Progress Right, Stay Strong: What 30 Years in Fitness Taught Me About Feet

I've been in this industry for over 30 years, and I've watched a lot of trends come and go. But one thing hasn't changed: strength is the foundation. It's what keeps our bones aligned, our bodies moving well in every direction, and our core stable. Without that foundation, everything else eventually breaks down.

I think we forget that this applies to our feet just as much as anywhere else — maybe more. We use them every single day to get everywhere we need and want to go. And yet feet are the most under-trained, under-thought-about part of the body in almost every fitness program I've seen, including, for a long time, my own.

I wanted to write this out — not as a sales pitch for a shoe brand, but as an honest, research-backed rundown of how I think about feet, for myself, for my clients, and for my own kids.

Why Feet Deserve the Same Respect as Everything Else We Train

We'll spend an hour working someone's glutes, their core, their shoulders — and never once ask them to do anything with their feet beyond stand on them. But the feet are doing constant, quiet work: absorbing shock, adjusting to terrain, stabilizing every single step. When they're weak, that work gets pushed somewhere else, and "somewhere else" is usually where the pain shows up.

This isn't just a training philosophy — it's backed by the research on one of the most common foot complaints out there, plantar fasciitis. Studies point to weakness in the plantar flexor muscles and other stabilizing muscles of the foot and lower leg as a real contributor to plantar fasciitis, not just overuse in isolation. When those muscles can't do their job absorbing shock and controlling how the foot rolls through a step, more stress gets transmitted directly into the plantar fascia and the rest of the foot's structures. Weak feet don't just feel weak — they set up problems up the whole chain.

Modern Shoes Are Quietly Making Our Feet Weaker

Here's the uncomfortable part: for most of us, the shoes we've worn our entire lives are a big part of why our feet are weak in the first place.

This isn't speculation — it's one of the better-documented findings in foot health research. A frequently cited comparison of minimally-shod and conventionally-shod populations found that habitual use of standard modern shoes is associated with weaker intrinsic foot muscles, which can reduce foot stiffness and increase the likelihood of flattened arches over time. The proposed mechanism is simple and familiar to anyone who trains: modern shoes, especially ones with rigid arch support and structured toe boxes, take over jobs the small muscles of the foot would otherwise be doing themselves. Do that for years, and like any muscle that isn't used, those muscles quietly decondition.

The encouraging flip side: feet respond fast when given the chance to work again. Researchers at the University of Liverpool found that wearing minimalist footwear for six months increased foot strength by more than 57% compared with a group in non-minimalist shoes. That's a meaningful, measurable change in well under a year — feet are more responsive to training than most people assume.

This Is Exactly Why Weak, Unprepared Feet Get Hurt Going Barefoot

I know this is the tension a lot of people feel: "If shoes are the problem, why do I get plantar fasciitis or foot pain when I go barefoot or minimal?"

Here's the honest answer, and I think it's an important nuance: it's not that barefoot movement itself is the problem — it's that most of us are asking deconditioned feet to suddenly do a job they haven't done in years, all at once. Research on foot-strengthening interventions backs this up. When the shift toward less shoe support happens gradually, it reliably increases the strength of the foot and ankle muscles. But when those muscles aren't conditioned yet, they fatigue quickly — and fatigued muscles transfer more strain onto the bones and connective tissue they're supposed to be protecting. A well-known BYU study following experienced runners found that those who transitioned into minimalist shoes over just 10 weeks showed more bone marrow edema (an early stress-injury marker) than those who stayed in traditional shoes, and the researchers were clear that the safe path is a very slow, gradual transition — not an abrupt switch.

So barefoot and minimal movement isn't the enemy. Rushing into it is.

Why I Believe in Different Shoes for Different Days (and Different People)

I'd love to tell everyone "just wear the most minimal shoe you can find" — but that's not responsible advice, and it's not what the evidence supports either. I've had my own injuries over years of sport and training that mean I personally need more support on certain days, and that doesn't make me any less committed to foot strength. It makes me realistic.

