Militantplatypus

  |  del.icio.us  |  digg  |  

5 Responses to “Barefooting”

1. m Says:
   June 5th, 2006 at 8:38 am

   aaaaaaaaah! me wants!

   great find

2. George Says:
   June 7th, 2006 at 4:57 am

   I bought a pair yesterday. We’ll see if it helps my running form.

3. MILITANTPLATYPUS Says:
   June 7th, 2006 at 8:27 am

   Please give me an update on how they are!!

4. George Says:
   August 6th, 2006 at 8:03 am

   Five Fingers Review:

   First of all let me say that Vibram is a fantastic company to deal with. They are incredibly friendly and went out of their way to make things work for me when I had some issues with sizing.

   It should be noted that I bought these so that I could run in them. Vibram maintains that running is not a purpose these shoes were designed for, but they acknowledge that is exactly why a lot of people are buying them.

   Now I consider myself an infant in the elite running world. I plan on running a big marathon (New York, Boston, Etc) next year, and have future plans to do an Iron Man triathlon in distant future. Needless to say I have more than a passing interest in improving my running form. I’ve found that because of my short and strong stature I tend to run with long powerful pounding strides. It is just plain painful to run like that in these shoes. This is a good thing. In order to be a good endurance runner your form should be short quick light strides and your body should not bounce. When you want to run faster in these you can’t “step it out” instead you kind of just quicken your steps without increasing the length of your gait. It feel just like being a kid and sprinting across the pool deck in bare feet.

   I am using five fingers as a training aid. They are really helping my body memorize what an efficient endurance stride feels like. At this point I only run with them once or twice a week, but the days I do use them are a joy. I truly feel connected to the ground and it brings a whole new dimension to my runs. I pay a lot of attention to the exact place my steps are going to end up because that is what I will soon feel through the soles of my feet. This tactile connection to the ground is quite fun. It definitely makes a boring run more interesting.

   The only gripe I could have against these is that they were not designed for running. They work for that purpose, but Vibram could have designed the upper shoe better for us runners had they anticipated people like me. The way things seem to go they will probably come out with a running version of these in the future. An I will be one of the first to buy them.

   A few years ago Teva sandals became really popular. Pretty much if you bought a pair of Tevas you should buy a pair of these. Even if you aren’t going to run in them they really do feel a lot like being barefoot only with protection from broken glass and small sharp pebbles.

   The bottom line is I love mine. Get yours today

   ~Matthew Jensen

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.