Barefoot Running - 10 Top Tips

Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton is the guru of barefoot running. His new book, Barefoot Running Step by Step, teaches barefoot runners all they need to know about running barefoot, as well as providing insight for those already accomplished in this unique running skill. These are his 10 tips for running barefoot.

1.    Head, Neck and Face
Keep them upright, with face forward (not down), to maintain efficient body balance, breathing and direction.

2.    Torso
Keep it upright and relaxed for the same reasons.

3.    Shoulders
Keep them relaxed so they can rotate on a vertical axis, counterbalancing opposing hip rotation.

4.    Arms
Relax your arms and let them swing quickly and vertically to serve two functions: encouraging fast leg cadence and reducing excessive torso sway.

5.    Hips
Relax them and allow natural rotation on a vertical axis to keep the feet under the body's centre of balance, so that they land along a straight line in the direction you're running.

6.    Knees
Bend the knee before landing to lift the foot and turn the legs into shock-absorbing springs that reduce the impact and aid propulsion.

7.    Calves
Relax them to unleash their power. If you keep them tense and loaded all the time, they'll hurt and can't store and release their spring-like energy, and eventually they may cause injury.

8.    Feet
Lift them early and often, without pushing the feet into the ground, and curve the toes up (so they don't land first). Aim for a bicycling-inspired cadence of 180+ steps per minute in order to lessen impact and muscle stress and improve performance.

9.    Soles
Think '1-2-3' and curve the toes.When the rest of the body is doing all of the above, the foot will correctly land gently by touching down first on the ball, immediately followed by the toes and heel. Don't run on your toes or land flat-footed. To the untrained eye it may look like the whole foot is landing flat at the same time, but it's not.

10.    Overall body movement
Let the hips and torso lead the way. This should feel like falling forward; you'll need to move the feet quickly under your hips to catch yourself, with each foot landing below - and not ahead of - your vertical body. (A foot-forward landing effectively puts on the brakes with each step, encourages a heel strike, at ratchets up shock and eventual damage to the knees and hips.)

To get extensive training tips and details on how to achieve the perfect barefoot running technique, order a copy of Barefoot Running Step by Step (RRP £14.99) for £8.50, including free p&p in the UK, by telephone on 01206 255 800 quoting offer code BAREFOOT-RB and the book ISBN code 9781592334650.

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