Would you like healthy and comfortable shoes not just for the city and outdoors, but also for sports? While there are many models of sports barefoot shoes, they aren't suitable for every discipline. Get the full picture with our guide, where we've broken down popular sporting activities.
You might be surprised at how well barefoot shoes work for sport. At least for recreational athletes, children, parents, and generally active people. If you compete at a professional or competitive level, always follow the rules of your sport and the recommendations of coaches and doctors.
Barefoot and sport
- Indoor sports: Can barefoot shoes handle quick direction changes and landings?
- Running: Does running in barefoot shoes hurt your feet?
- Gym: Why are barefoot shoes great for training?
- Cycling: What shoes for bikes, scooters, or balance bikes?
- Hiking: Are there better shoes for all-day hikes than heavy boots?
- Football: Are barefoot football boots a thing?
- Winter sports: What to wear after hockey or skiing?
- Specialist sports: Will your shoes keep you safe?
- Recovery: Let your feet rest actively
Indoor sports: Can barefoot shoes handle quick direction changes and landings?
Whether you play tennis, badminton, or squash, you need to move fast across the court. You equally need comfortable shoes for fast running in floorball and other indoor sports. The wide toe box of barefoot shoes allows better toe spread and function, but that doesn't mean your foot flaps around inside. A properly fitting shoe holds firmly around the ankle and heel, so it won't slide even during quick braking.
The vast majority of sports barefoot shoes will serve you well on the court and in the sports hall, meeting all your needs. Depending on the surface, we recommend choosing different tread patterns (the smoother the surface, the less tread you need – but the sole shouldn't be completely smooth either, or it'll be slippery).
A separate question is running itself (discussed below). If you recklessly heel-strike at speed, opt for cushioned shoes rather than barefoot for indoor sports (which typically have hard wooden floors). While professional basketball shoes from Xero Shoes do exist, in ordinary barefoot trainers, repeated hard heel-strikes could lead to serious injury.
This is even more relevant if you frequently jump and land from height during your sport. In basketball, volleyball, or handball, barefoot shoes will never launch you as high into the air as cushioned ones, nor will they protect your heel from landing impact. Even so, try to find at least the most flexible shoes with the widest toe box in shops, so your foot can work more effectively.
Running: Does running in barefoot shoes hurt your feet?
Running in barefoot shoes requires a midfoot landing, so you first need to get used to a different style of movement. If you were to heel-strike while running in barefoot shoes, overuse injuries or pain would likely appear quickly.
Indigenous tribes around the world show, however, that in minimalist footwear (or even completely barefoot) you can achieve incredible running performance. We definitely recommend all runners give it a try – you might even prevent injuries this way.
Learn to run in barefoot shoes
While for adults we stock the Altra brand, for children we recommend brands like Geox, Xero or Joma. They have a wide toe box and a flat sole (zero drop, like barefoot shoes)
If you do athletics professionally, you'll need specialist spikes for most disciplines just to keep up with your competitors. To maintain healthy fitness, it helps to take off your sports shoes right after the event and let your feet relax in roomier barefoot shoes (or completely barefoot).
Gym: Why are barefoot shoes great for training?
We recommend barefoot shoes for the gym wholeheartedly. Athletes often choose Vivobarefoot, or work out solely in Skinners sock-shoes. When lifting weights, you need stability above all, so you'll appreciate that:
- The wide toe box of barefoot shoes allows your toes to spread. When doing push-ups, you naturally spread your fingers into a fan for a more stable base. It works the same way with your feet.
- Thanks to the low sole, you're closer to the ground. You lift weights upward by bracing the rest of your body in the opposite direction (into the floor). When there's no foam sole between your foot and the ground, your base is firmer.
- You have a non-slip sole. You could also work out barefoot, but a sweaty foot might slip on the mat – something that won't happen in barefoot shoes.
On the other hand, go completely barefoot on the exercise mat. For yoga or pilates, skip the socks entirely – they'd only make things slippery and restrict your toes. It's also about the feeling of being grounded, that direct contact with the surface that a shoe sole normally denies us.
