Foot health is foundational.

Feet First

Prioritizing superficial muscles, exercisers are overlooking the basics, with up to 30% of the general population reporting foot pain — rising to 81% in obese Americans.

Home to hundreds of thousands of sensory receptors, the feet and ankles are composed of 26 bones, 33 joints, and 100+ muscles, tendons, and ligaments. 

Impatient or ignorant, many skip training this group, creating downstream compensations in the kinetic chain.

Foot-Brain Connection

A red flag, toe weakness is the biggest predictor of falls among aging adults. 

Sending signals about the body’s position in space, healthy nerve function in the feet is key to balance, coordination, and reduced injury risk. 

But living in closed-toed shoes, Americans rarely feel their feet on the ground — putting them at higher risk of deformities and biomechanical shifts starting from childhood.

Patching chronic problems with orthotics may exacerbate the issue, never addressing a common root cause: poor proprioception. 

From Jeron to Kevin regarding things he liked in the newsletter:

I’ve always liked this newsletter for a variety of reasons, but thought the beginning was interesting about the foot (down to the “tools” part). 

I thought about the “downstream issue” or any ways that you could correlate foot pain, training the foot, etc. to getting into running. Or, if there’s things you do at a higher level of running. 

Let me know if you have any thoughts or angles on anything or don’t care – no sweat either way!

From Kevin answer Jeron:

I’m 100% pro-foot. People should be spending time barefoot, wearing barefoot shoes, or doing something barefoot at least some of the time. 

Baffles me how so many people are willing to stick their feet into what looks good without thinking about how it affects their body.

I don’t think people should strive to do a lot of running barefoot since we grow up in shoes and live in a world of concrete/asphalt. A small amount of barefoot training (VERY gradual, progressive) is good to strengthen the feet, but it takes a very very very long time to adapt to barefoot running for most people, so it’s not practical to try to do a huge amount of running barefoot. 

My current philosophy for max practicality is: protect your feet (wear suitable running shoes) during high-stress activities (running) to maximize your training. Expose your feet during lower-stress activities (walking, daily chores) to build strength/mobility in the feet.

Jeron responded to part of Kevin’s statement, reflecting on how peers of his from his time in the  NFL, especially while playing for the Miami Dolphins:

So up and doing “beach training” might not be a wise idea, lol? I know a lot of NFL guys that do that in the offseason – aka footwork drills on the beach (or just in sand).

Kevin responded to Jeron, highlighted and likening “gimmicky” things like BOSU squats and sand training:

Beach training is good if you want to play sports on the beach (beach volleyball). You need to adjust gradually, as it is way harder on your calves/achilles.

I think sand training is a bit controversial. Some will say it’s not great if you want to improve your agility/speed on the field. Practice on the surface you want to play on. It’s similar to squatting on a bosu ball with lower weight and thinking that’ll improve your 1 RM. I’m generally anti-sand unless your sport involves sand.