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These shoes are awesome. I want.

iOrlando said:
i still think those shows are hideous looking. If i wanted something to wear around the house so my feet dont get dirty..sure..whatever..but I wouldnt get caught wearing those outdoors. Sure some guys like wearing different things to stand out and get that "cool" factor, but those shoes will not give you any "cool" factor.
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What? You think I got these things to be cool? I got them because of what they do for my fitness level. And you know what's cool about being fit? You get laid. A lot. And you don't even need cool clothes, just jeans and a tight t-shirt. Works every time. Because nobody's looking at your clothes when you're in good shape. They're thinking about what's under them.

Oh- and you feel great when you're in shape, and it's good for your health too. ;)

BTW- the woman at the store where I got mine said that they've been selling out as fast as they can get them.

iOrlando said:
and i dont believe that those shoes help/aid in running/exercise etc. Charts and graphs do nothing for me.

If olympians and marathron runners start using them, that will give me all the answers to my questions and from what I see, no one uses these competitively.
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You need to do more research then. Barefoot runners are competing, and winning.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes/

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-400--12828-0,00.html

There's lots more links than that.


iOrlando said:
anyone wear that in Miami beach, you be laughed out of town and I even wear waterproof shoes so that i can walk on the sand and just go straight into the water, and people give me looks with that.
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So what? You care what other people think?

Iscariot said:
Human arches (are supposed to) develop during infancy and early childhood and are a complex tensegrital relationship between the bones, muscles and tendons of the entire lower leg, and the health of your arches not only impacts your feet and knees but your entire pelvic basin as well. A jammed up tarsal-metatarsal joint for example can shut down your entire glute med, which in turn can jam up your entire thoracic cage and lock your diaphragm. It's entirely possible to facilitate positive change in hip and back issues by working with the feet. That said, while there is strong evidence that a. shoes deteriorate arches and b. barefoot (and barefoot technology) can help strengthen them, the human body evolved at a time where life expectancy didn't go much past 40; shoes may stunt arch development but they might also stunt serious arch deterioration.
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Yes. As you know I have arthritis in both knees, and I was told to really be careful. The first day I wore them, my knees did hurt. Now at the end of the week, not only do they feel great, they feel stronger.
 
rdowns said:
Cool factor? Laughed out of town? People give me looks? Grow up.
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haha you act like i'm the only one in the world that would *gasp* care about what others think of me. I am pretty confident you care about what others think of you, you just may not know it. If you truly didnt care what anyone cared about you, you would take a shower when you felt the need (most likely not everyday), you wouldnt comb your hair, you would wear any type of clothing as long as it feels good, etc. I doubt you do that. We all, in one way or another, live our days portraying an image that we want others to see.

And i enjoy being young, I dont want to grow older.

leekohler said:
What? You think I got these things to be cool? I got them because of what they do for my fitness level. And you know what's cool about being fit? You get laid. A lot. And you don't even need cool clothes, just jeans and a tight t-shirt. Works every time. Because nobody's looking at your clothes when you're in good shape. They're thinking about what's under them.

Oh- and you feel great when you're in shape, and it's good for your health too. ;)

BTW- the woman at the store where I got mine said that they've been selling out as fast as they can get them.



You need to do more research then. Barefoot runners are competing, and winning.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/05/07/vibram-five-fingers-shoes/

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-400--12828-0,00.html

There's lots more links than that.




So what? You care what other people think?



Yes. As you know I have arthritis in both knees, and I was told to really be careful. The first day I wore them, my knees did hurt. Now at the end of the week, not only do they feel great, they feel stronger.
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Tim Ferris? Please. He's a self-promotional geek who's ego can blow up the biggest balloon.

I did read the links you set up. That one guy with the diary even says these shows are not for marathons or anything over 10 miles or so.

