Shoes are very near and dear to this girl’s heart – I believe that cute shoes make the outfit.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 50 pair in my closet (I have four pair of black boots alone). I work a corporate consulting job where I’m expected to dress professionally. I get the “dress shoe” thing.
Yet, I put three adorable pairs in to my Goodwill bag yesterday – and I’m sure there will be more soon. Why?
Walking involves half of the body’s 650 muscles and 200 bones, with a lot of joints and ligaments. So, when you take the feet, which is where walking originates and the force transfer begins (and the feet and ankles have a lot of bones and joints), and force them in to a non-natural position bad things happen (to use a technical term).
Learning and accepting this was my first really hard Z-Health lesson.
There are lots and lots of reasons why most modern shoes are not good for people, but a few rang particularly true for me – to the point where I was willing to give up a lot of my shoes.
Modern shoes are not good for people
High heels: The natural gait is heel to toe. High heels results in a stride that is almost exclusively on the ball of the foot. On a two-inch heel your ankle angle goes to 72 degrees (from 90 if you are barefoot), the pelvis tips and additional 20 degrees, etc. Higher heels are even worse.
Inflexible soles: This one was the biggest ah-hah for me. Shortly after I began my Z-Health training, I left for two weeks in India/Bhutan. I only took Nike Frees with me for shoes. I did my Z training regularly. I felt GREAT. I came back, put on a pair of flats with a hard sole, and could barely walk to the bus. My body had become accustomed to the heel/toe action. I now ONLY buy shoes with a really flexible toe box — regardless of style.
Shoe Weight: The average pair of dress shoes weighs 34 ounces (yes, just over 2 pounds). At just 6,000 steps/day, that is 8 tons of weight lifted. Now you know why the first thing you do when you get home is take off your shoes!
So, what do I now wear?
In my corporate persona, I still wear dress shoes. But, I’ve given up all heels above 2″, and only wear shoes with a wide and flexible toe box. If I can’t both flex and rotate the toe box, the shoes don’t even get tried on. The great thing is that there really is such a thing as cute flats these days, so it wasn’t as hard as I thought to give up my heels. Some great brands to look at are: Fly London, Tsubo, Taryn Rose, Sofft.
In the gym, I usually go barefoot. As anyone who is a regular kettlebell lifter, loyal to “the Party,” and frequents the DragonDoor website knows, flat-soled shoes (such as Chuck Taylors, Converse All-Stars or Nike Frees) are recommended. Even better – go barefoot!
The reason, in addition to everything stated above, is that in the lifting/kettlebell world is that you need the feedback from the ground and the ability to really “root” to lift a heavy weight. Wearing traditional athletic shoes provides a lot of cushion and support – eliminating any feedback you may get from the ground and actually creating instability.
About Jen Waak