Going Barefoot

Last week, I decided to give the kids in my session a bit of a change. We went barefoot! In my afternoon sessions, I primarily train young soccer players at an indoor soccer facility. We train on a fantastic field turf that is very similar to grass in length and has a great feel on bare feet! Needless to say, they were excited!

Now, their parents were happy because their kids were smiling and enjoying the training session, but one of them, who is a bit more inquisitive, asked me why we would want to train barefoot. And, here's what I told him...

The muscles in our lower extremities feed off of nerve stimuli from the brain. Over the past few years, training shoes have increased in "comfort" and slowly decreased, or dulled, the messages that those nerves send to our lower limbs. Some of those smaller muscles may have even atrophied as they don't tend to get used very much when wearing shoes. By going barefoot, we trigger a greater muscle/nerve stimulus to occur in these atrophied muscles and slowly we begin to build strength again.

In addition to this, our body's sense of awareness of itself, or proprioception, is increased as now we have a greater amount of sensory feedback going back to our brains from our feet and legs. By increasing our proprioception, we can help improve our balance, coordination, agility, and strength.

And it can even help us run faster and decrease injuries associated with running. When you move barefooted, you have a tendency to strike the ground on the balls of your feet more than your heels. By landing on the balls of your feet, you reduce the ground impact on your ankles, knees, and hips. And for speed purposes, striking on the balls of your feet places your body in a more forward leaning position necessary for efficient acceleration.

Now, we won't train barefooted every day. Since the body has adapted to wearing shoes that are shock absorbent, our present-day bodies may not accommodate to it very well. And, we do wear some type of footwear in our games and competitions, so it is essential that we train the way we play. But, from time to time, it is good to give our kids a break and have some fun with a new training concept that can only help them develop a better athletic base and have loads of fun in the meantime!!