Sure, you will hear about average joes wearing these and liking them, but I think there can be a placebo effect occurring here to a certain degree.

show me an olympian or marathon (winner) and I associate that the best of the best would know if there was an advantage in wearing these shoes, but they aren't wearing them.

I'm not saying the shoes must be horrible for running, but I wouldnt go so far as saying they are better than regular shoes.
 
iOrlando said:
haha you act like i'm the only one in the world that would *gasp* care about what others think of me. I am pretty confident you care about what others think of you, you just may not know it. If you truly didnt care what anyone cared about you, you would take a shower when you felt the need (most likely not everyday), you wouldnt comb your hair, you would wear any type of clothing as long as it feels good, etc. I doubt you do that. We all, in one way or another, live our days portraying an image that we want others to see.

And i enjoy being young, I dont want to grow older.
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Then you better keep yourself in shape. Because you're going to get older, no matter what. It's up to you how you look when you get older though. I like how I look now. Much better than when I was in my early 20's. If someone told me then that I'd still be getting hit on by hot 21 year old college students at my age, I would have laughed. But let me tell you, I'm glad I do.




iOrlando said:
Tim Ferris? Please. He's a self-promotional geek who's ego can blow up the biggest balloon.

I did read the links you set up. That one guy with the diary even says these shows are not for marathons or anything over 10 miles or so.

Sure, you will hear about average joes wearing these and liking them, but I think there can be a placebo effect occurring here to a certain degree.

show me an olympian or marathon (winner) and I associate that the best of the best would know if there was an advantage in wearing these shoes, but they aren't wearing them.

I'm not saying the shoes must be horrible for running, but I wouldnt go so far as saying they are better than regular shoes.
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Keep doing your research. I did before I got them. And the link I gave you was from one marathoner. There are more.

http://www.google.com/search?q=vibr...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
 
iOrlando said:
And i enjoy being young, I dont want to grow older.
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Nobody does, but the big secret nobody believes is that you enjoy being older a lot more than you think you will, and a big part of that is doing what you feel like and not feeling like it's the end of the world if some random idiot on the street thinks badly of you.

iOrlando said:
show me an olympian or marathon (winner) and I associate that the best of the best would know if there was an advantage in wearing these shoes, but they aren't wearing them.
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These shoes had not been invented, but in 1960 Abebe Bikila became the first African to win the Olympic marathon, running barefoot. You're welcome to wait and see if these shoes in particular gain popularity among competitive runners, but given proper conditioning the biomechanical viability of a foot that is free to move naturally is not in question.
 
Gelfin said:
Nobody does, but the big secret nobody believes is that you enjoy being older a lot more than you think you will, and a big part of that is doing what you feel like and not feeling like it's the end of the world if some random idiot on the street thinks badly of you.
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That's for sure. You couldn't pay me to go back to my 20's. They really were hard years.



Gelfin said:
These shoes had not been invented, but in 1960 Abebe Bikila became the first African to win the Olympic marathon, running barefoot. You're welcome to wait and see if these shoes in particular gain popularity among competitive runners, but given proper conditioning the biomechanical viability of a foot that is free to move naturally is not in question.
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Exactly- what these give you is the ability to go essentially go barefoot almost anywhere you want. I don't care if they look like gorilla feet. They're already working wonders after one week. I can't wait to see where I am in six months.
 
iOrlando said:
show me an olympian or marathon (winner) and I associate that the best of the best would know if there was an advantage in wearing these shoes, but they aren't wearing them.
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You shouldn't be using an olympian sprinter or a marathon runner as a measure of physical health, or any high-level professional athlete for that matter. They train and equip themselves for performance, often at the expense of their health, and they do so under the guidance of top-level trainers, osteopaths, sports doctors, nutritionists and other related experts. Unless you are training to be an elite athlete, you shouldn't be training like an elite athlete.
Gelfin said:
but given proper conditioning the biomechanical viability of a foot that is free to move naturally is not in question.
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Well, that's not necessarily true. Evolution doesn't make things "best", merely "good enough". It's possible that the biomechanical viability of a foot will deteriorate much more sharply with modern lifespans than evolution has prepared us for, especially when examined in the context of artificial flooring and roads being virtually omnipresent.
leekohler said:
Yes. As you know I have arthritis in both knees, and I was told to really be careful. The first day I wore them, my knees did hurt. Now at the end of the week, not only do they feel great, they feel stronger.
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I kind of wish I'd had the opportunity to do some manual muscle testing and other functional assessments before and after your shoe change.
 
