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Barefoot Strong: Unlock the Secrets to Movement Longevity
As one of the fastest growing areas within medicine, the anti-aging business is now a $122 billion dollar industry with researchers dedicating their careers to finding the fountain of youth. Whether it be copper peptides or acai supplements, most of the anti-aging industry focuses on limited aspects of eternal youth and vitality.
For the first time ever, it is time to apply the latest research into a new area of anti-aging medicine known as movement longevity. Join Podiatrist & Human Movement Specialist Dr Emily Splichal as she explores the science behind barefoot training and how this often overlooked area of health and fitness is actually the secret to youthful movement.
As an internationally-renown ededucator on barefoot training, Dr. Emily has traveled the world exploring the concept of movement efficiency from the ground up. Through barefoot science, fascial fitness and neuromuscular conditioning, Dr Emily will show you how to survive the unnatural conditions of today’s shod society and optimize your movement patterns.
From barefoot activation exercises, to vitamin supplements to protect your peripheral nerves, Barefoot Strong is your go-to guide to ensure years of efficient movement – one step at a time. Are you ready to unlock the secrets to anti-aging movement and become barefoot strong?
For the first time ever, it is time to apply the latest research into a new area of anti-aging medicine known as movement longevity. Join Podiatrist & Human Movement Specialist Dr Emily Splichal as she explores the science behind barefoot training and how this often overlooked area of health and fitness is actually the secret to youthful movement.
As an internationally-renown ededucator on barefoot training, Dr. Emily has traveled the world exploring the concept of movement efficiency from the ground up. Through barefoot science, fascial fitness and neuromuscular conditioning, Dr Emily will show you how to survive the unnatural conditions of today’s shod society and optimize your movement patterns.
From barefoot activation exercises, to vitamin supplements to protect your peripheral nerves, Barefoot Strong is your go-to guide to ensure years of efficient movement – one step at a time. Are you ready to unlock the secrets to anti-aging movement and become barefoot strong?
110 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 12, 2015
48 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 10, 2015
Well, part (mainly fisrt part of this book) is great. I disagree with all "stability" work on the unstable foundation. I believe that you can train balance only on stable foundantion and after that you can add some kind of "instabilazitaion" to your workout. For example - stay on one leg, keep your balance and let your partner to "touch" you for inbalancing pushes. This can help you with stability... not bosu or any kind of "unstable" surface.
I don't agree with short foot either. I think it's missunderstanded with "3 points footing".
Anyway - book is formated well, but main website /mentioned in the book many times/ doesnť work - update of the book required!
I don't agree with short foot either. I think it's missunderstanded with "3 points footing".
Anyway - book is formated well, but main website /mentioned in the book many times/ doesnť work - update of the book required!
November 18, 2021
Extremely overpriced for such a small book that gives you very little information about strengthening your feet, and just directs you to watch videos on the website......without giving specific links to the videos.
They could have added diagrams and images but chose vague descriptions instead.
The author also seems obsessed with blood sugar and supplements.....including the terrible (and outdated) advice to take a baby aspirin every day. 🤦🏻♀️
There are better books on barefoot out there.
They could have added diagrams and images but chose vague descriptions instead.
The author also seems obsessed with blood sugar and supplements.....including the terrible (and outdated) advice to take a baby aspirin every day. 🤦🏻♀️
There are better books on barefoot out there.
April 1, 2025
Super helpful information, especially for someone like me who has suffered with foot issues for practically her whole life. (Not to be nit-picky, but every page had at least one, if not more, typos.... so I hope this info is still trustworthy... esp because I purchased several of her barefoot training tools when I saw her present at a conference, hahaha 😂.) I love her passion for "movement longevity," which I share. What can we do NOW to strengthen our bodies so that we can move as freely and pain-free as possible as we age? I believe strong, healthy feet are one important KEY to this!
November 4, 2018
An even smaller volume than Whole Body Barefoot, requires more technical background to read. This is not an introductory text for the layperson to understand their feet. Rather it is the philosophy of the author from her research and experience.
November 6, 2024
The cover is giving smut, but the content was actually very interesting. Sometimes it’s worth taking the time to read a physical book rather than researching on the internet. This has convinced me to favour sock-less barefoot training.
