So, I’ve had my vibrams for a while now. However, I only do light leg work with them. I’ve remained using my wrestling shoes for heavy squats and deadlifts. Would vibrams be fine for both heavy squats and deadlifts?
[quote]fartmonkey64 wrote:
So, I’ve had my vibrams for a while now. However, I only do light leg work with them. I’ve remained using my wrestling shoes for heavy squats and deadlifts. Would vibrams be fine for both heavy squats and deadlifts? [/quote]
Ask MMalgb727 on powerful women. She recently competed in hers. hit a few P.R.s and loves them. I don’t use them but she sure did her level best to talk me into them.
I personally love them because they let your toes spread out giving your foot much more stability and grip. Can’t quite do full ROM lunges in them though from years of using shoes. But give it a try yourself and see how you like it because that will be the final decision maker for you.
Don’t want to hi-jack but… anyone know where to get them in Canada? MEC only sells the full waterproof booty now.
[quote]Louchuck wrote:
Don’t want to hi-jack but… anyone know where to get them in Canada? MEC only sells the full waterproof booty now.[/quote]
Have you tried to order from there site? www.vibramfivefingers.com.
OP – I have trained both squats and deads in mine and love them! Now as for going heavy – I think that is all relative.
I exclusively do my heavy leg work in vibrams (my DL max is 475 lbs, your heavy definition may vary), and my feet never complain. If you have poor ankle mobility it might be harder to hit depth on squats since there’s no heel lift, but that’s also kind of the point - train to improve your mobility.
I can’t see why not.
I do both exercises in mine - besides Nike Frees, which I find still have too high of a heel on them (I know, wtf?) but whatever…
Fartmonkey - go ahead & do your lifts in them - I think you’ll like the results. Full floor feel, you can spread the feet out on squats, on DLs I can drive more through the heel.
Closest you’ll get to training barefoot without gym staff reprimanding you.
Ouro - seriously you should look into a pair… they get the quizzical looks but it’s the performance is what matters…
Agreed. I have had my vibrams for a while and am actually on my second pair now. I use them exclusively for all the lifting that I do. I’m weak, but I DL 275 lbs and front squatted 170 lbs with them yesterday 
Also, back problems, whether from lifitng or otherwise, have all dissappeared since I’ve started using them.
Don’t know as I would front squat in them (heel is your friend, there), but deadlifts? Yeah.
I just wore them for a car deadlift event in my last strongman competition and they felt fine. I also do farmers walk/yoke walks in them from time to time, but very little else. I prefer Chuck Taylors for squatting and strongman, or Olympic lifting shoes for overhead pressing/Oly lifting/front squats.
You train yoke and farmers in them Andrew? That doesn’t tear your feet up at all? I dont have a pair yet but I can’t imagine that being comfortable with a heavy yoke on your back.
Yeah, I walk in a parking lot, I make sure there are no pebbles in the way, but it really isn’t uncomfortable for just walking. I think I’ve only worked up to around 500-ish on yoke and probably 250 on farmers. When I do these at home I rarely work too heavy and try to lengthen my walks out to 100ft (which is the length of the parking lot). So a little lighter and longer walks.
[quote]jaybvee wrote:
they get the quizzical looks but it’s the performance is what matters…[/quote]
Hah! That’s no joke. But I agree 100%.
OP- yes, I’d go heavy in them during your next training session. I definitely feel more comfortable doing squats, especially with a bigger load on my back when I’m descending (and in) the hole. And for deads, they’re a dream. Like others have mentioned, it’s like going barefoot, only better.
i do nearly all my training in Vibrams: squat 600, DL 600+, yoke, stones, sled push, C&P, you name it.
like others have said it like going barefoot you feel really stable and grounded , but better without the nicks and ouches that comes with actually going barefoot.
I imagine they’d be great for combat sports too like MMA, wrestling, jiu-jitsu.
give yourself time to adjust if you almost never go barefoot. I was already accustomed to going barefoot around the house and on weekends.
stones with the 5-fingers? Ehhhh, not sure about that. I’m clumsy, I’ll probably lose a toe. On second thought, I’m not sure my all-stars are better protection. But stones is one event you don’t want to lose height on.
dropping an atlas stone on your foot or toe is highly unlikely, just think of the dynamics of where the stone is and how it would descend in relation to your foot, so no need to worry there, besides as you said hardly any footwear is gonna protect you if an atlas stones crashes down on your foot.
as for loosing height? yes true but only fractions of an inch, maybe an inch. worth it IMO for the stable grounding that Vibrams give you.
[quote]Andrew.Cook wrote:
stones with the 5-fingers? Ehhhh, not sure about that. I’m clumsy, I’ll probably lose a toe. On second thought, I’m not sure my all-stars are better protection. But stones is one event you don’t want to lose height on. [/quote]
With stones I don’t even think steel-toed boots are that much protection 
Only faulty thing I can see with Vibrams as a whole is that since there is such little sole material you are going to go through these suckers fast due to wear & tear. But enjoy them while they last since they seem to have such an avid following on this site besides the venerable Chuck [Norris] Taylors
well i’ve had mine only since about january, and they get used on average 3-4 times a week, so we’ll see how they hold up.
my only problem has been since you’re not wearing any socks with Vibrams odor tends to develop with repeated wear.
[quote]sumabeast wrote:
well i’ve had mine only since about january, and they get used on average 3-4 times a week, so we’ll see how they hold up.
my only problem has been since you’re not wearing any socks with Vibrams odor tends to develop with repeated wear.[/quote]
Throw 'em in the washer, it’s been working pretty well for me.
[quote]sumabeast wrote:
dropping an atlas stone on your foot or toe is highly unlikely, just think of the dynamics of where the stone is and how it would descend in relation to your foot, so no need to worry there, besides as you said hardly any footwear is gonna protect you if an atlas stones crashes down on your foot.
as for loosing height? yes true but only fractions of an inch, maybe an inch. worth it IMO for the stable grounding that Vibrams give you.[/quote]
I’ve seen atlas stones take some pretty weird hops when dropped. In fact, I train with a guy who had his tibia broken by a drop… nothing is out of the question there, but generally I agree with you. I may try my 5 fingers when I get back to event training next weekend. This weekend is a wash.
Oh, and as for wear and tear and odor… I’ve had mine for almost 4 years now and they are still just fine. Keep in mind I only use them a few times a week, but when I first bought them I also wore them for barefoot running, I wear them when I kayak, yard work, etc. They have held up amazingly well, all things considered. I’ve never even needed to wash them, just hose em off and they are fine.
[quote]DouglasJ16 wrote:
sumabeast wrote:
well i’ve had mine only since about january, and they get used on average 3-4 times a week, so we’ll see how they hold up.
my only problem has been since you’re not wearing any socks with Vibrams odor tends to develop with repeated wear.
Throw 'em in the washer, it’s been working pretty well for me.[/quote]
samsies. Chuck them in with the jeans and shit and use a bit of borax and hang dry. They come out fresh.
-chris