Barefoot Warmup...

When looking for answers to your questions, you do your homework - glean the literature, look to experts, but when it comes down to it, you have to look at your athletes and decide whether your plan is working. One warmup technique used by one of our trainers, Nick Carlone, is to have his athletes warmup barefoot. Here are his thoughts:
Since we are on the topic of warm-ups, a great way to help increase joint mobility and heart rate during warm-up is to increase the number of muscles used during the warm-up. Arguably one of the most affective ways to do this while increasing an athlete’s lower leg strength and balance is to perform our dynamic flexibility exercises barefoot. Barefoot work is becoming more and more popular among trainers and coaches across the country for the belief that it decreases the chance of lower extremity injuries such as rolled ankles, planter fasciitas, and shin splints. Here’s the deal, in today’s society we wear stabilizing shoes for most of our day, from the time you get ready to leave your house in the morning, until you get ready to end your day in the evening. This is completely fine and totally normal however, all of the little muscles of our feet and lower leg become comparatively inactive and the more inactive a muscle is the weaker it gets. A barefoot warm-up allows an athlete to use and strengthen these muscles in the way they were designed to work, in a stabilizing and supporting manner. This is great for athletes who experience the previously described symptoms as a way to help reduce the risk of injury.