Working Out Bare Footed? (At Home, of course)

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hottamolly00
hottamolly00 Posts: 334 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone else work out barefoot? What are the consequences? Am I hurting my body doing this? I work out on a padded mat which cushions my feet when I jump/jog in place.

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  • Im_NotPerfect
    Im_NotPerfect Posts: 2,181 Member
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    Unless I'm riding my recumbent bike, I always workout barefoot at home. Since I'm on carpet, I feel like I have better balance and a feel for the floor without shoes on.
  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
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    I always work out barefoot. My gym doesn't allow street shoes, and I prefer to run on the beach. Shouldn't be any consequences. If anything, it makes your feet stronger which helps prevent injury. Just don't drop weights on them :)
  • katanasnk
    katanasnk Posts: 52 Member
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    I prefer to work out barefoot too. My shoes slip on my carpet more than my feet and I actually take off and land better in jumping exercises (more on my toes and the ball of my foot) when I'm barefoot than with shoes. They're always telling you to land softly--well, the only way I manage that is barefoot. Otherwise I sound like an elephant. I can get better alignment and positioning for lunges and stuff too.
    I figure that yoga is traditionally done barefoot, and a lot of the exercises I'm doing at home (like lunges) are postures very similar to yoga poses (like Warrior poses), so it should be okay.
    I know that barefoot running is pretty popular now, too, but I have some concerns about it, like stepping on dangerous stuff, and the fact that for any distance, some shock absorption is a good thing (especially if your natural running stride is very heel-toe). I don't know what podiatrists think--is there one out there somewhere who can answer that for us???
  • risenonlytofall
    risenonlytofall Posts: 74
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    I always work out barefoot (at home and at martial arts). If you're not used to it your feet and ankles are going to be sore in places you never knew they could be, but that's a plus not a minus in my book. Trust your body. If anything starts feeling off, take a rest or dial the intensity down.
  • jfan175
    jfan175 Posts: 812 Member
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    I'm in the middle of a second round of p90x, and I've done all of the workouts barfoot (except the plyo) since I started last March. My feet have become much stronger, they feel great and a bad case of plantar fasciitis is completely gone. I'm thinking about getting a pair of minimalist shoes to wear at work.

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