Improve your foot and ankle strength and your balance

If you want to improve your foot and ankle (and leg and hip!) strength — and you do — then you need to see this video.

In it, I share something I’ve never made public before, a very personal story about why strength and balance are so important to us at Xero Shoes. But I also share a new tool you can use to improve your strength and balance in just a few, fun, minutes per day.

There are 2 products I’m recommending HIGHLY:

One is the AFX Foot Strengthener (a video about AFX is on the way)

The other is the Slackblock (that’s what this video is about).

The content of this post does not constitute and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions or concerns you may have about your health or a medical condition.

 

 

10 comments

  1. Mark Ward

    Can I get this in the UK?

    Reply
    1. Steven Sashen

      You’ll have to click the links, above, and check with Slackbow and/or AFX about whether they ship to the UK or have UK-based stores.

      Reply
  2. Paulo

    I am running barefoot for a year now but my calf still hurt and my heels burns if we run 3-4 days in a row. I had this problem in my heels before I started running barefoot. It had disappeared for while but now is back, What am I doing wrong?

    Reply
  3. Steven Sashen

    You’re using your calves more than necessary, which is causing strain in both the calf and the heel (by pulling on the Achilles). Take a look at the videos at https://xeroshoes.com/barefoot-myths-lies-and-truth-free-video-series/ — there are a few that are relevant for you.

    Reply
  4. Leo Aerts

    You should wear all the time minimalistic shoes.
    Recently I cut away the the complete heels of a new pair of safety shoes and closed the surface with a piece of rubber (2mm EPDM).
    At home, slippers with zero drop.
    This way, my Achilles tendons are stretched all the time.
    Be aware that heel elevations under shoes and boots have no health reasons, but two others:
    – Horse riding
    – Showing up being longer than you are in reality.
    When all the time training your calves and Achilles tendon about 2 cm shorter as nature should provide and then exceptional running with zero drop, is seeking for trouble.

    Btw:
    Can I get this in Flanders-belgium?

    Reply
    1. Steven Sashen

      Check with http://www.xeroshoes.com/likes/balance and see if they ship to Europe.

      Reply
    2. Luc P

      You can buy them at xeoro shoes.uk to Belgium/flanders, shipping is fast and cheap

      Reply
      1. Steven Sashen

        I think, Luc, that Leo was asking if he could get the SlackBlock in Belgium, not whether he could get Xero Shoes there.

        Reply
  5. Leo Aerts

    Nor the slackblock, nor Xero shoes are available in Belgium. Fast and cheap? Cheap means available in such a way that one can go to a shop and see if things fit, then choose colours.
    Between UK and Antwerpen is the North Sea and 120km driving. In the UK the distance not counted.
    Then, suppose that I make a trip over there and my size or colour is not available. Motivated by disappointment and disbelief, buying something what doesn’t fit my expectations?

    Ok, shipping then. What is cheap? Buying and paying ahead, several sizes and/or colours, and sending back the unwanted? Cheap? What’s the cost of sending to and back? How big you estimate troubles to get your money back?

    The only one who’s dealing Xero Shoes in Holland (+/-200km) wrote me already, that size 10W is not available anymore.
    He didn’t mention if that was forever, or maybe till next year or season?

    Then, Xero shoes make publicity for slackblock, but don’t want to sell it. (Could have been too easy to find it in the same shop?)

    Is this the way modern business is done? Very strange!

    Reply
    1. Steven Sashen

      Let me clear a few things up:

      1) The dealer in Holland is mistaken. We have size 10, but not necessarily in every color/style until the Spring of 2017. Look at our online store and you’ll see what we have.
      2) Not all of our dealers carry all of our products
      3) If you want to try something on before you buy, I can appreciate that, but if you’re not near a store, there’s nothing I can do about that. We’re opening new stores every week, but I can’t make any promises about when one will open near you.
      4) We will be selling the SlackBlock on our US-based website starting on about September 10th… but that doesn’t mean the other stores that sell Xero will sell the SlackBlock. That product is made by another company, and the stores will each have to decide if they want to sell it and, if they do, work out a deal with the manufacturer.
      5) The way over 100,000 people have purchased shoes from us online is by using the sizing templates at http://www.xeroshoes.com/xerofit to get the correct size, and then purchasing the product that they want. Our return policy is at http://www.xeroshoes.com/return-policy. Other stores listed at http://www.xeroshoes.com/stores are independently operated and have other policies.

      I don’t know what you mean about “modern business.” We’re a growing company. We don’t yet have a global presence. We sell online the same way that thousands of other companies sell online, what’s MODERN about what we’re doing is that thanks to the Internet we CAN sell to people all around the world (and have since day 1) even if we don’t yet have physical stores near those customers.

      I hope that helps.

      Reply
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