MovNat Guest Post: Accept Frailty to Grow Strong

I was recently featured on the MovNat blog, talking about how much of a pansy I am (sort of). I thought I'd just share that article for today.

One thing they never tell you about barefoot running is how painful it can be. When you step out on a trail for your first totally unshod trek, eager to run wild and free though the forest, you are suddenly struck with an unexpected problem: tiny pebbles.

I had been doing trail runs in my “barefoot” shoes (talk about an oxymoron) for about two years before I took my first completely naked run. Even in those light shoes, you can step wherever you want. As soon as the shoes come off, however, every little pebble makes a difference. A false step on something sharp can throw off your balance enough to cause a fall, even if it doesn’t cut.

You realize just how small your margin of error has become. You realize how truly frail human beings are.

This was perhaps the biggest lesson I got out of practicing MovNat and other movements applicable to the real world. It’s fine to crawl on a flat, clean gym floor, but when you start crawling around obstacles, you learn just how useful (and limited) your conditioning is. The difference between a tree branch and a smooth bar is about as big as the scrapes you get all over your body for using sloppy technique.

You can read the rest over on the MovNat blog.