skunk said:
I already have that. :)
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Even on broken glass? ;)

Iscariot said:
I kind of wish I'd had the opportunity to do some manual muscle testing and other functional assessments...
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That post was such a turn-on I almost had to go change my underwear. :)

But seriously, that would be interesting info to know. I was feeling major change today. I can't even adequately describe it.
 
wow
so many people dismiss something because of how it looks.

Every person I know who has these has noticed that they feel better after a few weeks of use. Knee and lower back problems are reduced.

anyone who has walked around barefoot knows how nice that is, these shoes allow you to do that safely almost anywhere. So what if they are " ugly"
they do their job.

Crocs are ugly too , but if you stand for 10 hours on concrete floor in lab , you just dont give a damn what your shoes look like.

its what they FEEL like.
and these feel absolutely amazing

go try them. then come back and tell us about the ugly uncool shoes.
 
skunk said:
You betcha. Broken glass, four inch nails, snow, hot coals, you name it. I have been working on building sites in bare feet for thirty-five years. :)
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And you are also super-human. :)

Leareth said:
wow
so many people dismiss something because of how it looks.

Every person I know who has these has noticed that they feel better after a few weeks of use. Knee and lower back problems are reduced.

anyone who has walked around barefoot knows how nice that is, these shoes allow you to do that safely almost anywhere. So what if they are " ugly"
they do their job.

Crocs are ugly too , but if you stand for 10 hours on concrete floor in lab , you just dont give a damn what your shoes look like.

its what they FEEL like.
and these feel absolutely amazing

go try them. then come back and tell us about the ugly uncool shoes.
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Exactly. I get funny looks at the gym and I don't care. It feels great.
 
hey Lee

I was wondering how you feel about the shoes now that you have had them for a while?

I just got another pair of KSO's and and breaking myself/ them in right now.
 
I play AAA hockey and have been given a pair of these to test.

4342993270_68b8fbb86b.jpg


They are the best athletic shoe I have ever owned. They look horrific, but they are mighty comfortable and light.
 
OMG, I just came across this post. A guy showed up at work with these (original post) one day when I was working at a game studio. No, he wasn't going into motion capture as some web-footed creature.

He said they give the benefits of bare-foot running without the dangers.

We all thought he was crazy, but gave him kudos for having the guts to wear them into work. ;)
 
leekohler said:
OK- first review using these thing during a workout:

Whoa- I wore these for a few days around the house to get used to them BUT- ease into to these things people. I felt muscles I haven't been aware of since modern dance class in college.

My feet and calves are sore. We as a species do not use our feet much. We bind them up in shoes that don't let us use our toes properly and they're atrophied! I was aware of every step and everything my feet were doing. I actually had to think about how I use my feet. Every step and every exercise I was aware of what they were doing.

Now- none of this is bad by any means. Quite the contrary! The soreness is good soreness. The only downside was having to put regular shoes back on. My feet were instantly angry with me for that. :)

Just be careful and go slow. I consider myself to be in excellent condition physically, and these things still made me sore. But these are the sacrifices we make to stay in shape. ;)

I gotta tell you- I love these things. Next test is Sunday at the climbing wall.
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How flexible are the toes? I have very hooked little toes, the joints rest at right angles so if I were to get a pair of these I'd have to know that they'd sit comfortably in that position.

