Fitness coach Bobby argues that minimalist shoes with wide toe boxes strengthen feet better than heavily cushioned ones, which he says "baby" your feet. He recommends gradual transitions to zero-drop footwear, regular pedicures, and calf strengthening. Bobby warns that narrow women's shoes cause bunions and that people with diabetes need careful foot monitoring.
Good morning, it's Bobby, your fitness health coach, and I wanted to talk to you today about keeping your feet in great shape. I was doing some walking in the neighborhood today trying to burn some fat and get ready for bathing suit weather. Memorial Day weekend's coming up, but I want to talk about foot health, and it's very important for you to look after your feet, certainly to keep your nails trimmed appropriately. My guy friends kid me endlessly that I've had pedicures for over 18 years, but when you grow up with daughters, you learn very quickly that if you want to spend time with them, you better take them to the nail salon. But my feet are in great shape because of that. I don't have any calluses, no ingrown toenails, and yeah, my skin is good. It's not cracking. So always look after your feet, very important. You'll see certain folks that are having difficulties with diabetes the lack of circulation in the feet become very problematic. So always keep an eye on your feet, and they are very important to protect. Let's take a look at shoes for a second. First of all, you'll see a lot of shoes like this On Cloud shoe are very supported and very cushioned. Also, HOKAs are a very popular brand, but you see there's a large wedge going from the heel down to the toe. And it certainly propels you forward, it certainly cushions your foot a great deal, but I think shoe companies have gotten away with kind of babying our feet into submission. And so I just have one old pair of these, and I particularly wore them as I was healing from hip surgery, and it allowed me to, you know, get into a better walking motion to get me healed again. But now my feet are in great shape, So you'll see me training in these. You'll notice a very wide toe box. My toes can splay out inside of here. It's also a zero-drop shoe. If you notice, there's no decline from the heel to the toe, so it's a flat footbed, much like many of you might have those Converse Chuck Taylor shoes from the '60s and '70s. Very little cushioning. Why? Feet remain strong. So we have certainly babied our feet. But I train in these to lift weights and so forth, and that seems to work throughout the day. Also, when I go to the gym, I will wear these shoes, and you talk about really getting a sense and a feel for the ground. These happen to be a nice rubber cushion on the bottom to prevent any stones or pebbles. It does have a little bit of a foot liner inside of it. But it is a very flexible shoe allowing your foot to feel and sense the ground. I've even run in these. It really helps you hit more of a midfoot strike, landing here on your foot rather than a heel strike. And so anyway, if you do get a pair of shoes like this, I use them for dragon boating as well, but also be careful at first. Just use them sparingly until your feet begin to get used to them because the arch support is pretty minimum. These shoes here I got, and my wife is like, "You are not wearing these when you're with me." How you like that, ladies? But these are just a little thin piece of rubber with some cords here, and this is a very minimalist sandal. Ironically enough, there is a mythical running people of the Copper Mountains in Mexico called the Tarahumara. Featured in the book Born to Run. So if you're a runner or have been a runner in the past, get that book Born to Run. It chronicles our feet, the running craze of the '70s all the way up to present day. And those folks there run in the mountains, sometimes a marathon a day in the mountains, just on a tire tread tied with string to their feet. So they certainly don't have the injuries that we face here in the States with all these cushioned shoes. So I love these a lot, very comfortable. Women, I went and crashed my wife's shoe closet for a second. She likes to wear a wedge, and you notice though that it pushes the toes together here. She's beginning to have a little bit of a bunion, which forces the big toe inward and the calcification on the outside of that big toe. And so a lot of women's shoes force our toes all the way inward like this. So ladies, try to, you know, you certainly have your stylish shoes, but always look to allow your toes to spread out a little bit. Anyway, I want to just take a moment to just focus on foot health. I'm here to assist you. We have a slant board, we work on our calf strength, we protect your arch. So come see me for some training and work on your feet. Have a great day, take care.
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