Quite possibly the best thing I have ever done for my running was transition to forefoot striking, or forefoot running. In its simplest terms, forefoot running is how you would run if you ran barefoot; only I wear shoes. The concept is very simple, by running on your forefoot your gait transitions to a much more natural style and your legs function as shock absorbers – the way they were supposed to.
If you’re considering making this switch from heel striking to forefoot running, and it is a major transition for most runners, I consider myself a very good beta test because I ran on my heels for over a decade. After 8 months on my forefoot I can tell you with 100% certainty it has made all the difference in the world as far as speed, recovery, and soreness go. Here are a few things I have learned, some the hard way. I am happy to have questions on this, I want you all to run for as long as your legs will allow.
My Top Five Forefoot Running Tips
1. Start Slow: About the second week of my transition I felt so good I hammered out a five mile run. I couldn’t walk for about a week. Forefoot running wakes up some dormant muscle fibers in your calves and mine didn’t seem to know what they were doing. For the first month I would recommend no more than two to three miles a week on your forefoot and the rest as usual.
2. Get the right shoes. I wear Newtons. They are designed with forefoot running in mind and have a very low heel profile and the padding in the front. There are others out there that I know folks love, but the point is it’s more difficult to run on your forefoot if your heel keeps getting in the way.
3. Start by jogging in place. Keep your feet under your hips and jog in place for a few seconds while landing on your forefoot, when you start running just lean forward and go. Try to keep your feet under your center of gravity when you land.
4. Learn from your shoes. Your shoes should wear out where your landing the most. If you see wear on the heels, you’re not running on your forefoot. I have included pics of mine to show you exactly what I mean. My wear patterns tell me that I am landing properly. What’s that… No more issues with over / under pronation?
5. Research. Proper forefoot running techniques should be pretty simple, as another blogger said once in a guest post “You were made to run.” Well, it’s not really that easy. You are undoing years of bad form. Again, because I wear Newton’s I will direct you to their website, but I am sure there are other sources of information out there.
Forefoot Running VS Heel Striking
Perhaps the best bit of evidence I have found for forefoot running, scientifically speaking, would be the Lieberman article. In a nutshell they found that heel striking delivers impact forces up to 7 times greater than forefoot running. (Lieberman, 2010) From what I can gather the study pointed to two main reasons for this. First, the forefoot is substantially wider than the heel, spreading the impact force out. Second, by running on your forefoot you get the added shock absorption of your ankle. In a heel strike your ankle is retracted and won’t function to absorb energy.
The other major difference, that I can assume accounts for my speed increases, is the fact that when you land on your heel there is a breaking effect. When you land on your heel your shoes act like brake pads producing inefficiency in your stride. The shoes I have pictured above have almost three times as many miles on them as my previous pair that I ran in prior to making my transition to forefoot running. Those previous shoes would have long since had the heels sheared off, these only showing minimal wear. The parallel to efficient running is obvious.
Forefoot Running Shoes – The Video
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These are great tips. I am mainly a walker, but I remember another runner talking about forefront running and how it was better for your leg muscles.
Great tips Joe. Thanks for sharing and for your support of Newton Running!
I have intentions of switching to forefront running. I’m training for a 1/2 marathon in January so I’m hesitant to change my form yet. It is coming though, trust me. I’m really excited about it too.
I have had injury after injury this past year. I started making the transition to forefoot running this past week. I believe when I was younger(I’m 52) I was without a doubt a mid foot or forefoot runner. This I know because I was a wrestler in high school and college and logged a lot of running miles in my wrestling shoes. Now if you have ever seen wrestling shoes there is virtually no protection whatsoever. No arch support, no heal at all. In fact there is probably only a quarter inch of sole. I never had any issues with leg, foot or hip injuries.I think over time I started to heal strike. I need to get back to good running form. I have just purchased some racing flats and ran in them today for the first time. I went 2 miles and feel pretty good. Calves are a little sore, but that’s to be expected. I will run once or twice a week in the racing flats and continue to work on the forefoot strike until it becomes “just the way I run” or better yet—”the way I used to run”
I used to weigh 145 lbs and ran a 11:05 minute 2-mile run in the Army. Ten years older and 50 lbs heavier (weights) I ache every foot of every mile. I read “Born to Run” and decided to try running the way he talks about it in the book, which is forefoot running. Although I have only run a total of 5-miles in both runs, I have enjoyed every second of it. My calfs, knees, hips, and back don’t hurt and I believe decreased my run time. The only problem is that I have to concentrate on not heel striking because of the years of running the wrong way. I look forward to running tomorrow and hopefully for the rest of my life.
Thanks,
Tom
First of all thank you for the post, I been reading a lot of posts, articles and so on about this topic, everything described here matches my own experience (sore muscles that i never had and not being able to walk for a week) are my favorites. I would also like to mention that my pain on my knees is gone as well. Anyhow, to everyone reading this keep it up , its hard to change your style but is worth it. Another good way of breaking the habit is to run barefoot just don’t try the treadmills, they will cause a lot of friction.
Thanks for the post, I like to find out more about barefoot running itself the pros and cons any ideas?
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