Some Exercisers Won’t Wear Shoes--to Save Their Soles

As a young dance student, Christie Lantz wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a prima ballerina, or even if she really liked ballet. But there was one thing she was most certain of--she hated toe shoes.

So when the teen-ager saw eccentric aerobics instructor Zahava teach her class barefoot , those painful ballet shoes took to the closet, and her bare feet took to the gym floor.

“I didn’t like wearing shoes anyway, so when I saw her dancing, it looked comfortable,” Lantz said, “I never went back to (ballet) dancing, and I never went back to wearing shoes.”

More than a dozen years later, the 30-year-old Laguna Beach resident is still shoeless and teaching aerobics classes based on the workout philosophy of Zahava, a South African dance instructor who brought the class to Orange County in the late ‘70’s.

“I love the feeling of having your feet free,” Lantz said. “Shoes are kind of confining.”

Although some doctors warn that foot problems can develop after years of unprotected exercise, people who work out or run barefoot say they like their feet unencumbered.

In Lantz’s class, students sweating to the beat of live African drum music seem to share their teacher’s disdain for formal footwear as they glide their bare feet across the polished gym floor.

Newcomer Cindy Carmine says everyone feels like an expert. “I am so impressed,” she said. “Here you can take a lady off the street and she can feel like a dancer for two hours.”

Lantz stresses that her class is not a free-for-all dance session, but rather a program consisting of stretch and low-impact exercise that works numerous muscle groups. One rule she says she won’t break is that she will never teach her class on anything but a well-kept wooden floor. She maintains that a smooth surface that absorbs shock is very important to the safety of her students.

Zahava--her last name is Safte, but she doesn’t use it--taught dance in Europe until 13 years ago, when she moved to California after going through a divorce. In October, she returned to her native land to introduce her personal training expertise to the South African fitness community, leaving her disciple Lantz to continue teaching at Legion Hall in Laguna Beach.

Lantz, who respectfully refers to Zahava as her “mentor,” said that although her barefoot aerobics classes has been very popular for the past seven years and that they attract 20 to 35 people five days a week, they have met with some criticism.

Podiatrists and orthopedists have often warned that barefoot workouts are too stressful for the delicate bone structure of some foot types. Huntington Beach podiatrist Brian Kerns, for example, contends that many people have unstable foot structures, making them poor candidates for rigorous barefoot exercise.

Kerns cautioned that participants in this type of exercise should make sure before they kick off their sneakers that the floor they will be jumping on is able to absorb shock, and that they don’t have feet prone to injury. He added that because most people are unaware of their specific foot types, they may unwittingly be setting themselves up for harm with barefoot aerobics.

“In general, I would say it’s a better idea to wear some sort of protective footgear,” he said.

Although Dr. Peter Reynolds said that barefoot workouts have not brought many patients limping into his Huntington Beach orthopedic practice, he maintains that a blanket statement inviting all people to engage in this form of exercise is ill-advised.

“Athletic shoes align the feet properly and cushion the feet,” Reynolds said, adding that constant barefoot pounding on a gym floor surface could lead to stress fractures, tendinitis or muscle injury.

Reynolds, who specializes in sports medicine, said one of his patients suffered a stress fracture after running laps around a gym floor without shoes. His advice is to confront your sports agenda with moderation. “The idea with any workout is that you have to do it gradually,” Reynolds said.

He added that an experienced and knowledgeable instructor is also important. “If the instructors know what they are doing, they can modify their programs if they see problems or injuries in the class,” he said.

The barefoot workout, far from being limited to aerobics, has been a part of certain martial arts training for decades.

Brian Tate, senior instructor at the Korean Martial Arts Studio in Long Beach, has run barefoot periodically for the past 18 years with his pupils to toughen their soles “anytime they start to get soft.”

“In Korea, they don’t wear shoes,” said Tate, adding that he only wears slippers when an occasion for formal footwear presents itself.

However, running barefoot is not a training practice embraced by all Martial Arts students or instructors.

Peter Kim of the Hwarang-do studio in Huntington Beach warns that running barefoot to build calluses is not a good idea.

“It’s not good for your feet,” he cautioned; “it hurts your arch.”

But veterans of the barefoot workout say their feet and toes have stood the test of time.

“I’ve been working out with Christie and Zahava for about 11 years,” said one barefoot aerobics regular. “Dancers have been dancing for years and years, and the best thing (for your feet) is to be unencumbered.”

Carmine, who says she’s a recent barefoot aerobics convert, said she searched for months for a progressive dance workout before she discovered Lantz’s class.

“I looked everywhere,” Carmine said, adding that she observed several fitness classes in her search for the perfect workout after she moved to Laguna Beach from Chicago.

Weary of generic aerobic classes in pretentious atmospheres, Carmine thought she would give this barefoot class in Laguna Beach a try.

She was hooked.

“I asked if I could watch the whole class, and that night it went for two hours,” Carmine said. “By the end of the night, I knew this was it.”

As for injuries, Lantz said she and her students have had very few problems.

“I really don’t know of anyone in my class who has had any injuries, and I’ve been teaching this for seven or eight years.”

She tells all beginners to start out slowly, and to pause if the movements become too confusing.

“A couple of beginners get blisters,” Lantz said, “but those are the ones who never take off their shoes.”

Looking back, Lantz said her own feet have weathered well over the years, becoming transformed into a much tougher version of the pair she used to tie into those ballet toe shoes.

“I can walk on hot asphalt with these feet,” she said.