Minimalist Jogging Shoes - for a more Natural Gait

There's two ways to go about your time on the trail - you can either buy the best gear and the best shoes with motion control and every other complex sounding feature, or you could go with minimalism. At least as far as running or jogging shoes are concerned, minimalism has certainly taken root, and runners keepconstantly trying out great innovative designs these days that try to bring a jogger as close as possible to the feeling of running barefoot. The thing is, thickly insulated shoes that try to cushion and protect your feet, leave the nerves in the soles of your feet unable to actually feel the exact angle of the terrain; cushioned feet then have no a way to respond quickly enough to the terrain they step on. Not only does this take away from the immediacy of the running experience, it also takes away the ability of your feet to adopt a natural posture, and a natural gait. In the end, you could suffer the effects of it in the years that come.

Have you ever noticed how all the running and jogging shoes are designed with a form that places your heel higher than your toes? This universal design is intended to take the stress off your Achilles' heel, and place it on your toes (the theory presumes that your toes are more able to handle pressure than your heels. Minimalist running and jogging shoes however will have almost no slope. They let your foot be level as it was meant to be; and the heel goes with the cushioning it naturally has, no more. But the makers of minimalist shoes aren't usually in complete agreement over what exactly constitutes minimalism. There are several levels of it. The Newton Gravity Trainer places your heel 3 mm about your toes, and other go three times as high. You'll find minimalist shoes with Adidas, Asics, New Balance and everyone else.

If you have been running in standard cushioned jogging shoes for years, the move you make to minimalist lightweight shoes should be gradual. When your feet aren't forced into the unnatural position that commercial shoes adopt, they will take some time to adjust to the new situation. On minimalist shoes you'll usually land on your midfoot when you run; also, the core of your calves that usually have such a hard time keeping your body upright in commercial shoes, have a tough time adjusting when they suddenly find themselves in a natural position again in minimalist shoes. This changes everything for how your muscles coordinate together, and they need to be allowed to gradually adopt your new gait. If your leg muscles aren't properly strengthened with dynamic and general strength exercises, the natural gait might actually cause injuries. In the beginning, it's best to use these minimalist jogging shoes for short distance jogging.

One of the first entrants and the most popular in the minimalist jogging shoes arena is Nike Free. Their shoes come in different levels of minimalism; the Free 3.0 v2 is the barest pair they have, and the Free 5.0 v4 is the most heavily cushioned. Another brand, the Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot is a really pliable and soft pair of very flexible shoes, and the Vibram FiveFingers are shaped with ten toes like real feet. They all do a great job with minimalism, and with a little experimentation, you should find your perfect fit.