Minimalist footwear

[mtree]

I, too, am well aware of the "barefoot" point of view. Commonly lost in the discussion is the fact the "we" have grown up wearing shoes. Our feet have adapted to shoes. Reverse adaptation is not possible in most cases. We have grown to adults and our bones and muscles are about where they're going to be now. Trying to reverse this adaptation will likely result in more damage than good. Believe me, I tried. I guess I could have continued on the minimalist kick for another 10 years and see where it takes me. But I don't have the time or patience or an acceptable work atmosphere to further the pursuit. In the end, my results were less than stellar.

Toy with the 5-fingers if you want. Like I said, I found plenty of benefits in certain situations. They're just not practical for hiking or climbing on mixed terrain. Kinda like taking a Prius to Lake Como. With alot of extra effort you MIGHT be able to make it, but why bother?

[justiner]

I got a different moral from that book, especially given the only one who actually ran barefoot in that entire book was the nutter from California. I think McDougall's point was more about adopting a running form that avoids heel striking and that running barefoot is conducive to such a stride because heel striking would hurt like hell in those goofy ass Five Fingers.

That's probably a pretty good takeaway. If you look at the current fashion/trend of running shoes at the extreme end of things, it's away from minimalist, and more towards wide toebox, 0 drop, but plenty of cush.

I think even the, "heel strike worst thing in the world" idea has been debunked. You run like you run.

I would say that allowing your toes to spread out and to breath is a particularly good thing though. I don't know many (any?) barefoot runners, but jogging a few minutes on grass is still a nice PT exercise to do to strengthen your feet up. Wearing sandals when you can has benefits. Getting a pair of shoes that fits correctly in the toe box will most likely be in your favor.

[JaredJohnson]

I think even the, "heel strike worst thing in the world" idea has been debunked. You run like you run.

I ran like I ran, and it brought me only discomfort and I hated running until my early 30s. I tried the smelly five fingers just for fun without intending to run in them, but later my wife started running so I tried a little and soon found that I loved it.

This was with zero knowledge of running form before or after; I read up a little bit when attempting to explain to myself why all of a sudden running was pure joy for me. It certainly does seem like I experienced "reverse adaptation" and/or addressed "heel strike" or something, but who knows.

My wife later decided to try "minimalist footwear" out of curiosity, she got VFF's and loved them, but when I got her some 0-drop thin-sole merrells to avoid weird looks, she found them to be even more comfortable.

She got too busy for running but a few years later had really bad foot pain; she tried a good podiatrist but it was only mitigated when she got frustrated and tried switching to her merrells full time. She tried lunas as well but never got past the [initial?] pain they caused in her heels.

These are just anecdotes but I find them compelling because we both tried minimalist shoes as a novelty, then afterward found ourselves wondering why they seemed to be so darned therapeutic. Not a lot of confirmation bias in our cases.

Still, not for everybody I'm sure.

[justiner]

These are just anecdotes but I find them compelling because we both tried minimalist shoes as a novelty, then afterward found ourselves wondering why they seemed to be so darned therapeutic. Not a lot of confirmation bias in our cases.

Still, not for everybody I'm sure.

Totally. If it works for you, run with it

[dr_j]

It depends on what I’m hiking. But in general my combination is Chacos for regular trails, changing into trail running shoes or approach shoes for the more difficult terrain. Yeah it’s a bit heavy, but I haven’t tried the VFFs or Lunas / Earthrunners.

But I’m also doing more activities barefoot, like walking around town, and I’ve hiked several 14ers barefoot, and hopefully will do several more. My personal observation is that my feet have strengthened and my toes have spread out quite a bit. Less back pain as well, and I’m fairly comfortable in cold temperatures.

It would be cool to get a barefoot / minimalist crew together sometime.

[Steve2]

After four months of wearing and running in FiveFingers, I've found:

My feet, ankles and calves are stronger. I can definitely feel it. The difference is significant.

I like the way my feet can feel the ground. With regular running shoes, my feet felt more isolated from the ground. I don't have a problem with sharp rocks or sticks jabbing my feet, due to the Vibram sole on the fingers.

I now run exclusively on trails. I've given up running on pavement, which I would regularly do with my New Balance Leadville 100s. I don't know how the FiveFingers would do on pavement, but my hunch is that I wouldn't like it. Then again, I could be wrong and might be faster.

Also, if you have wide feet or bunions (I have both), order at least one size up. I had to send back my first pair, due to the regular size aggravating my bunions. They do not come in wide sizes.

[bergsteigen]

I didn’t wear shoes regularly until I moved to civilization for grad school. Ya know, glass and stuff.

I tried the five fingers years ago and didn’t quite like them. Too much of a pain in the tail to get my toes into the shoes. My trainer pointed me to Vivibarefoot shoes which are more like gloves. I’ll wear them exclusively on low elevation trails and for daily wear, but not for 13ers/14ers. Too many pointy rocks to roll over feet.

Hoping that wearing these type of shoes will make my feet as strong as they were as a kid. Shoes = dumb weak feet.

[kaiman]

I'm not a trail runner, but I've worn Altra Lone Peaks on a daily basis for work, hiking, backpacking, canyoneering and scrambling for the past four years and love them. I usually couple them with a pair of the Injinji NuWool toe socks and have remained blister free. Last year I wore them backpacking for nearly 500 miles on a Colorado Trail thruhike and 340 mile section of the Arizona Trail and they worked well for me. With the wide toe box and zero drop insole they are somewhat similar to minimalist shoes but provide more cushion, support, and protection on rocky trails/scrambling.

It does take a little bit of time to get used to the zero drop insoles if you are coming from more traditional trail runners or hiking boots, but I would highly recommend them if you are looking for something in between hiking boots and barefoot running shoes.

Kai

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