Your comment on using them reminding you of modern dance intrigues me as I dance a lot and my toes tend to be the first casualties, they're what hurt the most as they're just not something I can practically exercise that much, unless I had shoes like those that is.

edit: also, how's the arch support? I can't dance without gel inserts as if I do I won't be able to walk for a day or two afterwards, I have very arched feet.

skunk said:
I already have that. :)
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I wish, though mine are reasonably tough.

leekohler said:
Even on broken glass? ;)
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glass is easy, you just need enough of a callous and it won't pierce the skin to the point of making you bleed anymore, the biggest issue I find is long term wear, if you're not used to it walking on abrasive surfaces can get too much for you.

skunk said:
You betcha. Broken glass, four inch nails, snow, hot coals, you name it. I have been working on building sites in bare feet for thirty-five years. :)
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Consider me envious, I hate shoes with a passion and I don't have the guts to walk bare foot into university or around town, I only ever do it when on holiday, around the house/garden/workshop and occasionally in parks.
 
Surely said:
Here's a pro your-new-shoes blog-post/article that I found today:

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/31/barefoot-runners-gai.html

This is a cool comparison pic:

100127134241.jpg
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Heres's Wired Magazine's review on Youtube of these shoes showing video comparisons of this in action, ie, the standard shoe makes you hit heel-first with your calf/shin absorbing the impact, while barefoot/Fivefingers you hit ball/flat first and the foot arch absorbs the impact and springs back up again. I guess what they mean about humans being 'designed' to run barefoot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7mELaYQ-uI&feature=fvw

It actually makes every modern running shoe ever made look... wrong... Go back to the pre-war Olympics to see the running shoes they wore then are more similar to these Fivefingers. Just thin leather coverings with no soles to speak of like in the movie Chariots of Fire:

chariots%20of%20fire%202.jpg
 
Mord said:
How flexible are the toes? I have very hooked little toes, the joints rest at right angles so if I were to get a pair of these I'd have to know that they'd sit comfortably in that position.

Your comment on using them reminding you of modern dance intrigues me as I dance a lot and my toes tend to be the first casualties, they're what hurt the most as they're just not something I can practically exercise that much, unless I had shoes like those that is.

edit: also, how's the arch support? I can't dance without gel inserts as if I do I won't be able to walk for a day or two afterwards, I have very arched feet.
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There is absolutely no arch support. That's part of the point. Our arches are atrophied because we don't use them. These shoes take a a lot of getting used to. Your feet will be very sore the first few weeks of use, trust me. But what you notice is the strength and balance you gain. It's a big difference.
 
I love my classics. Awesome for road running, track running, on the water at the lake, and surprisingly climbing.
 
injinji-toe-socks-sm.jpg


I first started wearing Injinji toe socks when I began working out in the previously reviewed Vibram Five Fingers. However, it didn't take me long to realize the benefits of wearing them with normal shoes as well.

When worn with traditional shoes these socks provide a barrier of fabric between your toes that cuts down on moisture and friction thereby preventing the formation of blisters. While hiking you can wear them with another pair of traditional socks layered over them for added warmth and comfort.

For anybody interested in wearing Vibram Five Fingers, these are a must-have as they significantly cut down on the well-known odor problem. The toe socks that I ordered are a wool poly-blend (they make them with a variety of different fabrics) that do a great job of keeping my feet dry while running and minimize any odors. I have only blistered once since wearing them; and that was on the third day of the fantastic Lost Coast hike which included wet sand, mountain climbing, and soaked feet. They make the already comfy VFFs even better, especially in the winter when the minimal protection leads to chilly feet.

The only downsides to these socks are that they wear quicker than traditional pairs, they are more expensive, it takes a little longer to put them on, and it is all too easy to mix up left and right when doing the laundry.

I love my toe-socks, and I highly recommend them to anybody who wears VFFs, easily blisters while hiking or running, or is simply looking for a more comfortable alternative to traditional socks.
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link
 
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