December 22, 2019
This book is useful, but it is too workmanlike, and it contains less really applicable ideas.
A könyv hasznos, de túlságosan is szakszerű, és kevés benne a tényleg alkalmazható ötlet.
A könyv hasznos, de túlságosan is szakszerű, és kevés benne a tényleg alkalmazható ötlet.
April 24, 2016
My first introduction and fascination with barefoot running/training came from reading about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, who run hundreds of miles in the equivalent of espadrilles, light canvas shoes, in one of my favorite books of all time, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.
Inspired by stories of the Tarahumara and other fantastic runners mentioned in the book, I purchased one of my favorite shoes of all time, Nike Free 5.0. I did so because they were extremely comfortable, “minimalist” or lower to the ground, and lots of people were wearing them. This was about 5 years ago, and since that time, my knowledge of the foot has stalled, at worst, and increased at a snail-like pace, at best.
That has all changed with the help of Dr. Emily Splichal, a world-renowned podiatrist from Manhattan. Dr. “E,” as she is affectionately known, and her most informative and vastly intriguing book, Barefoot Strong has greatly expanded my knowledge of foot health. A must read for all trainers, fitness enthusiasts and all upright, bipedal beings.
Barefoot Strong is the type of book that has substance and relevance. For example, in the substance category I was blown away by the fact that “the average person will walk 70,000 miles in his or her lifetime,” and in the relevance category, “movement efficiency is one of the key components of movement longevity.”
Other substantive and relevant topics include things like “short foot.” Short foot is a foot activation exercise created by Czech physiatrist, Vladimir Janda. You begin by standing on 1-leg and grabbing the floor with your big toe which will raise your arch, shorten your foot and begin a “co-activation” if you will up the leg and into the core, pelvis, deep hip stabilizers and glutes. Without this co-activation you would not be able to utilize the energy being transferred from the ground and through your body. If you don’t fully understand short foot think about it this way, “you can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe.” In other words, you must be stable before you can be strong. And that’s what short foot is all about, stability.
So now that Dr. E has helped us understand stability on a much higher level, let’s go back for a minute and see what she has to say about the ever popular and increasingly difficult subject of footwear and how it relates to pronation, supination, flat feet, and high arches. These terms are familiar to most and are clearly defined in the book. What’s not as well known, but is nonetheless equally important if not more important is something called impact forces. We cannot talk about footwear until we understand impact forces.
Impact forces are perceived as vibrations by the foot, explains Dr. E. She goes on to say that one of the greatest inhibitors of vibration input are the shoes we love. These vibrations are dampened when we put on thick soled shoes, thus, preventing the small nerves in the bottom of the foot from receiving the neural feedback necessary for movement efficiency. In addition to delaying the loading response, Nigg et al. has shown that cushioning and extra support in shoes actually decreases the strength of our feet. Not only does this extra cushion prevent you from moving at your best, it also weakens your feet!
The answer to weak feet is barefoot training. And barefoot training begins with understanding not only how vitally important the feet are to the body, but also how important the body is to the feet. We must take a holistic view whenever we are discussing the body and Dr. E does just that. I was thoroughly impressed with the information she shared on exercise, diet, fascia and supplements. I won’t go into great detail, that’s what the book is for, but I will share Dr. E’s 5 Tips for Movement Longevity:
1. Keep blood sugar under control
2. Consider nerve protective vitamins
3. Do regular cardiovascular exercise
4. Myofacial release
5. Go Barefoot!
If you are just as excited as I am to learn the significance of our often overlooked feet and how we can care for them and our bodies better, then purchase a copy of Barefoot Training. However, if that still doesn’t suffice, I would suggest attending a EBFA seminar where you can spend nearly 20 hours learning from Dr. E and her counterparts. I attended the Bay Area seminar in April and I have been using what I learned ever since. Thanks to this athlete, researcher, teacher, writer, speaker and doctor, I was able to go beyond Nike Frees and Tarahumara tales and learn more about the pure strength of my feet than I ever have.
