Saw a guy yesterday getting out of his electric car wearing what appeared to be sandal like things, but as he got closer it was apparent they had no sole and really only covered the tops of his feet. Here's an example:

Shoe thingys?



I'm clearly not a member of the tribe, but I hadn't seen that before. I guess it's a thing, and I'm sure they've made up some quaint goundless justification, but this shit just gets weirder and weirder. I'm sure they're ready to picket the restaurants that won't let them dine in.

Goofy hippies.

The electric car should have been the first clue.

P.T. Barnum was right.

"They're better for you feet." If you don't know it's because you're a philistine.



It's like the guy at a party wearing a tiny hat that points it toward you until you ask about it.

Ugh, is bad enough I have to see grody feet in disgusting flip flops, now this? Clean your nasty feet and try some lotion.

There are very progressive!

Ha! $65.
Looks like it's a work around so they can enter places w/o wearing shoes.

Cody Lundin don't need no hippie shoes.

Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen


Merle Haggard.

That’s just weird.

They are actually pretty good. I know a 95 yo woman who wears them part of the time. When she has them on, her knees feel much better.

Near by me there is an entire trail running club that wears them, or nothing on their feet at all.

That's crazy !! No protection from whatever is on the sidewalk?

I'm sorry I don't understand... What exactly is the point of these?

That's weird...haven't seen that, I like "minimalist" sole shoes like these: https://xeroshoes.com/shop/act...erformance/prio-men/

Barefoot running is becoming a "thing" in the Runners World. The reason behind it is it will eliminate the heel strike when running and allow one to use the Rebound Energy stored in the Achilles Tendons to help reduce the energy required for each step. To put it simply it forces the runner to adopt a more efficient means of running by using the balls of their feet. Another upside of running this way is that it reduces the impact loading on the knees.

The downside is that it can take many years to build up the Achilles Tendons so they are strong enough to withstand the additional load. Try and push this along too fast and you can end up with a torn Achilles that can take years to heal completely or in older individuals it could cripple them for life.

As for these "shoes" they are a LOT different that Barefoot Running shoes. With barefoot running it's either all bare or highly wear resistant thin "slippers" with a high traction layer on the soles. I suspect that these "shoes" would wear out within 25 or 30 miles so IMO they are a waste of good money.

Ridiculous.

quote:

Originally posted by Scooter123:
Barefoot running is becoming a "thing" in the Runners World. The reason behind it is it will eliminate the heel strike when running and allow one to use the Rebound Energy stored in the Achilles Tendons to help reduce the energy required for each step. To put it simply it forces the runner to adopt a more efficient means of running by using the balls of their feet. Another upside of running this way is that it reduces the impact loading on the knees.

The downside is that it can take many years to build up the Achilles Tendons so they are strong enough to withstand the additional load. Try and push this along too fast and you can end up with a torn Achilles that can take years to heal completely or in older individuals it could cripple them for life.

As for these "shoes" they are a LOT different that Barefoot Running shoes. With barefoot running it's either all bare or highly wear resistant thin "slippers" with a high traction layer on the soles. I suspect that these "shoes" would wear out within 25 or 30 miles so IMO they are a waste of good money.

I just read an article today on minimalist running. They asked a bunch of them if they are heel or forefoot strikers. Predictably, they all said "forefoot." Then they studied their gait...and a third of them were actually heel striking in minimalist shoes! They had a 37% increase in impact forces over heel striking in normal running shoes.

Anyway, gist of the article is that simply wearing minimalist shoes does not automatically make you have proper running form (it helps with proprioreception which should help give feedback on your form). They key is to land with your foot below your center of gravity which is typically dictated by a cadence of 180 steps per minute. This can (and should) be the goal no matter what type of running shoes you wear.

I like minimalist shoes for general workouts (or barefoot) for stability and more maximal shoes for running like Hokas...but I'm working on getting my cadence up to 180 and a mid to forefoot strike below my CoG.

I volunteered at a 100 mile ultra last month and saw one guy running in minimal sandals...

What will they think of next...one of these days they will have socks with toes knitted in

Brought to us by Millennials smoking crack. Gesh

Barefoot running or, minimal footwear has been around for a long time (see Zola Budd '84 Olympics), it only recently became popular with the publication of the best selling book Born to Run. The basic premise is that humans inherently are able to run/walk with minimal amount of padding and support underfoot, as a number of the remaining primitive groups in Mexico and S.American are able to run long distances without wearing footwear. Without the heavy supportive foams and material underfoot, the body is able to naturally mid-foot strike and use their Achilies tendon to propel yourself forward, whereas a heel stike stride puts too much strain on your knees, hips and back.

Along with the book, Vibram started selling and promoting their FiveFingers line of shoes, which due to their unique 5-toes and minimal construction, exploded into a unique genre of footwear. As the trend started to catch-on to the mainstream, novice and non-runners started to buy the shoes based upon the advertisement that immediate health benefits would result. After a few years, and many, many injuries, a class action lawsuit of false advertising cratered Vibram FiveFingers into near bankruptcy. People who were overweight or, had not trained their bodies to adapt to mid-foot striking were damaging themselves as they tried to run/walk as if they were still wearing fully supported footwear. They were either overweight and/or, hadn't worked to alter their gait and stride.

Today, the pendulum has swung to the other direction in which running shoes with maximum underfoot support has taken hold as evidence by the success of Hoka One One. Vibram purged itself of it's former FiveFingers team and returned after several years of purgatory. Meanwhile, competitors like Nike, Saucony, New Balance and many others continue to produce minimal footwear however the heat of popularity has waned considerably; the former Five Fingers head of sales (Tony Post) ended up forming his own footwear brand ToPo, with ambition to recapture the former glory. In order to get the benefits of minimal footwear you have to change the way you walk and the shoes you wear daily; if you don't change, you'll damage yourself.

As I recall, there was an article in a science journal a few years ago that studied young runners in Africa and the comparison between running with shoes or barefooted. As discussed above, there were reportedly significant advantages to running without shoes.

For strolling around town, though, it’s hard to imagine what the benefit would be other than being more immediately aware of stepping in dog crap.