Focus On The "Do's" And Not The "Don'ts"
I heard that a long time ago, and it still applies to all areas of life,
especially in our case, for barefoot running.
"Practice the "do's" in life and you won't have to worry about the "don'ts"."
If I concentrate on the "do's", like bent knees, light arm swing, running from
my "haunches" (or your butt, if you like), and staying close to the ground (low
center of gravity), then my runs go well. If I focus on just a small part of my
running (e.g. ball/heel strike), then I forget about all the other mechanics
that will naturally force or compel proper footstrike.
For me, it all starts in my mid-section and works its way down to my footstrike.
Without proper hip flexor, leg movement, arm movement, my footstrike becomes
stilted or sloppy. But, when I pay attention to my lower body movement (doing
the "do's") then my feet follow, happily I might add.
This is a nice little excerpt from CoolNurse.com:
Happy Feet
Your feet are happiest when they are not wearing any shoes at all. Why is that?
It's because your weight is evenly distributed across the whole foot and no
particular part takes the strain more than any other. It's obvious, then, that
the next best thing for your feet besides being barefoot, are flat shoes or
sneakers. After that, the higher the heel, the more strain you are putting on
your feet, and if you wear really high heels, all your weight will be thrown
forward onto your toes. This results in too much pressure exerted on the front
of the foot and you risk developing a bunion.
Here's the link if you care to read it all:
http://www.coolnurse.com/feet.htm