the question is inspired by the description of the “barefoot running” practice as that seems to imply landing on the toes rather than the heel. Well, not sure about running, but in walking AFAIK “everybody knows” that the heel-to-toe method is the most efficient as opposed to stepping flat or landing on the toe. So, can you do that while barefoot?
On a tangentially related note, does anybody who is not an uncontacted Amazonian tribesman or similar actually walk barefoot nowadays in normal life?
What could possibly prevent one from being able to walk that way barefoot? And why would someone in possession of a pair of feet even need to ask the question? Of course you can; try it.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought the OP was ???
???
FWIW, I just tried walking across the floor barefoot and I actually do the heel-toe thing automatically - no adjustment required.
I think it is inspired by the idea that barefoot running prevent heel-striking (as it hurts to run that way barefoot). OTOH walking does not produce that much force with a heel strike. Still some do advise midfoot strike for walking too - see ChiWalking.
I can walk heel-toe barefoot (and often do nowadays), but when I went barefoot all the time, I usually walked up on the balls of my feet. I have hellacious calves, if I do say so myself.
I don’t so much these days, being stuck in an office all day with people who apparently have nothing better to do than review what others are wearing, but until my 30s, I was probably barefoot 80% of the time.
While I was in school, I carried shoes with me (for when I had to wear them to go inside somewhere), but that was about the only time I put them on.
Even after I started working, I generally only wore shoes from the car to my desk and back.
I hate shoes.
I spend only my working hours wearing any kind of footwear. I walk by putting the outer balls of my feet down first, and then roll inward, heels last, I believe similar to the way barefoot running is done. (It’s how I run barefoot anyway.) It’s not a strict toe-heel thing.
But of course you can go heel-toe barefoot. I think it’s what most people who aren’t always barefoot do. Here’s a link explaining why walking the other way (i.e. barefoot running style) is better for you. The rest of that site is pretty informative too.
the advertisement article you link to sounds pretty good… Maybe it was written by Miss Information’s kid sister. If money can be made on “treatments” to remove “toxins” or other Cherokee hair tampon type stuff, why not make it selling a slower, more awkward way to walk?
I always walk heel to toe, barefoot or shod.
Running I always do toe to heel, though. Only shod, though. Don’t really run barefoot so I wouldn’t know. I’ll have to check it out some time, though.
Everyone knows that?
Funny, because when I walk without shoes on, I tend to put much less weight on my heel, and far more on the balls of my foot, as opposed to when I’m wearing shoes (where the heel is thicker and makes landing mid-sole very awkward at speeds < jogging).
And who says VFF’s are a slower and more awkward way to walk?
Oh, right. Conventional wisdom born out of Mr Bowerman’s experiments with a waffle-iron.
From my understanding, barefoot running is about avoiding heelstrikes–i.e., landing *heavily *on the heel first. It’s *not *about putting your weight to-to-heel. Generally, what I see is the promotion of a stride where the middle of your foot is what strikes the ground instead of just the heel.
Just a WAG/personal experience, but I would think that toes tend to be more sensitive to tactile stimuli than the heel. So (especially in urban or non-deciduous areas), front-of-foot-first would let the stepper know if there was a puncture risk more readily.
Ever puncture your heel? Ouchy for days/weeks.
I can walk heel to toe barefoot but I don’t see why I would.
When I’m barefoot, 90% of the time I only walk on the balls of my feet, been like that since I was a kid. Way more comfortable than trying to walk heel to toe and risking to walk with full strenght on something hard or sharp.
As often as I can. I am barefoot 90% of the time at home. I can’t get away with going shoeless at work anymore though :(. My first non military office job I was famous for walking in the door in fabulous shoes and then leaving them under my desk all day as I dashed around getting things done. I like pretty shoes but much prefer the feeling of being barefoot.
Except that it isn’t a slower, more awkward way to walk, when you’ve been doing it your whole life like I have.
