Something’s Afoot: Why Foot Strength Matters

September 25, 2026•4 min read

Weekly Wisdom #62

September 24, 2026

My first bout of plantar fasciitis persisted for the better (arguably worse) part of a year.

If you’ve suffered from this before, you know exactly how much it sucks. Running becomes almost unbearably painful. Jumping, Olympic lifting, even walking hurt. The first few steps every morning are excruciating.

There’s nothing like waking up to railroad spikes being hammered into your heel.

An Accidental Cure?

By a stroke of good fortune, I managed to short-circuit my second case of plantar fasciitis before it became debilitating.

It happened by accident.

It was summer, and Sunghee and I had gotten into the habit of making a weekly visit to Acadia Beach here in Vancouver. We liked to travel barefoot from log to log, trying to cover as much distance as possible without having to touch our feet to the rocky beach. Of course, there were stretches where the lack of logs forced us to hop stone-to-stone, but it was a fun game.

And it seemed to alleviate the pain in my heel, deactivating the plantar fasciitis before it really took hold.

At the time, I thought it was an interesting but unimportant anecdote.

Now I’m not so sure.

Start With the Feet

As the science around fascia develops, the emphasis on foot health is growing. We’re seeing elite coaches and athletes, as well as medical researchers, beginning to address full-body health and athletic performance by first developing the feet.

Everyone from brilliant madman David Weck to UFC great Georges St-Pierre to fascia expert Chong Xie is adopting a foot-first approach to optimizing health and performance.

If you’ve never been exposed to this before, it may sound a bit out there. But the research is compelling and confirms some ancient medical practices.

So how do these pros train feet?

One surprisingly simple method is having athletes step on PVC pipe.

Your Feet Weren’t Built for Flat Surfaces

Our feet were not built for flat surfaces but for adjusting themselves to the contours of the ground.

(And no, you flat-earthers, the world is not flat!)

Think about what the human foot was designed to do: navigate rocks, roots, slopes, sand and uneven terrain. The muscles of the foot had to constantly adapt to the surface beneath them.

Modern life has largely removed that challenge.

We spend our days walking on flat floors, sidewalks and pavement, usually wearing cushioned, supportive shoes. The result is foot muscle atrophy that can wreak havoc farther up the kinetic chain.

The foot is, after all, where your body meets the ground.

Weakness or dysfunction there doesn't necessarily stay there. What happens at the foot can influence how we move through the ankles, knees, hips and beyond.

This is why foot strength belongs in the conversation about functional fitness, mobility and healthy aging. Strong, capable feet matter whether you’re running, jumping, Olympic lifting, hiking Vancouver trails or simply trying to move confidently and independently as you age.

Functional Fitness Starts From the Ground Up

Performance industry leaders are reducing injuries and improving athletic outcomes with nothing more complicated than PVC pipe.

Fascinating, yes.

But I just cannot see myself spending time standing on a piece of PVC.

Not when I live on Canada’s beautiful West Coast.

Why simulate barefoot walking in nature when I have the real thing just outside my back door?

Our rocky Vancouver beaches, sand, logs and uneven terrain offer exactly the kinds of challenges our feet rarely encounter in everyday life.

Balance on a log. Navigate some rocks. Walk across the sand. Let your feet adapt to something other than a perfectly flat floor.

This is functional fitness in its most basic form: developing a body that can interact confidently with the real world.

And it becomes increasingly important as we age.

Strength training isn't just about lifting more weight. Mobility isn't just about stretching farther. Fitness is about maintaining the physical capacity, resilience and confidence to keep doing the things you want to do.

Your feet are part of that equation.

Nature’s Jungle Gym

All this recent research seems to confirm my anecdotal results from several years ago, reminding me that I need to get back outside more often to enjoy nature’s jungle gym unshod.

You should consider trying it too.

Avoid hard, flat surfaces. Give your feet something to do.

Here in Vancouver, our rocky beaches and washed-up tree trunks are some of the best places to rebuild your foot strength naturally.

Just be mindful of broken glass, sharp wires and other man-made hazards.

Sometimes improving movement doesn’t require another piece of sophisticated fitness equipment.

Sometimes you just need to take off your shoes.