'Bare-Foot' Running Shoes

Just ditch the shoes thats what i would do… i used to run pretty far completely bare foot on asphalt and sidewalk and i never had any problems. Just take it slow, start walking barefoot then ease into jogging.

Just ran a 50 miler with Inov-8 155’s at 70"’ 210 lbs. Not the most “barefoot” shoe, but certainly not very substantial. Not heel striking really really reduced/eliminated the crash I was expecting, I think because the impact didn’t travel knees-hips-spine-head, and my feet only hurt because I ran 50 miles…not because of the shoes.

I noticed a lot less joint pain just running naturally the way my body likes to. That’s not to be dogmatic and say everyone needs to go minimalist. Plenty of people I run with don’t and do just fine. The people who switched over did it for a reason and those who haven’t switched haven’t had an issue with regular shoes, and therefore no reason to change.

[quote]bigquig wrote:
Just ran a 50 miler with Inov-8 155’s at 70"’ 210 lbs. Not the most “barefoot” shoe, but certainly not very substantial. Not heel striking really really reduced/eliminated the crash I was expecting, I think because the impact didn’t travel knees-hips-spine-head, and my feet only hurt because I ran 50 miles…not because of the shoes.

I noticed a lot less joint pain just running naturally the way my body likes to. That’s not to be dogmatic and say everyone needs to go minimalist. Plenty of people I run with don’t and do just fine. The people who switched over did it for a reason and those who haven’t switched haven’t had an issue with regular shoes, and therefore no reason to change.[/quote]

Very well done.
50 is definitely an accomplishment !
The fact is your chances to do that for 10 years problem free are under 5%.
We know africans do not waste $ on minimalists shoes because they are hip now.
But cement/asphalt is a different surface used by many joggers.
Decades ago the rave was aerobics than came low/no impact aerobics.

Yoga and tai-chi have a proven track record of positive results over many continents over thousands of years.
Fads come and go for a reason.
Sides effects pop up after some years and a new fad catches on.
What is your next fad ?

I wear NB Minimus on soft surfaces and Brooks Connect on hard. I also wear asics Mt Fuji for the muddy, snowy trails. I weigh 230 and barefoot is just too minimalist for me.

Thanks for all the replies folks :).

BHappy I like you man, but I really don’t see how you can call barefoot running a fad. It must literally be the most ancient activity known to man, along with walking and climbing. Just because it has made a resurgence now after a 30 year absence doesn’t make it a fad.

For the record I ran 6 miles today (still in my old shoes - I haven’t saved up enough to buy new ones). It’s in no way something to write home about, but it’s the furthest I’ve ever run and I have absolutely no joint pain, which I invariably get with “normal” running shoes.

" barefoot running a fad "
You are totally right.
It is not a fad.
I started avoiding shoes over 20 years ago.
I just see jogging many hours weekly on hard surfaces as quite risky.
Paying $$$ for the feel is the fad in my opinion.
If pants are too tight we might loose a bit or get better fitting pants.
If shoes are not a proper fit we might get some that fits us better.
The minimalist name is a marketing tool.
Run 60 miles weekly and in 20 years you might remember some idiot who did not sound cool.
All the best !

[quote]BHappy wrote:
" barefoot running a fad "
You are totally right.
It is not a fad.
I started avoiding shoes over 20 years ago.
I just see jogging many hours weekly on hard surfaces as quite risky.
Paying $$$ for the feel is the fad in my opinion.
If pants are too tight we might loose a bit or get better fitting pants.
If shoes are not a proper fit we might get some that fits us better.
The minimalist name is a marketing tool.
Run 60 miles weekly and in 20 years you might remember some idiot who did not sound cool.
All the best ![/quote]

Sorry I must have misunderstood you. I completely agree with you that running too far, too often on hard surfaces is probably a bad idea.