Cycling: What shoes for bikes, scooters, or balance bikes?
Let's distinguish cycling from riding a bike. Cyclists need special shoes that clip into the pedals, and after the ride, their feet again need adequate relaxation in wider barefoot shoes. On the other hand, for everyday riders, barefoot trainers are perfectly fine for cycling – just make sure the wider toe box points outward from the pedal, not inward toward the chain.
When it comes to sport, we don't forget the little ones either. They happily zoom around on balance bikes or scooters, but then you discover they've worn their shoes right through in a single day. It's hard to explain to them that they should be careful, so it's better to choose shoes that can handle it. We recommend looking for barefoot shoes with a bumper toe cap. You'll recognise them at first glance – they have a rubber protective layer around the entire sole, especially at the toe, that prevents wear-through.
Hiking: Are there better shoes for all-day hikes than heavy boots?
If you think that sturdy ankle-high hiking boots with thick soles are the best choice for hiking, you might be surprised by the arguments for taking outdoor barefoot shoes on your hikes instead:
- The flexible sole of barefoot shoes allows the foot to bend naturally around obstacles (rocks, roots, branches, ruts, …). Meanwhile, the rigid sole of hiking boots tends to slide off them (risking a sprained ankle).
- Stiff hiking boots hold the toes and ankle in a fixed position, transferring the load to the knee and hips. In barefoot shoes, all parts of the musculoskeletal system work actively.
- Barefoot shoes are more comfortable and lighter, which becomes a significant difference as the kilometres add up. It's no coincidence that endurance walkers scrutinise every gram of their gear.
Football: Are barefoot football boots a thing?
If you're looking for professional barefoot football boots, we'll have to disappoint you. On grass, you need a sole with studs for acceleration and a firm upper for powerful kicks. Barefoot trainers are generally too soft for football.
On the other hand, at the end of 2025, the traditional sports shoe manufacturer Joma launched a new barefoot collection. It maintains barefoot principles – a flat, flexible sole and a wide toe box – while also featuring the sporty elements of football boots that deliver better performance than ordinary trainers. They're more than enough for recreational-level football, and for artificial turf they've even developed special turf shoes with a grippy tread for quick direction changes.
Winter sports: What to wear after hockey or skiing?
People used to strap skate blades onto regular shoes, but let's be honest – barefoot ice skates and ski boots don't exist. Winter sports footwear needs to be rigid and inflexible, which fundamentally goes against the barefoot shoe principle, and there's no point in looking for half-measures.
Focus instead on the shoes you put on after taking off your skates or ski boots. Have you noticed how many hockey players walk around the changing room in rubber flip-flops? They have a low, flat sole and allow you to beautifully stretch out your cramped toes. Barefoot shoes follow the same principle, and we recommend them for the journey from the stadium (or the frozen pond) home.
Specialist sports: Will your shoes keep you safe?
As a general rule, all specialist shoes for individual sports bring not only better performance but also safety features. In such cases, it's better to protect your overall health rather than agonising over temporary footwear discomfort.
For example, if you ride a motorbike, a go-kart, or another racing vehicle, you definitely need racing boots. Not only are they designed for better pedal control, but they also feature fire and injury protection – risks that are many times greater than in everyday traffic. For an ordinary car, however, you can wear barefoot shoes without any worries.
The same applies to rock climbing or climbing walls. If you want secure footholds, you need professional climbing shoes, where the foot's power is concentrated into a single point at the toe. However, Czech climbing and barefoot shoe manufacturer Saltic has developed a special climbing shoe model that offers greater toe comfort in a wider toe box while retaining most of the essential climbing shoe properties. According to professionals, they're an excellent choice for beginners.
Recovery: Let your feet rest actively
Whether you're cramming your feet into specialist shoes during sport or enjoying the freedom of barefoot shoes, your feet need enough space to recover after exertion. What do we mean by active recovery?
- Foot exercises – there are many exercises that will mobilise and release your entire foot.
- Toe correctors – alignment socks will help you spread out cramped toes.
- Foot-strengthening footwear – barefoot shoes let your feet work actively, strengthening their arches, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.