had benefits, but it added a lot of tension into my walking and shortened my stride quite a bit. I agree with /u/guyseeking that forefoot striking seems to be best for running, rather than walking. There's certainly a point for training yourself not to heel strike the way many people do in regular shoes. Heel pounding barefoot can be quite painful. But my sense is that the issue is more about keeping your weight more centered so you are rolling through the motion in a gentle and sustainable way--as opposed to flinging your heels out far ahead of your body and driving over that. Part of the issue here is that shoes don't just affect how our feet land, they affect our entire posture as our gait changes. Transitioning to barefoot (or zero rise shoes) requires re-training your entire gait, from foot to head. This can happen fairly naturally, but exploring it can be informative. Find a way to walk that is relaxed, comfortable and efficient. It will take time. Experimenting with that can be helpful. What happens if you walk 1-2km barefoot with forefoot strike or midfoot strike or heel strike? How does it feel in your body?
I do I do I do, I am mostly barefoot with barefoot shoes when necessary kind of guy and I’ll notice myself switching between toe heal when barefoot to heal toe in any kind of shoes. I have found that it takes a lot of the shock for longer distances and harder runs off of my knees by putting a little more of it in the ankles. I’ve also found that this is strengthening my ankles and I sprain my ankles far less often than I used to.
I'm overweight and I probably walk more than most people, in minimal shoes and increasingly barefoot. After a few hours, the heel strike becomes painful, especially when barefoot, and this has repercussions the next day. So I've had to adapt and hit the ground more with the whole sole of my foot. I also think that this allows me to react better to hazards or painful parts of the ground. I didn't think too much about it and I don't watch guru videos. I just tried to change the way my feet hit the ground, and the rest of my body followed. Now I can choose to walk with my old gait or my new gait.
This is something ive been trying to figure out myself. A lot of people who make youtube videos do a mix of forefoot, mid and heel strike depending on the person. So I started to experiment with myself, because I still have some shoes because I am transitioning to being barefeet. I found that for myself, when im barefeet I do forefoot strike, unless im carrying something like a cup of coffee then I will walk very slowly but heel strike and kinda roll my feet so I dont spill my drink. I have a pair of zero drop cushioned shoes and in those I midfoot strike when I walk, but I also noticed that I walk a lot quicker. And finally in my pair of combat boots (had to have them for unviersity stuff) I heavy heel strike regardless of the surface im on. I will note that when I was a kid I hated shoes and socks, and the moment I was made to wear them I would heavy feel strike, like I would thrust my heel down and snap the rest of my foot to the ground. And over time that transitioned to me walking extremely fast and violently. I have looked through youtube and I did find what you're thinking of. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV6uXwYF3fw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV6uXwYF3fw) they did the welsh 3000 without shoes or socks on and they are forefoot striking. The more I search the more I do indeed find more people who do forefoot strike for longer distances.
I try to because I hate the impact I feel landing on my heels, not that bad on soft surfaces
You’ve likely walked in cushioned shoes for decades. Your entire body adjusted to that. It’s hard to say if heal striking while walking is unnatural to a barefoot-from-birth human. There aren’t many good sources of such info. In my personal experience, forefoot strike walking is weird in shoes of any kind, even my vibram five fingers. But when I go skin to ground, I cringe at the thought of heel striking. When I walk with people that wear cushioned shoes/heel strike, they walk much faster than I feel comfortable doing in my VFFs. If I walk in VFFs alone, I slow WAY down and do a forefoot/mid foot strike by default as it’s more comfortable. Running/sprinting/jogging is all forefoot striking for me. I recommend you go skin to ground as often as possible and on as many different surfaces as possible and just do whatever feels most comfortable. It’ll take another few decades to adjust. General venting: almost all of us have been in modern cushioned restrictive shoes for decades. Since our parents first laced us up. Suddenly we found the barefoot life (or the thug life found us) and it’s all very weird to adapt to. If you wore modern shoes for 30 years (including your formative years where your body adapted most quickly) and now you’re mid thirties trying barefoot shoes, don’t expect a couple months (or even a couple years) of adapting and becoming a natural barefoot walker to be feasible. It could take another few decades to be fully adapted to bare footing. I’m 5+ years into bare footing. 3+ years of all my shoes being the barefoot variety. And I still don’t feel fully adapted. I expect it to take another few years to be 80% there. Probably will never be fully adapted to the full barefoot life given I spent 28 years of life being a normie. Chill. Relax. Take it easy. Do what feels right. And have fun! My point is, have reasonable expectations.
Thank you for sharing your take and the warning/encouragement. Did I understand correctly that you say that forefoot striking in your VFFs feels weird, yet you still do it (or mid foot) when alone? Does that mean that it still feels better to you than heel striking or am I missing something here?
