The topic for the inaugural edition of my monthly free Movement Nerd Hangout series was: Are Your Shoes Working For You?
We spent over and hour and a half geeking out on whether or not you’re wearing shoes that work for you, or if it’s time to let go.
As a bonus, I made a free PDF workbook to go with the session, because there’s a lot to keep track of! GO HERE to download the workbook and use it as you follow along.
We went through a 4 step process to learn about what makes a shoe a good fit, and discussed why its important to make sure you have strategies to make sure your body is robust to any shoe you choose.
I recorded the whole dang thing, and I invite you to participate along with it when you can make the time! (or just sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the show…)
Here’s what we covered:
1) What 5 things should you look for in a shoe that is good for your body?
2) Can your feet currently pronate and supinate well outside of a shoe? (let alone in one?)
3) Test out a few pairs of shoes with the “Does My Body Like My Shoes?” system, based on Gary Ward’s Anatomy in Motion model of gait mechanics.
4) How you can use the system for the rest of your life for all future shoe purchasing situations, and how to find “post-shoe unwind routines” for when you DO wear shoes your body doesn’t like.
The purpose of the session is to help you become an empowered, informed, wearer of shoes 
I definitely learned something new about how my shoes are impacting on my body.
For example, I learned that my favourite hiking boots actually restrict my ribcage and neck range of motion, but improve movement at my hips. And my Vivo Barefoot shoes improve movement at my ribcage and neck!
This information is useful for me to have so that I can track weird neck and ribcage symptoms (of which I have…) to whether or not I wore shoes my body didn’t like and failed to unwind with some self-care afterwards.
Knowledge is power, guys!
To see the full schedule of my Movement Nerd Hangouts, go here and sign up to attend live (and live attendees get free stuff!)
Now if you enjoyed this hang-out and are wondering how you can learn more about your foot mechanics, create your own “post-shoe unwind routine”, and unravel other myseteries in your body’s movement system, this is exactly what we do in my Liberated Body Workshop.
Liberated Body is a movement workshop to free your body from the shackles of inefficient, compensatory movement habits, formed over the years. Sports, habitual postures, injuries… All have an effect!
Over the four days you’ll learn how the human body was designed to move through the walking cycle (gait mechanics), and be guided through a step by step process to restore this movement potential where it is missing so you can get out of pain and do what you love.
If you want to talk about whether this workshop is right for you, I’m happy to chat. Shoot me an email 🙂
Liberated Body is not a one time workshop to solve all your body’s woes. It’s a system that helps you engage in the life-long project of taking care of your body.
It’s not a class to stretch and strengthen, like a pilates or yoga class- But it will help you perform better at pilates and yoga with more access to your body’s movement potential.
Anyway, let me know how things go with your shoes. I’d love to hear what you discover about how your foot wear could be impacting on your movement potential.
