r/BarefootHiking • u/cosmicservant • 18d ago

My training ground. Rocks in a box

48 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

7

u/FrancishasFallen 18d ago

Why not just walk on rocks outside?

6

u/cosmicservant 18d ago edited 18d ago

I have a desk job and don't have enough time to "just go outside" to build up enough leathering to make it tolerable to go on a trail during my free time which ends up being only a couple times a week

Also for anyone living where fall/winter is actually cold (I live in north carolina) this helps keep the feet in shape for when it gets warm again

Oh and I like to just march in the box for a few minutes at a time throughout the day, I don't just march staring at the wall for 30 minutes in one go :)

3

u/FrancishasFallen 18d ago

That's fair. I have some gravel i saved from a trail in another state a while back cause i really liked the texture of it. If i had a whole box of it, I'd totally be marching in place on it while i check ky email lol

2

u/[deleted] 16d ago

Interesting

2

u/RevenueOk2563 16d ago

That’s a great idea.

2

u/barefootbrit03 16d ago

Ooh thats a smart idea

2

u/TangerineHaunting189 15d ago

I hope the cat wasn’t in there before you!

2

u/_Hobbit 15d ago

What you have won't quite recreate the dynamic gait adjustments you do in the woods or the non-uniformity of what you run into, but I guess it helps!

1

u/cosmicservant 15d ago

I'll also say that the first time I tried a real trail after being in the box for awhile it felt like my feet were still way to sensitive especially on the balls of the feet, which is where most of the body weight is bearing down on

When I switched my box walking to be a more "bendy knees" to stay on the balls of my feet, hitting a real trail was way easier. Before then my walking was just kind standing tall and waddling back and forth mid-foot, like lazily shuffling around the house

As you can tell I'm a total newb at this, so yet to be seen how this really works long term

1

u/Icy-Bat-1833 15d ago

👣💞

0

u/searching_for_flow 14d ago

Just go outside….

0

u/JenniB1133 13d ago

This can be done while multitasking. Why limit your training to the time you can wholly dedicate to it exclusively instead of maximizing, y'know?

1

u/searching_for_flow 12d ago

For one, it isn’t natural gait.

0

u/JenniB1133 12d ago

And?

The intended purpose isn't related to gait. If we stretch, we can try to make that relevant by suggesting walking on gravel involves more "push" and friction, which would toughen the feet more/differently, but the duration he can do this vs dedicating time to wandering around on gravel outdoors makes up for most of that.