Whole Body Barefoot: Transitioning Well to Minimal Footwear Paperback – Illustrated, April 5, 2015

I had been curious about minimalist footwear for a few years, as a few good friends had gotten into it, while I wore increasingly stiff and "supportive" shoes in a negative spiral of increasing attempts to support painful feet which in turn made them weaker and more painful. Then I was shopping for shoes for my kids, and a friend encouraged minimalist footwear for them, and I got curious and got myself a pair and this book.Things I love about this book: 1) It is super readable (I read it in one night) and compelling and gives a clear, biomechanics-based explanation for why barefoot and minimalist shoes are good for us. 2) It is super realistic about needing to give our bodies time, exercise, and a gentle transition to minimalist footwear after wearing traditional stuff, heavy, "supportive" shoes our whole lives. 3) The adjustments to posture and the various foot and leg exercises were super helpful.Using some of the exercises here, and the patient and gradual transition that Katy prescribes, over time I've grown to love the feel of the ground under my feet when I wear my minimalist shoes, and my feet have gotten much stronger and more capable, and the foot pain I used to live with every day has vanished as my feet became stronger and more capable. Which in turn has led me down a rabbit hole of other ways of changing and expanding my movement which has done nothing but good things for my health and well being.

If you aren't interested in barefoot shoes going into this book, you probably will be by the halfway point. However, what makes the book so good is the light Bowman sheds on the anatomy of the foot and its impact on the entire body.The issues surrounding the barefoot shoe movement—from the proposed benefits to the criticism—are handled with honesty, tact, and scientific knowledge. Both sides are right, according to the author, who breaks down the "whys" in easy to follow explanations. You won't look at your shoes—whatever you choose—in quite the same way again.Much more than just a discussion of the barefoot topic, Bowman offers a strategy for transitioning out of traditional footwear into barefoot shoes in a manner that supports and benefits the body, minimizing any health risk. But really, all this is just a launching point into her broader point, which is that our modern lifestyle is producing undesirable physiological changes that impact our health—and there is something we can do about it!With Bowman's foot and leg exercises, which are easily done almost anywhere in a minimal amount of time, we can begin to reverse the ill-effects of our sedentary, screen-oriented lifestyles and correct typical kinetic chain misalignments that affect us more profoundly than we may realize. Even an active person such as myself can derive great benefit from Bowman's perspective. I have been doing her exercises regularly for several months now, and unquestionably my quality of life has increased. I have shared the exercises with family (who pronounced them "life-changing") and incorporated some of them into my group fitness classes. I can tell when a participant has been doing them at home, because their flexibility and balance through the foot and leg increases noticeably over time.Thanks to this book, I now direct many people to Katy Bowman's "Nutritious Movement" blog. And several more of her books are on my TBR list!

Very well written. Katy puts all pieces into one big perspective and this is what is so good about this book. It's not only feet you need to focus on, but an alignment of the entire body that matters. Every piece of the alignment chain is analyzed separately with pictures and recommended exercises at several levels of difficulty. A must read for anyone considering barefoot / minimal footwear.

I always thought about putting together some sort of instruction about how to transition to minimalist shoes. Of course, I never did, which is a good thing because someone way more qualified than me did and she did a much better job of it too! Katy Bowman’s Whole Body Barefoot is the perfect guide to make the transition.This is the second time Katy has caused me to break my “read it and pass it on” rule for books. Whole Body Barefoot is yet another tool that needs to be in my Wellness Practitioner tool bag. This book is a quick and fun read but most of all it has correctives and exercises you can incorporate right away. Other “programs” require extra time, equipment, or the need to set aside time in a specific location like a gym, but the one outlined in this book can be done immediately and practically anywhere. A perfect example of this is as soon as I read about interlacing your fingers with your toes to work on toe separation, I was able to actually do it right then and there.Don’t feel like reading? Fine, skip to the part of the book that just covers the correctives and get to work. As a writer, I am a fan of “get to the point.” I love that this option is available.

This is a very informative book on the benefits of going barefoot or in minimal shoes. I'm a true fan of minimal foot wear but developed tendonitis in one foot a year ago. It was bad enough that I asked my doctor about it and he sent me to an orthopedic specialist, who recommended specific exercises to relieve the tendon, and also (gasp!) orthotics. I faithfully did the exercises but really didn't want to wear orthotics, so I opted for Chaco sandals, which have a good molded arch support. I wore them through the warm weather, and used the information in this book to strengthen the foot. It all worked and now I'm pain-free in minimal shoes. The book has a LOT of good information and Ms. Bowman is also a fan of minimal footwear. My problem with orthotics is that they certainly do alleviate pain in your arches, but the do nothing to solve the problem, they just manage the symptoms. I wanted to be pain-free barefoot. With the help of the information in this book, I achieved that goal.