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Okay, so I’m going to make this a short blog post on a little training tip I’ve been using consistently for a little while now. I have been using this technique in the gym to help rehabilitate a sore ankle but then I began working out in this way and found that I could the difference. I’m talking about training barefoot for strength training and how effective it can be for strength gains.
Charles soon regretted wearing Y-fronts after last nights curry.
Strengthen Ankles
The argument against shoes is that they can cause instability during standing exercises like, dead-lifts, standing presses etc. due to the compression in the heels especially in running shoes and shock-absorbing shoes. When lifting heavy, you need all the stability you can get throughout your body, and as the saying goes, “you are only as strong as your weakest link”, this is recipe for injury due to the instability. Also, because most people these days don’t go to shoe specialists, they may not be wearing the right fit of shoes in the first place. Wearing a shoe where the height of the heel is inappropriate, can shift the center of gravity of the body forward. And when the centre of gravity is not central or balanced, other joints or parts(e.g. knee joint) have to take the stress to compensate and therefore, altering the optimal patterns of movement for safe, maximal lifts from the ground.
Wearing shoes also reduces the feet’s sensitivity which in turn may turn off a reflex called the positive support reaction. This reflex basically causes the leg muscles to contract when there is pressure on the soles of your foot, and is one of the body’s many preventive measures against loading. After months of research, me and my team of crack scientists have come up with the solution to improving foot and mobility and strength. Listen up this is top secret, so we cant go about telling everyone, but the solution for strengthening your feet is to: take your shoes off. I can imagine your shock! LOL. To begin with you want to walk around barefoot as much as possible, if you don’t already. Obviously, this depends. Please, don take this as a green light to turn up at work with no shoes on, except you’re a life guard, of course. Next you want to slowly integrate bare feet into your strength sessions or body-weight circuits. You start by only doing the warm-ups bare foot, and then as you gradually get comfortable, maybe try doing a short portion of the workout in shoes, or barefoot such as 5-15 minutes of the workout.
How to Strengthen Ankle
If you must wear shoes however, you can consider the Converse Chuck Taylor basketball shoe:
Serious power-lifters have been in the know all along. Chuck Taylor’s are one of the best shoes to strength train in because the sole is thin and there’s hardly any arch support, ensuring that your foot makes close contact with the floor and learns to stabilize itself. I always use to watch with awe and fear as the basketball players of old in the ’60′s and ’70′s era wore these shoes in the dynamic, and constantly changing nature of the game without a significant amount of ankle injuries. N.B.: A good tip is to buy a pair that’s one size too big, because most people choose shoes that are tight and restrictive, which defeats the purpose. Here is a video from basketball strength and conditioning coach, Alan Stein showing what exercises we can use to strengthen the feet and ankles (if you feel they are insufficiently strengthened or as a active rest activity), and although its made for basketball players anyone and everyone can use these effectively for stronger lower limbs.
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