Author Topic: Anyone who's wearing these funky looking shoes? (Read 7056 times)

What's that? It's NEO! · « **on:** Sun, 29 May 2011, 09:04:39 »

While surfing the web, I found these:

They seem to be kinda popular with minimalist runners...

keyboardlover · « **Reply #1 on:** Sun, 29 May 2011, 09:05:25 »

Ewww no arch support!

I have flat feet

What's that? It's NEO! · « **Reply #2 on:** Sun, 29 May 2011, 09:11:11 »

They're supposingly good because the foot muscles have to start working again to actually built up and support the arch.

reaper · « **Reply #3 on:** Sun, 29 May 2011, 10:31:35 »

lol Don't forget to grab a pair of these to go with those shoes..

audioave10 · « **Reply #4 on:** Sun, 29 May 2011, 13:09:10 »

that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen...

tjweir · « **Reply #5 on:** Sun, 29 May 2011, 17:19:05 »

I've had a pair of fivefingers for a couple of years now. I used them for short distances and CrossFit. I now use a pair of Minimus from new balance, and I've ordered a pair of saucony hattoris.

What's that? It's NEO! · « **Reply #6 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 02:16:28 »

I'm a bit suspicious about the soles wairing down quickly. Anything noteworthy about that?

hyperlinked · « **Reply #7 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 04:25:40 »

Quote from: What's that? It's NEO!;352757

They're supposingly good because the foot muscles have to start working again to actually built up and support the arch.

Not very probable...you land with the force of several times your body weight on an average stride while running. If you're really strong you can leg press 400+ lbs using the largest muscles in your body. Those tiny muscles in your feet don't stand a chance to hold your feet together through thousands or even tens of thousands of foot strikes per day. You can't build up arches that way.

Barefoot running is all the rage today and these shoes allow you to go barefoot in spirit. There've been some studies released recently that flies in the face of everything that's been believed about foot structure. They found that running shoes were more likely to cause injury than they were to prevent it.

I'm like K-love up there. I have no arches and I'd be injured in less than two weeks running in a shoe with no arch support. I won't knock barefoot running until I've given it a fair shot, but I'm willing to bet that if you wait a few years, it's not going to be quite as monumental of a new finding as it appears to be now. There's probably some or even a lot of truth in it, but it probably won't be the paradigm shift it appears to be after other researchers start to come out with studies that poke holes in the theory that barefoot is always better.

Ekaros · « **Reply #8 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 06:05:03 »

Umm, how can something be bad which have been done since the begining(semi-modern human race)? Ofcourse, the early development might have changed things, nothing is certain...

sinis · « **Reply #9 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 06:23:06 »

you can try them in every sports shop here.

alaricljs · « **Reply #10 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 08:07:56 »

The way in which you run is different when you don't have shoes on. There are a number of trainers that teach you HOW to run with no shoes and then you keep running that way no matter what footwear you have on. Barefoot running teaches you proper form.

hyperlinked · « **Reply #11 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 23:48:52 »

Yes, barefoot running might teach you better form. Most people are horribly unaware of their bodies. Just take a survey of people's postures when they're standing in line and it's obvious that people either don't care or don't have any idea what good form is. Go to the gym and stand by the treadmills. There's always a few people sole slapping their way through 3 miles and you don't know if they're there to get a workout or experimenting with a new percussion instrument.

The problem is for people with notably abnormal feet (which I have) is that there is only so much form you can voluntarily adhere to. You simply do not have the ligaments to support a normal follow through on a stride, which is what I was getting at when I brought up the amount of force the small muscles in your feet have to cope with on each stride. While I haven't done any literal barefoot running or running in funny shoes sculpted to my foot, I've done plenty of running in racing flats and minimal shoes and the results were not good.

I'm sure it's a useful exercise. I'm sure it works wonders for some people. What I'm not on board with is it being this revolutionary panacea.

audioave10 · « **Reply #12 on:** Tue, 31 May 2011, 23:56:41 »

Quote from: ripster;353615

Like I said you look gay running with that technique on pavement.

This movie documents how man invented first walking then running.
[video=youtube;u58TKioxsVs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58TKioxsVs[/video]

a slight mistake here - that was the movie where man learned how to smoke weed & fornicate...
I know because I was there!

hyperlinked · « **Reply #13 on:** Wed, 01 June 2011, 03:20:49 »

I think the studies covered here are around the center of the controversy:
http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html

Quote

Please note that we present no data on how people should run, whether shoes cause some injuries, or whether barefoot running causes other kinds of injuries. We believe there is a strong need for controlled, prospective studies on these issues.

They don't necessarily say that we should all switch to running barefoot or running with minimal shoes. Their point actually has less to do with being barefoot as it does with adopting a forefoot strike, which is hard to do in heavy running shoes because they're all designed to emphasize a heel strike. They also don't say that everyone should start running this way.

What they're saying seems about right to me. Barefoot/forefoot running is a useful running strategy, but results may vary from person to person.

Hydroid · « **Reply #14 on:** Wed, 01 June 2011, 07:16:59 »

I'm not really much of a runner or anything like that, but I did grow up originally on a farm and never wore shoes. Our house was about half a kilometer from the rest of the buildings and about 1 kilometer from the little stream fed pond so as a little kid it was great fun to go around exploring the boulder formations all around and I got a fair amount of walking/running in each day going between the house and other buildings. I've now been off the farm for the last 8 years, but I still really enjoy just being barefoot and will take any chance I can get to not wear shoes. I don't really run that much anymore though so IDK if I'd quite be up for running barefoot anymore.

What's that? It's NEO! · « **Reply #15 on:** Wed, 01 June 2011, 14:27:12 »

I just noticed that after having had a serious knee injury I walk better with no shoes on. With shoes on I walk sometimes like a slightly squiffy pirate with a wodden leg...

alaricljs · « **Reply #16 on:** Wed, 01 June 2011, 15:37:05 »

Quote from: What's that? It's NEO!;354269

... slightly squiffy ...

I'm curious, what is squiffy? Is that like when farts leak out with every step, or is it worse?

noodles256 · « **Reply #17 on:** Wed, 01 June 2011, 17:23:47 »

i have two pairs of vibrams, great for rock climbing

What's that? It's NEO! · « **Reply #18 on:** Thu, 02 June 2011, 04:29:21 »

Quote from: alaricljs;354305

I'm curious, what is squiffy? Is that like when farts leak out with every step, or is it worse?

'squiffy' meant 'slightly drunk': in this case an unsteady walk. No noise included... so, never trust a dictionary.

And: Pirates either wear a hat or if it gets too hot they switch to a bandana.

Especially for ripster - sorry, no keyboard involved. But for sure he's gnarling at someone who ordered the last set of true pirate keycaps.

hyperlinked · « **Reply #19 on:** Thu, 02 June 2011, 09:31:46 »

Quote from: What's that? It's NEO!;354269

I just noticed that after having had a serious knee injury I walk better with no shoes on. With shoes on I walk sometimes like a slightly squiffy pirate with a wodden leg...

What'd you do to your knee?

The wrong pair of shoes will make anyone walk like a squiffy pirate. It could be that before your injury you could get away with it. Once you have an impairment, the right fit of devices matters a lot more... kinda like keyboards if you're suffering from RSI.

What's that? It's NEO! · « **Reply #20 on:** Thu, 02 June 2011, 13:26:46 »

Quote from: hyperlinked;354663

What'd you do to your knee?

Collision with a car resulting in a broken tibia and stuff. May give these shoes a try.

News:

Author Topic: Anyone who's wearing these funky looking shoes? (Read 7056 times)