Bhappy-I don’t think we really disagree at all here, though I didn’t realize I was following fads…

Most people don’t do these long distances for their whole lives for health. That’s never been the idea behind it for me running ultras., and I have never met anyone, in 7 years of it, who does it not expecting to have some adverse effects. The same lies true for anything done to excess. I trained for this never exceeding a 40 mile weekly total, and managed a sub 9 hour finish…hardly the excessive mileage you’d think, though much more than I run while not prepping for a race.

Also, my Inov-8’s cost under $40…check out Amazon and be willing to wear some loud colors.

I know many do agree. I kind of wrote generally since in stores they have lots it means some buyers make mistakes.
When a well informed person makes a decision it is a personal choice.

Just imagine someone buys a pair to loose weight, finds out they love to jog and in a few years realizes he/she was never aware of the side efffects. I did 2 marathons so i know the feeling might become somewhat addictive. If i kept at it like most i would probabbly have tried to cut my time down so today my chance to be ok would probably be about 2% after 35 years.

I got a pair of NB minimus on amazon for like 30-35 bucks… my first pair or “natural” shoes.

My impression… they’re really light, so that’s a nice change, but that’s about the only praise I can give them.

The insides are kind of “rough” against the feet and they tend to loosen up, leaving my feet to slide around a little bit without the extra padding of a “conventional” shoe that kind of conforms to your feet… perhaps they just aren’t broken in enough, though. Also, the soles aren’t flat enough w/ a lot of gaps that make riding my bike difficult (granted, they aren’t made for that).

I’d get another pair for the same price, though, but we’ll see how these hold up.

[quote]furo wrote:
I’ve recently started getting into running, and I’ve been running in very thin soled shoes as I’ve been reading a lot about barefoot running. I used to suffer with a lot of knee pain, but since I’ve been using this style of running the pain has completely gone.

I’ve been wearing a pair of really cheap shoes that are two years old and falling apart. They aren’t designed for exercise, they are just cheap lace-up casual shoes.

I was just wondering if anyone else on here does this style of running and if so what shoes do you wear? I’ve read about Vibram 5-fingers and Nike Frees but I was also wondering if people had had success with cheaper plimsoll type shoes?

Thanks for your time.[/quote]

Tried Vibrams and got excruciating pes anserine bursitis as well as getting massively overly active semi-membranous muscles (inner head of hamstring). Strength imbalance screwed up most lifts and it took some months get it hammered out. Point is that if you have over pronation you should not use any minimal shoe. Sure some people can use them fine, but for others it will destroy your lower body. One (most excellent trainer who is a star author on T Nation) told me that he assessed everyone in his gym one day and found that less that 10% were actually capable of really using minimalist shoes without injury. He also knows the guy who started the barefoot running craze and thinks he’s an “idiot”.

Take a vid of yourself squatting barefoot with a bit of weight and if you feet roll to the inside at some point, you are an injury waiting to happen.

The only time they worked more or less was walking on very uneven ground, where the angle at the ankle was highly variable. Walking for an extended period on pavement (constant angle of impact) was painful, as was doing heavy lifts (deads and squats). Running though on such uneven terrain had too high a risk of injury, since a divot in the ground at speed could easily blow a hamstring. Walking was it.

Just chiming in with a case history and a test to see if you should use them. As always, I’m probably just full of shit…

– jj

I’ve used Vibrams and I loved them, they also double great for lifting if you like squatting with no heel.

[quote]jj-dude wrote:
Tried Vibrams and got excruciating pes anserine bursitis as well as getting massively overly active semi-membranous muscles (inner head of hamstring). Strength imbalance screwed up most lifts and it took some months get it hammered out. Point is that if you have over pronation you should not use any minimal shoe. Sure some people can use them fine, but for others it will destroy your lower body. One (most excellent trainer who is a star author on T Nation) told me that he assessed everyone in his gym one day and found that less that 10% were actually capable of really using minimalist shoes without injury. He also knows the guy who started the barefoot running craze and thinks he’s an “idiot”.

[/quote]
I have no idea about barefoot running, but I do know this: I’d trust advice on running shoes from a T-Nation author about as much as I’d trust advice on squat form from a competitive long distance runner.