5 finger shoes?
OK so after a while of thinking about these new Vibram 5 finger shoes I finally broke down and ordered a pair. My trainer and I have been talking about these things and the concepts and theories behind how they are suppose to be better then our traditional running/ tennis shoes and how they could possibly help your feet and eventually prevent less injuries; who doesn’t want less injuries. So I joined the bandwagon and invested in a pair of the sprints, my trainer has the classics.
First impression- they look really cool, kind of remind me of water socks when i was a kid. but draw back at first they are so hard to get on, its just odd cramming your toe into every little slot of the shoe, and if your like me and running has taken its toll on your feet, I have some funny looking toes that are not normal. Finally I got them on and decided to work out in them
first wearing- ok so I did a one hour workout, not too much running in them, more weights and gym kind of work out, at this point my trainer said ” oh man your legs are going to be so tired trust me” I thought he was crazy I am a marathoner I work 12 hour days on my feet, it can’t be that bad. Well we did circuit training and my first circuit was 10 minutes total of 250meter row on the machine, 20 kettle bell swings and 10 burpees ( if you don’t know what a burpee is ask me- great cardio workout tool) OK so that wasn’t too bad next set was with a body bar, 15 squatting thrusters, 15 sumo squats and a down and back lunge 5 sets. Pretty good exercises all lower leg work any way, by set three my legs were DEAD. He was not joking, it felt like I had just done a hard 10 miler or ran up and down stairs for an hour and this was only half way through my workout. Our next set was upper arms, but I noticed when doing push ups I had better form and my feet could plant nicely, also I could jump rope better because I was more aware or the ground and the rope.
So after a total 1 hour workout, no running my thoughts were this:
compared to my regular running shoes and a workout I had better multi-directional movement. I worked new muscle groups ( well in my opinion I did) My arches did not hurt at all;which in when wearing my running shoes for a gym workouts my arches usually hurt from push ups and being on my toes for various things. Lastly I feel I had no issues with pronation, blisters, uncomfortable feeling in my toes, or bunion ( yes I have one eww).
Then I wore them to walk my dog for a good 3 mile or so walk. Mind you I live in the Midwest, so its cold out and snow on the ground at this time of year. Today Sunny and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. First thought- My new shoes are going to get dirty. Husbands first thought -I don’t want to be seen with you in those goofy shoes!
Then after walking through numerous water puddles and slushy snow I realized my feet werecold and these are not winter shoes, nor good for cold weather running. Obviously these are shoes you can’t really wear socks with so that doesn’t help the cold factor. But, as far as the walking in them, they are very like weight, I felt very use to them, comfortable, like being barefoot. You can feel big rocks and stuff in them but not little pebbles or sand.
I would say not a bad first day in these shoes. So far I enjoy them a lot, I can see it will take some work trying to run in them. I know my feet will probably hurt after the first run. But its just like marathon training and getting those feet nice and hard to withstand the long hours, and blistering your shoes cause. So far I have a very positive opinion of these shoes and I think for me they can help alleviate some of my foot discomfort and hopefully strengthen my feet to make injuries less likely.
I will keep posting on the review of different activities in these shoes and how the progress is going on these shoes. Maybe i will be able to make marathon distances in these shoes.
Here is a link to the shoe company website
