June 2026

Minimalist vs Maximalist Running Shoes

Way back at the beginning of the century, a popular book based on anthropological research into Southwest American indigenous people who ran long distances claimed that non-supportive footwear is good if not better for the feet than what we’ve grown accustomed to: $120-$180 sneakers that cushion and stabilize the foot. Ongoing studies have found that foot and knee injuries to runners have held pretty consistent since these fancy shoes were introduced in the 1970s. Yet thin-soled shoes of the Tarahumara Indians didn’t lead to the rate of injuries modern runners experienced. Why?

Subsequent studies have investigated the whys and wherefores of running styles and how shoes impact foot and knee patterns and injuries. In general, when the foot is minimally supported, the muscles get stronger and do their jobs and stabilize the many joints of the foot. The minimalist shoe now had its motives and its methods. We, of course, have covered these issues since almost Day 1 here, here, here and here.

Yet, over the years, people kept getting hurt, even with these shoes and the recommended shorter-stride length gait patterns they encourage. Hence the maximalist shoe, one that offers nearly an inch of lightweight cushioning. But do these reduce injuries, some researchers wanted to know.

They compared “plantar pressure [PP], peak forefoot [PFP] and rearfoot [PRP] pressure, center of pressure displacement [CoPdisp] and distance [CoPdist] between maximal and traditional running shoes” in recreational runners.

They found that PFP was “significantly lower in the maximal shoe” while CoPdisp and CoPdist were also “significantly shorter in the maximal shoe.“

In sum, the “findings  suggest that maximal shoes may help with load management for injuries where decreased forefoot plantar pressure is desired.” Oy… 

J Sci Med Sport, Nov. 2025

Groin Muscle Training: Overlooked Yet Critical

The hip adductors/groin muscles are often under-appreciated…until you injure them. There are 4 of them and a couple of them impact more than just the hip; they affect the knee, too. However, most injuries to these muscles occur when the leg suddenly goes off to the side, such as when cutting in tennis, football, soccer…and pickleball. Got your attention yet? These muscles, originating on the pelvic bone, control the leg from deviating too far away from the midline but, when the foot is on the ground, they help stabilize the pelvis itself.

So, while many athletes and fitness aficionados attend to the quadriceps on the front of the thigh, and the gluteals on the rear (literally) and side of the hip, and the hamstrings on the back of the thigh, they often forget to work the adductors, much to their chagrin when they get hurt.

So a team of researchers assessed 8 common hip adductor exercises to see which ones were best for training such relevant but rarely studied variables such as fiber lengths, fiber velocities, and activations.

Traditional deadlifts and sumo deadlifts (with feet turned outward) were top-notch exercises for the adductor magnus and gracilis. The lateral slide, on a slide board or with glider disks, was deemed a Tier 2 exercise for all the adductors. The side-lying bottom-leg leg raise stimulated the adductors brevis and longus but not the magnus and gracilis. Squats were effective for the gracilis and adductors magnus and longus. Step ups were good for the gracilis but so-so on the 3 adductors.

The hands down winner was the straight-leg Copenhagen exercise; it got them all. And it is a real challenge. Lying on your side with the top leg on the edge of a chair, propping the upper body on the elbow and forearm of the bottom side, you raise the entire body up and down.

Do these for a few weeks and now go play pickleball.                                   

MSSE Apr. 2026

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