I tried walking on the balls of my feet and it hurt and made me look like I was tip toeing. I think I’ll stick to heel toe for walking and toe heel for running.
Working from a home office, I’m rarely shod. That may change as the Little Devil becomes ambulatory himself and bits of Cheerios, Lego pieces, and assorted child-detritus begin to lay in wait.
To help the OP by way of experiment, for the rest of the day I’m going to walk left-foot-heel-to-toe, right-foot-toe-to-heel. To really keep Mrs. Devil and the nanny on their toes, I think I’ll be making mechanical noises as I walk. The Little Devil will clearly get what’s up without pause.
…I’m going to the kitchen~
do toe-to-heel walkers, barefoot or not, frequently beat competitive heel-to-toe walkers? Have they ever tried? (I do seem to recall reading claims about some failed attempts in 19th century to do so, but no cite and no details so fwiw)
Do you admit of a possibility that the way you have been “doing it your whole life” was just plainly suboptimal, e.g. slow? Could it be that if you were to put on shoes and learn heel-to-toe you would have easily broken whatever speed records you have set while toe-to-heel or else would get a lot less tired while walking with the same speed? Notice that the people who lived inside Plato’s allegory of the cave looked at stone images all their lives and in their ignorance deemed it the best thing to look at - that doesn’t mean that they were right.
Er, am I the only one who uses toe-heel when running and heel-toe when walking? I thought that was normal. Do people just use the same way for walking and running?
To the two posts above me:
I walk heel toe, when in shoes. I know how to do it both ways. I live in the 21st century. 
I have actually found that when walking heel-toe on a treadmill at a forced pace, the muscles right around my shins hurt for a long time until they adjust. (Shin splints, anyone? That’s heel-toe.) No other muscles are affected. When I speed it up to running I switch to fore-foot. Walking and running fore-foot in my Vibrams caused no muscular discomfort from day one except that certain areas of my feet that were hitting in a way that caused skin discomfort, which would likely result in blisters if I hadn’t stopped. This is simply because those parts of my feet haven’t been primed for that kind of contact inside a Vibram. It’s just a matter of toughening your feet. Which as a Southern kid you have done by the time you’re 10.
Total barefoot causes me no discomfort, unless I fail to see a stray rock on the path. I have walked my dog with my husband who is a foot taller than me, around the neighborhood, barefoot, with no problem keeping up. Actually I have to slow down for him.
Still, anecdotal. So YMMV. I probably walk faster heel-toe in shoes, but I feel better walking fore-heel. Was there a speed contest? What is sub-optimal? Damaging your shins or walking more slowly? Who is in that kind of rush?
This definitely IMHO or MpSIMS, not GQ, so I guess you posted it wrongly because it was based on a thread in GQ.
Heh, I’m the same. Which leads on to the next bit:
I wonder if there might be a gender differential here. I’m female, FTR.
I just spent a bored few minutes walking up and down my hallway in different ways; heel-to-toe (which I could of course do, to answer the OP) is not the way I usually walk and feels slightly … blokey? If I were pretending to be a man, that’s one of the changes I would make. Toe-heel puts my hips foreward, slightly, heel-toe puts my shoulders foreward. My hips are bigger than my shoulders.
There is the possibility that this due to my liking for pretty shoes with high heels, which force you to walk toe-heel, but, like Moonlitherial, I tend to take those shoes off when I’m walking around doing stuff (unless I’m dancing - some high-heeled impractical-looking shoes are fabulous for dancing).
A book I recently read about teenagers mentioned that men tend to hold their forearms palm-backwards when carrying stuff in their hands, and women palms-forewards. I’d never noticed that before but now notice it all the time. Palms-forewards shifts your centre of gravity so that walking toe-heel is more efficient.
It would not be at all surprising if women (in general, of course, not every single woman ever) had a different centre of gravity to men, so walked differently.
(I hope this does shift out of GQ because I’m certain the complete book I read isn’t online even if I can remember the title).