Barefoot Walking by Michael Sandler

Author:Michael Sandler [Sandler, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-98592-7
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2013-03-26T04:00:00+00:00

Top Seven Ways to Maintain Pads During Inclement Weather

1. Walk whenever possible. Walk on dry pavement or dirt any chance you get as long as your feet aren’t too cold. Dirt’s preferred over pavement, but take whatever you can get. Go at a good pace, but not too fast, and warm up your feet first. If there’s a chance of salt on the ground, make sure to wash your feet afterward and use an oil or balm to protect the skin and prevent cracking. Note: Avoid products designed to soften the skin and any foot products that appear to be laden with chemicals. We also avoid applying anything on our skin we wouldn’t ingest—these do not promote long-term healthy skin and can be absorbed into your bloodstream.

2. Head for the mall. Do you have a mall with stone or tiled floors? People are often found walking in malls during early morning hours. Consider walking barefoot at your mall once or twice a week. While it’s always best to wash feet after workouts, make sure to wash your feet after the mall. These floors are not as clean as nature and are washed with chemicals and solutions you don’t want to leave on your skin.

3. Make friends with a treadmill. While treadmills can change your stride (more on this in chapter 11) and overall aren’t the best, they’re far better than nothing when it comes to maintaining your pads. Start slowly, vary the incline, and work those pads. Just don’t go too far or too fast, particularly in the beginning, or your feet can become raw or blistered. (If you smell smoke on the treadmill, that really is your feet burning!)

4. Protect your pads. If you walk in snow and water, make sure you don’t hit coarse dry pavement immediately afterward. Instead of protecting your pads, you’ll end up scuffing skin off. These conditions may feel cool, but they don’t promote pad growth.

5. Feel the ground. When you can’t go barefoot, use shoes with an ultrathin sole, no thicker than a thin sock, to feel the ground. This helps maintain and stimulate fat padding growth just beneath the skin. With very thin shoes, such as those by Feelmax (with only a 1 mm sole), you can be building fat padding even during months and conditions where you dare not go bare.

6. Keep your feet dry. If you’re stuck in shoes or in boots, make sure you keep your feet dry. This helps you hold on to the skin you’ve worked so hard to get. Consider chalking your feet (with real chalk, not a synthetic version) before and after each time you put them in a shoe (never baby powder, which softens the skin). And make sure your shoes keep your feet dry. Better yet, consider shoes that allow your feet to breathe! Breathable shoes are a key to foot health if you must be in a shoe, but if at all possible, get out of the shoe.

7. Beware of rock salt. Rock salt is incredibly sharp and dangerous for bare feet.

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