barefoot training?

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i've been hearing more about this of late, and when i stumbled across this piece linked on Lew Rockwell's site i thought i'd post it and hear the thoughts of my fellow CFers.

<H1 align=center>The Painful Truth About Trainers: AreRunning Shoes a Waste ofMoney?</H1>
Thrust enhancers, roll bars, microchips...the $20 billion running - shoe industry wants us to believe that the latest technologies will cushion every stride. Yet in this extract from his controversial new book, Christopher McDougall claims that injury rates for runners are actually on the rise, that everything we've been told about running shoes is wrong - and that it might even be better to go barefoot...

by Chrisopher McDougall



At Stanford University, California, two sales representatives from Nike were watching the athletics team practise. Part of their job was to gather feedback from the company's sponsored runners about which shoes they preferred.


Unfortunately, it was proving difficult that day as the runners all seemed to prefer... nothing.



'Didn't we send you enough shoes?' they asked head coach Vin Lananna. They had, he was just refusing to use them.


'I can't prove this,' the well-respected coach told them. 'But I believe that when my runners train barefoot they run faster and suffer fewer injuries.'
Nike sponsored the Stanford team as they were the best of the very best. Needless to say, the reps were a little disturbed to hear that Lananna felt the best shoes they had to offer them were not as good as no shoes at all ...

click the link to read the full article. it's very interesting. and i'd like to hear any thoughts from you guys.

 

[StarWars]

It makes you wonder how much things you don't really need but are made to believe you do. Humans, especially white ones, don't need anything to survive. Nobody can swim, be as strong, tough, smart, or be as creative as us. We are the best jumpers and very quick. Best warriors, etc. Supposedly we need a bunch of crap and are forced to watch black athletes. Ridiclous. I just hope I'm surrounded by beautiful women when the time comes that society crumbles.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Interesting article Jimmy! At times, I think we definitely use equipment we don't really need.

 

[SteveB]

There was a short lived fad about 10 or so years where some athletes were training either barefoot or with special shoes with little or no padding/support. The theory was that modern running shoes had too much support causing the foot and lower leg muscles to become weak, causing sprained ankles, turf toe, etc. It seems that there may some truth to the theory.

 

[pistol pete]

There was a short lived fad about 10 or so years where some athletes were training either barefoot or with special shoes with little or no padding/support. The theory was that modern running shoes had too much support causing the foot and lower leg muscles to become weak, causing sprained ankles, turf toe, etc. It seems that there may some truth to the theory.

yeah come to think of it Wilt Chamberlain broke every damn scoring and rebounding record in canvas sneakers, Pistol Pete scored 44 points a game in college, John Havlicek ran and won all day, Jerry West hit clutch shots, the Big O averaged a triple double, and Bill Walton got high, got girls and got a couple of NCAA championships at UCLA.

oh, and when Rocky Marciano knocked everyone out he wasn't wearing Air Jordans. Neither was Babe Ruth.