Walking

[Matt]

Okay, so, Jason did an article on fox walking a while back, and then he linked to an interesting article on walking from the New-York times this morning. I’ve been thinking a lot about walking since reading the first article, and have been trying various forms of foxwalking, from landing farther forward, almost on the toes to landing on the ball of my foot. However, I just haven’t been able to see how one could do it quickly, it just doesn’t work, you have to role your foot backward and then forward again to get the kick off from your toe. So I was intrigued when I saw this diagram. What do people think? Is this just as good for your feet? What should we do with our feet?

[jhereg]

when i walk barefoot on flat or slightly sloped land*, i instinctively walk on the ball of my foot, often with my heel somewhat elevated. i’m tall (6’ 5’’), so i can generally maintain a pretty decent pace this way. if i really want to go faster, i still walk on the balls of my feet, but i don’t elevate my heel as much, additionally, i start moving the leg of my “off” foot sooner relative to the knee for my “on” foot, which tends to keep my torso at about the same height throughout (different from my slower walk where my torso “bounces” a bit). walking fast this way feels much harder to me, and i tend to not do it for very long. if i really need to move for maybe 50-ish yards, i’ll prolly just do a light jog. this is more or less how i’ve always walked (when barefoot), so someone who has put in more of a conscous effort might have more information.

when i wear shoes, i feel like Darth Vader, which sucks…

*walking uphill on seriously sloped land, i find that i tend to use my heel more, and the steeper the slope (and the slicker the surface), the more i rely on it, often effectively walking plantigrade, but with my feet at an acute angle to my leg (instead of the obtuse angle i normally favor). this is generally a very low impact walk, and the extra surface area provided by my heel seems to help a lot on these surfaces.