As the barefoot running movement gains more and more steam we are starting to see more and more books about… barefoot running. Below are 6 different books which relate to barefoot running. Check them out and let us know what you think of any of these.
1. Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth
This comprehensive guide to barefoot running is a must have for every person who wants to get into or is just getting into barefoot running. Barefoot Running: How to Run Light and Free by Getting in Touch with the Earth provides essential and grounded information from starting out slow, understanding minimalist footwear, to making your way through rugged environment and rough weather conditions. This book reveals how barefoot running can help you run smoother, lighter and faster while avoiding injuries. Regardless of your choice for footwear or lack thereof, you will get wonderful insights on how you can build your feet into living shoes and be a better runner with a graceful, natural form that will carry you through the miles.
The Barefoot Running Book is packed with practical advice for both the new and experienced runners who are transitioning to barefoot or minimalist shoe running. Combining personal experience with research and collaboration, the Author wittingly shares the latest and best known methods to having a safe and enjoyable transition. This book also tackles the theories and essential elements of barefoot running, concerns and issues with common injuries, useful exercises and a review of research supporting barefoot running. It also includes frequently asked questions and a helpful listing of barefoot running resources.
Born to Run has received quite a great deal of awesome reviews including The Washington Post. And no wonder! An epic adventure that is wonderfully written with sharp wit and utter excitement, this action packed book is full of fascinating characters, amazing athletic feats, revolutionary science and, to top it all off, pure inspiration.
The quest to learning the secrets of the world’s greatest distance runners started with the simple question “Why does my foot hurt?†From the modern labs at Harvard to the hot valleys and freezing summits across North America, and to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons, Christopher McDougall sets off to uncover age-old running techniques and the secret to excellent health and long life.
A truly rare and winning book, Born to Run will not only engage your mind but also inspire your body as you finally grasp that the key to happiness is right at your feet and that we were indeed born to run.
4. Barefoot Runner: The Life of Marathon Champion Abebe Bikila by Paul Rambali
The Life of Marathon Champion Abebe Bikila is riveting story that combines Ethiopian history and its logical interpretation with the author’s novelistic approach. The book is about Abebe Bikila, the first African athlete to win a gold medal in marathon in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games while running barefoot. He ran four years later in Tokyo and defied the odds and won again.
What additionally makes this book captivating is the goings-on between his two victories. He nearly faced execution after being used as a pawn by leaders of an unsuccessful coup against Selassie. Beautifully written, Rambali brings the characters – athletes, coaches, soldiers and their strange monarch to life in this curious, sad story.
This 677-word article by Science News features the study of people who habitually run barefoot. The new study is elegant and offers a good example of the mechanics of different running gaits. Although the results suggest that barefoot running might have benefits, researchers also say that it is too soon to say whether this style is less likely to cause injuries. However, coauthor Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University puts it this way, “From an evolutionary perspective, barefoot or minimal shoe running is normal and, if done properly, is very fun and comfortable. We evolved to run barefoot.”
ChiRunning is a revolutionary program for runners of any age or fitness level. The book reveals how you can run faster and farther using less effort and at the same time avoids, prevents and heals injuries. Moreover, the book provides powerful ideas, principles and techniques to transform running from a high-injury sport to a body-friendly, injury-free fitness wonder. ChiRunning utlizes the chi or the deep power reserves found in the core muscles. This is an approach that is likewise found in disciplines such as yoga, Pilates, and Tai Chi.
So technically this books has nothing to do with barefoot running, but we came across this book when looking for barefoot books, but in case you were curious A Barefoot Doctors Manual was first compiled by the Chinese government to help people in villages where there was no doctor to treat any medical condition. It got its name from the mode of mobility back in those days, where the Barefoot Doctors walked barefoot to go from one place to the other. They were not only healers but they were also skilled in the ways of Taoism, acupuncture, herbalism, a form of psychotherapy or counseling and the martial arts.