This is echoed pretty directly in the sports medicine literature: guidance on minimalist and zero-drop footwear consistently notes that people with existing foot deformities, arch problems, or a history of injury may find minimal shoes uncomfortable or even harmful without a gradual, guided transition. The advice isn't "avoid minimal shoes forever" — it's "build up to them intentionally," often alongside dedicated foot-strengthening work, and to keep a stability or support option in rotation for the days your body needs it.

That's exactly why I don't wear one shoe. I rotate between a truly neutral, low-to-zero-drop shoe for most of my training, and a shoe with more structure and stability for my heavier lifting, plyometric, or higher-mileage running days. Neither one is "cheating" — they're tools for different jobs.

What This Means for Kids — and Why I'll Never Talk Anyone Out of Barefoot Toddlers

If there's one place I have zero hesitation, it's babies and toddlers. I would love to never see an infant or toddler in shoes or socks at all during those early developmental years. Two of my three kids, I genuinely could not keep shoes on — you'd see them wandering around a store barefoot (I know, I know) — and they're both strong adults now with no foot, ankle, or joint issues. I'd like to think that's not a coincidence.

The research on this is some of the most consistent I found while pulling this together. A study following toddlers from their very first steps found that those habitually wearing thin-soled barefoot shoes developed a higher plantar arch than toddlers in conventional shoes, and the researchers concluded the findings should encourage parents to introduce barefoot shoes or habitual barefoot time early. A larger study spanning children and adolescents found that habitual footwear use had a measurable effect on foot structure across every age group studied, including a reduction in arch height. And separately, a review of children's gait research found that kids who wear conventional shoes show a longer stride, wider stance, and different walking pattern altogether compared with barefoot children — meaning shoes don't just change how a child's foot looks, they change how the child actually moves, starting almost from their very first steps.

One caveat worth including honestly: the "go slow" principle applies to kids too, not just adults. A study looking specifically at adolescents found that shifting into minimal footwear too quickly increased loading rates in a way that's associated with a higher risk of stress injury, and the researchers cautioned that kids who've only ever worn traditional shoes need a careful transition, same as an adult would. In practice, that just means: lots of barefoot free play and exploration, yes — but if you're introducing a 5-year-old to something like barefoot running or intense activity, ease in, don't dive in.

What to Look For (and What to Avoid) When Shoe Shopping

Based on everything above, here's how I'd tell a client or a friend to actually shop for shoes:

Look for:

• A wide toe box that lets your toes spread naturally, rather than tapering to a point
• A low or zero heel-to-toe drop for most everyday wear
• A flexible sole that bends with your foot rather than fighting it
• Enough ground feel that your foot still has to do some work

Be cautious of:

• Heavily built-up arch support as your default, everyday shoe — it can do the muscle's job for it, long-term
• A rigid "toe spring" (the upward curve at the toe) that some research suggests can inhibit or decondition the toe-flexing muscles
• Switching straight from a max-cushion daily shoe into a fully minimal one overnight — for you or your kids
• Assuming one shoe has to do everything — a support shoe for your hardest days isn't a failure, it's a tool

Bottom Line

Move without shoes when you safely can, in as many different ranges of motion, loads, and speeds as you can. Keep your foot muscles strong right alongside the rest of your body. You'll move better, feel better, and — as much as none of us love saying it — you'll be better equipped to keep doing the things you love as you age. We're all aging. My goal, and I hope yours too, is to stay strong through all of it.

Meredith owns and operates Fitness Together, a personal training studio focused on helping clients of every age build lasting strength — including, as it turns out, the 26 bones in each foot.

Sources referenced

• Holowka et al. (2018), Scientific Reports — foot strength and stiffness related to footwear use
• Curtis et al., University of Liverpool — foot strength change after 6 months in minimalist footwear
• Ridge et al. (2013), Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise — foot bone marrow edema after minimalist shoe transition
• Hollander et al. — barefoot habituation and foot/arch development in children and adolescents
• PLOS One (2022) toddler barefoot vs. conventional shoe gait study
• Systematic scoping review, Healthcare (2023) — children's footwear and gait development
• Multiple sources (MDPI, Scientific Reports, StatPearls) on muscle weakness as a contributing factor in plantar fasciitis