Inspired by stories of the Tarahumara and other fantastic runners mentioned in the book, I purchased one of my favorite shoes of all time, Nike Free 5.0. I did so because they were extremely comfortable, “minimalist” or lower to the ground, and lots of people were wearing them. This was about 5 years ago, and since that time, my knowledge of the foot has stalled, at worst, and increased at a snail-like pace, at best.
That has all changed with the help of Dr. Emily Splichal, a world-renowned podiatrist from Manhattan. Dr. “E,” as she is affectionately known, and her most informative and vastly intriguing book, Barefoot Strong has greatly expanded my knowledge of foot health. A must read for all trainers, fitness enthusiasts and all upright, bipedal beings.
Barefoot Strong is the type of book that has substance and relevance. For example, in the substance category I was blown away by the fact that “the average person will walk 70,000 miles in his or her lifetime,” and in the relevance category, “movement efficiency is one of the key components of movement longevity.”
Other substantive and relevant topics include things like “short foot.” Short foot is a foot activation exercise created by Czech physiatrist, Vladimir Janda. You begin by standing on 1-leg and grabbing the floor with your big toe which will raise your arch, shorten your foot and begin a “co-activation” if you will up the leg and into the core, pelvis, deep hip stabilizers and glutes. Without this co-activation you would not be able to utilize the energy being transferred from the ground and through your body. If you don’t fully understand short foot think about it this way, “you can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe.” In other words, you must be stable before you can be strong. And that’s what short foot is all about, stability.
So now that Dr. E has helped us understand stability on a much higher level, let’s go back for a minute and see what she has to say about the ever popular and increasingly difficult subject of footwear and how it relates to pronation, supination, flat feet, and high arches. These terms are familiar to most and are clearly defined in the book. What’s not as well known, but is nonetheless equally important if not more important is something called impact forces. We cannot talk about footwear until we understand impact forces.
Impact forces are perceived as vibrations by the foot, explains Dr. E. She goes on to say that one of the greatest inhibitors of vibration input are the shoes we love. These vibrations are dampened when we put on thick soled shoes, thus, preventing the small nerves in the bottom of the foot from receiving the neural feedback necessary for movement efficiency. In addition to delaying the loading response, Nigg et al. has shown that cushioning and extra support in shoes actually decreases the strength of our feet. Not only does this extra cushion prevent you from moving at your best, it also weakens your feet!
The answer to weak feet is barefoot training. And barefoot training begins with understanding not only how vitally important the feet are to the body, but also how important the body is to the feet. We must take a holistic view whenever we are discussing the body and Dr. E does just that. I was thoroughly impressed with the information she shared on exercise, diet, fascia and supplements. I won’t go into great detail, that’s what the book is for, but I will share Dr. E’s 5 Tips for Movement Longevity:
1. Keep blood sugar under control
2. Consider nerve protective vitamins
3. Do regular cardiovascular exercise
4. Myofacial release
5. Go Barefoot!
If you are just as excited as I am to learn the significance of our often overlooked feet and how we can care for them and our bodies better, then purchase a copy of Barefoot Training. However, if that still doesn’t suffice, I would suggest attending a EBFA seminar where you can spend nearly 20 hours learning from Dr. E and her counterparts. I attended the Bay Area seminar in April and I have been using what I learned ever since. Thanks to this athlete, researcher, teacher, writer, speaker and doctor, I was able to go beyond Nike Frees and Tarahumara tales and learn more about the pure strength of my feet than I ever have.
June 12, 2021
Lots of great info
As someone with a lot of foot issues, I can’t wait to start applying some of the exercises in this book. I really appreciate the holistic approach to movement and foot health. There were a lot of little typos that niggled at my English major brain, but the info presented was really solid.
As someone with a lot of foot issues, I can’t wait to start applying some of the exercises in this book. I really appreciate the holistic approach to movement and foot health. There were a lot of little typos that niggled at my English major brain, but the info presented was really solid.
June 17, 2015
LOVED this book! Wish it were longer. Almost every single one of my personal training clients could benefit from what's in this book. Will be recommending it!
June 29, 2020
Short, but sweet
This is a short book written by a podiatrist who believes in a holistic approach to foot health. I feel the book was well written.
This is a short book written by a podiatrist who believes in a holistic approach to foot health. I feel the book was well written.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews