In the video above we see Dr Eric Cobb, Mr Z Health himself, strength testing the hamstrings of a young turk. When Dr Cobb cups his foot in the way that supportive trainers do, his hamstrings lose all strength – and we can see how hard the athlete works to avoid losing the strength tests.
Expensive, motion control running shoes are still seen as essential part of a runner’s kit. In this insane world, it seems that Nike or Asics know better than the couple of million years of evolution that went into our feet. As the following story bears out.
I recently had a skype session with an old singing student of mine – I taught her about 15 years ago at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. I am certain this Z Health stuff will help her further her career. In the course of the session, we inevitably got around to feet, and she had been advised to get a pair of supportive trainers and maybe orthotics. She then told me that all her foot/knee pain got much better when she was on holiday once and did a lot of walking barefoot on sand. What can I say?! Walking barefoot on sand is a good way to strengthen feet. Wearing orthotics and supportive trainers is an excellent way to weaken feet.
Wearing orthotics and/or supportive trainers is akin to wearing a neck brace and then expecting your neck muscles to be strong when you take the thing off.
However, to just transit to a full barefoot trainer such as a New Balance, a Vibram 5 finger, aVivobarefoot trainer or such without doing any preparatory work on the feet is asking for injury. A more sensible transition is to a flexible trainer such as the Nike Free Five or the Inov-8 Tri Extreme 275. These shoes have a flexible, cushioned sole, but a slightly built up heel, so the foot starts to strengthen up, but the calves still have some support. We can then transit on to flatter and flatter trainers until we can safely wear the completely flat, completely flexible barefoot ones.
A word about flexible trainers: all trainers bend so we can lift up our heel as we perambulate along, otherwise we are wearing blocks on our feet. A bendy trainer is not the same as a flexible trainer. A flexible trainer twists in the arch; so grab a trainer and twist it. If it is good, it will twist right at the arch; standard trainers are completely stiff here. The foot is the most beautiful piece of architecture, 26 bones and 4 layers of muscles make it into a bouncy, shock absorbing spring. Yes, as we land, the arch of the foot slightly collapses then springs back up to propel us on our way. A healthy foot doesn’t have much of an arch – an obvious arch belongs to a stiff foot – and that is just as problematic as a collapsed foot.
Seeing someone like me speeds the transition – there is more to strengthening feet than just doing a couple of exercises at most and hoping for the best. I find that my clients transit straight to fully flexible, flat shoes without any problems. There is nothing quite like finding your feet.