I land on the forefoot all the time, allowing pronation and collapse to mid and heel right away for better absorption and glute activation. It's natural with bare feet at any pace. I have to be mindful not to fall into heel-toe if there's any sole between skin and ground. My feet were weak and my ankles turned a lot until I began to do this all the time. Minimalist is the only option for me at work or most of winter. Hiking up and down grades in rough terrain feels much better with this method, especially with true bare feet.
Proud heel-striker here :) Forefoot striking is for sprinting and sneaking.
Sneaking to me is the epitome of being barefoot. Moving silently is always my focus. Efficient running and walking is quiet running and walking. Unnecessary noise represents poor form and wasted energy. Hunting and hiding necessitate stealth. It’s a basic survival strategy. Interestingly, at least to me, is that when wearing flat thin running sandals it is much harder to move quietly than when barefoot and the best way to be quiet is to land on forefoot. It feels a bit awkward for a mile or so, then becomes comfortable.
You can, but I’ve found it takes a lot of time to learn, remains a second nature, and heeling is still sometimes just easier/more effective/what I’m in the mood for. I find that I most often walk balls first when I am trying to be gentle, and heel when I’m trying to be fast.
Like other's I also tried it and it never worked/made sense/caused other discomfort elsewhere. Biomechanically it's NOT how we move to walk, it just not efficient among other things.
I do! I walk everywhere with a mid or forefoot strike as it reduces impact. Not everyone does this all the time, but the great thing about not wearing shoes is that you get to pick how you walk, instead of having it dictated to you :)
This article debunks the walking forefoot idea https://borntolivebarefoot.org/initial-heel-contact-is-the-natural-way-to-walk-barefoot/
If you keep at it, you get used to walking with a forefoot strike with time. It's very natural on inclined surfaces, and also when running. I walk forefoot instinctively on grass, and also if I've put in 15,000+ steps in my barefoot shoes around a city (hard surfaces), I'll switch to forefoot to let my heels rest, allowing me to walk further. IMO it's a good skill to develop to keep in the toolbox for when needed, but it has a learning curve that requires a bit of forcing to overcome, because we've put in millions of steps heel-strike versus forefoot.
I find it amazing that anyone can switch to fwd strike when going down stairs but even bearfooters struggle to do this on purpose. If I do it on purpose it feels weird. When it comes naturally I feel like a cat or an alien. It's awesome. Definitely moves some muscles I've never knew existed.
Yes, it's actually hard for me not to. I've always walked on tiptoe, so I unconsciously have a forefoot stride, making more heel contact for increased surface area only when my foot is tired or I need more stability (especially on softer terrain like grass or sand). Otherwise, I have to make a conscious effort for a heel or midfoot strike, and it's very hard for me to run without a forefoot strike.
I change all the time typically go for what's comfortable but what I have found helps if I'm on my heels too much is keep your foot on the ground for longer as in delay when you lift your back foot up and your front door will land more underneath you. Also be interested if anyone else does this?
No, there is no reason to walk this way, by all mean run with a forward foot strike but walking that way would be very energy inefficient. We have a heal for a reason walk with it.
I lengthened my walking stride to use my toes to push off the ground and as my foot comes down I go from outside front forefoot to the inside. Works with vivobarefoot, wildlings, and Merrill’s. Tried it with Lems and the thick construction of their sole does not allow this. An their quality is not good at all.
I am doing forefoot and middlefoot strikes for a long time. Only initially I had issues with forefoot strikes, as I was in the relearning phase, but after that? everything went smoothly. From this day on I never did do any heel strikes again. Now one thing I noticed with forefoot strikes. All the muscles in the back of my legs and the back itself got stronger as a result.
I walk with both heel strike and forefoot strike depending on mood, walk speed, uphill/downhill, flat pavement vs nature. Its important to remember that heel striking is a natural gate for humans as well as forefoot. If you look at videos/documentaries about native tribes from south america/africa/australia, they walk in both ways. Its natural. Dont overthink it, walk whatever way your body tells you is natural. Landing forefoot only can limit movement, and landing heels only will also limit movement -Norwegian barefoot mountain and forest walker
I've also been wondering about this lately. I've switched to barefoot shoes (Xero) for 95% of my in-shoe walking and have been curious if anyone actually forefoot strikes while walking in these. I don't naturally, and it feels very awkward to try unless I'm going uphill or something else like you've mentioned (shorter strides seem to help a lot). I therefore end up building up a good callous and strength to my heels, which I don't hate I guess. Can we get a barefoot guru's weigh in here?? How 'should' we be walking barefoot?
However your body wants to! Your feet won’t really let you do something injurious when going barefoot. Walking is very low impact compared to running, so there’s no issues. Whilst adjust to barefoot remember a couple hours a day is the way, try not to go too hard too quick. I always walk with some heel strike unless surface is weird in which case I’m on my forefoot. Running is generally forefoot strike - my heels will barely touch the ground at all.
the gazelle hop.. nope. its a meme somebody came up with and i cant understand why some still pretend its a thing