DISCLAIMER: The following is largely a rant about cushioned shoes ruining a generation. I still do a fair bit of my training in this type of shoe, especially my long runs. I get away with it by being very mindful of the habits the shoes I run in can cause.
Below the knee? Are there even that many muscles down there? Yes. Lots. And they are really important for running health and balance. If you find yourself with foot, calf, knee, or even hip problems, you may be able to solve them by strengthening the base which you land on with each stride.
A quick anatomy lesson:
There are three compartments to the lower leg, or as we kinesiology kids call it, the leg (the thigh doesn't count as the leg for some reason...). These compartments are the posterior (rear) compartment which is primarily made up of the two calf muscles (they point your toe), the lateral (outside) compartment which has the muscles that move your foot laterally (outwards) and the anterior compartment which has the muscles that pull your foot up and medially (inwards).
The foot also has a tonne of muscles and ligaments which are important to your leg stability. Since the foot flattens out every time you take a step, these muscles and ligaments are important shock absorbers as well. Some of the muscles originate within the foot and other start on the leg.
Long story short, this is a really complicated area and that means there are lots of ways it can get injured. It also means there are lots of ways to strengthen the area.
A case for minimalistic shoes
Back in the days of yore, running barefoot or in your Birkenstocks were the only two options. In those days, people had strong feet and calves. They didn't get injured because every where they went, they were training these areas.
These days we wear our Asics everywhere we go. The shoes are named after clouds. CLOUDS. Thats how much cushion they have. They have arches that are packed with support so that your foot doesn't flatten out like it should and atrophy ensues. Its not over yet, woah no. Look at your running shoes and you'll see why they aren't cool to wear outside of your training group. They flair out at the bottom in this big fat wide base. They're designed so that you don't have to balance from side to side because you get this huge base of support.
They take it one step farther though. You add all this heel cushioning in and suddenly you have no need for your body's own natural shock absorber--your calves. When people ran barefoot everywhere, they landed on their forefoot and used their calves (and the flattening of the foot itself) to absorb the impact. Don't believe me? Look at a Kenyan. They still run barefoot and guess where they land. We don't have to forefoot run anymore because we have these big fancy (heavy) shoes, so we land on our heels out of laziness. Its less efficient, but its easier, because its pretty much walking. I for one, won't be a part of it.
My point: we don't use any muscles from the knee down anymore and its the shoe company's fault. They've started to realize this now though, and now you see minimalist running shoes on the market. They should really just be called normal shoes and let the big clunky trainers be called maximalist running shoes.
The problem is that nobody is used to running in minimalist shoes, so they're all going to get injured if they don't watch out. This is where the strength part comes in. Not just strength of muscles though, strength of ligaments and bones is included here.
So in one sentence, here is my message: To stay injury free, be in the best shape of your life from the knee down. You'll prevent overuse injuries because your natural impact absorbers will take care of all that. You'll prevent knee injuries because your improved balance will prevent any rotational and sheer forces. Finally, you'll fatigue slower because your running technique will never break down.
Great, Tim, now make this useful for me. Okay, here are some exercises.
1. minimalist running - don't go too far: build from 1 km up to 5 km
-run barefoot on a beach, grass, or a good, new track
-run in minimalist shoes, flats or some old tennis shoes with no support left in them
-do sprints, bounding, jumping, plyometrics and sideways running (theres a name for it, but its beyond me today)
2. calf strength
-do lots of calf raises
-do them on one leg to help your balance and strengthen the anterior and lateral muscles of your leg
-do them with a bent knee to target your solius (one of the calf muscles--it is extremely important to a forefoot landing). This will also help your medial (inner) quadriceps which play an important roll in keeping your knee cap in line
-do them barefoot to strengthen your feet
3. do single leg work
-balance on one leg
-squats and dead lifts on one leg -- make sure your knee stays above your toes rather than falling inwards
-use a balance pad or bosu ball on one leg
-do these barefoot too
*******MAY 25*********
So I thought I'd add this as an afterthought. Basically, be very, very, very careful with barefoot running.
I just read an article on triathlete.com about barefoot running injuries. THEY HAPPEN. More frequently lately. So make darn sure you're not even close to damaging your body from it. Here's the article:
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2011/05/training/the-barefoot-running-injury-epidemic_29710
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