Situations when you chose barefoot over shoes?

[Sid]

Years ago, before I started going barefoot, I tried getting up on the roof with shoes. It was so slippery, that I decided to leave it to the pros.

Fast forward, years later, I recently had to do some exterior painting that involved getting up on the roof. I gave it another try, this time barefoot. Success! I patched the stucco, cleaned the surfaces, and painted. For me, barefoot provided far more traction than shoes.

So, what about you? Other than running/walking, have you ever found going barefoot to be more helpful, instead of wearing shoes?

 

[paulbeales]

I once changed a wheel on the car in bare feet. I held the wheel in place with my feet whilst I messed with the bolts and spanner with my hands
.

 

[Bare Lee]

Pretty much everything feels more stable, skillful, and enjoyable barefoot unless texture, terrain, or temps are prohibitive. Climbing a ladder is a great example.

 

[paraganek]

A typical situation I choose barefoot over shoes.
Improves your stability.

 

[Sid]

I do yardwork barefoot. Though once, I got the electric string trimmer a bit too close to my toe. I felt a flash of heat, and quickly jerked the trimmer away. I lucked out, not even a scratch!

 

[Hobbit]

I'm not a professional hairdresser, but I love to cut my husband's hair. If I'm barefoot whilst doing that, the result is much nicer to lock at: Being more stable on my feet has an enormous influence on holding and using the scissors!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I'm not a professional hairdresser, but I love to cut my husband's hair. If I'm barefoot whilst doing that, the result is much nicer to lock at: Being more stable on my feet has an enormous influence on holding and using the scissors!

Didn't help me one bit! I still took a chunk out of his ear! True that.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

A typical situation I choose barefoot over shoes.
Improves your stability.

View attachment 5060

You know, Daniel, all you would have to do is fill in those cracks with cement filler, and you'd have a nice cobblestone-looking walkway.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I like to paint my toenails while barefooted.

 

[SI barefoot]

To me, a better question is when are shoes preferred over going barefoot? Those situations arise and make me sad.

 

[paulbeales]

To me, a better question is when are shoes preferred over going barefoot? Those situations arise and make me sad.

Skating (ice and roller), skiing (not water), scuba diving ....

 

[Kyrrinstoch]

To me, a better question is when are shoes preferred over going barefoot? Those situations arise and make me sad.

When Riding my motorcycle - which does NOT make me sad...

 

[Sid]

Hey, no sadness about wearing shoes in this forum! This is Barefootness, where we celebrate being barefoot.

There are other forums for complaining about shoes, such as Gear & Footwear (ouch, my shoes hurt), Ask the Docs (ouch, shoes broke my feet), and Studies & Articles about Studies (proof that shoes broke my feet).

Barefootness is about discovering how awesome it is to be barefoot!

Anyhow, I don't use my stairmaster very much any more. (My feet have been rehabbed, so I can run now!) However, when I do use the stairmaster, I'll do it barefoot. My feet used to get numb on the stairmaster, while wearing shoes. That's no longer a problem, being barefoot. Come to think of it, my feet used to go numb, while on an elliptical. If I ever buy another one, I'm using it barefoot!

Sadly though, the stairmaster steps are too short, so only my heel and mets fit on the pedal. It was clearly designed for shoddies. That makes me wonder how shoe-centric sports and other activities might be different, if they were designed for barefooters. Sure, sports/activities might need to be completely redesigned, but that might be fun. Most sports allow the hands to move freely. Or if gloves are needed, the fingers remain articulative. What would sports be like if feet were freed, too?

 

[Tristan]

The first year going barefoot it was mainly about the running. Just walking across the yard I still put shoes on, working in the garden, going for hike, even driving. Of course it got cold pretty quick (I started in September) so just not a lot of conditioning time and not a lot of outdoor stuff going on. The next year I started doing more things barefoot and realized I liked it. So little by little I started doing more things barefoot, and now I do just about everything.

At work now so can't upload anything new but here is a sample of some of my non-running barefoot activities I found from other threads I'd already uploaded...

Barefoot on my ~60yr old 2 cylinder John Deere:

Splitting wood by axe and bare feet

And of course backpacking!

Years ago, before I started going barefoot, I tried getting up on the roof with shoes. It was so slippery, that I decided to leave it to the pros.

Fast forward, years later, I recently had to do some exterior painting that involved getting up on the roof. I gave it another try, this time barefoot. Success! I patched the stucco, cleaned the surfaces, and painted. For me, barefoot provided far more traction than shoes.

So, what about you? Other than running/walking, have you ever found going barefoot to be more helpful, instead of wearing shoes?

I've spent some time up on the roof barefoot too... cleaning the chimneys or adjusting the antenna or sealing up around the vent pipe, cleaning rain gutters etc. I've found generally that barefoot works better on the roof. As long as 1) my feet aren't too sweaty 2) its not a hot full sun summer day. Both of those are mainly because I have a metal roof, sweaty feet make it slippery and direct sun on a hot day makes it hotter that I can stand. I don't however like going up the ladder barefoot, but this is minor.

 

[Sid]

I don't however like going up the ladder barefoot, but this is minor.

I'm not a big fan of certain ladders either. However, I think this is more of a case of where much of the world is designed for shoddies, similar to how the steps on the stairmaster are too short.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Barefoot on my ~60yr old 2 cylinder John Deere:

Tristan, did I tell you before my hubby would be jealous of your tractor?

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I'm not a big fan of certain ladders either. However, I think this is more of a case of where much of the world is designed for shoddies, similar to how the steps on the stairmaster are too short.

So unfortunately, and very sad to me, I can no longer climb up ladders since the center, two main nerves branches have been relocated from the balls of my feet into my arches. I can't sit with my feet on the rungs of a chair either or walk over some types of rocks/boulders. I guess this is a post for the Shoe forum, right Sid?! Hee.

 

[migangelo]

I wore shoes to school today since the forecast called for freezing rain and then snow. People were in shock and mocking me. I just casually motioned outside and said "hell is freezing over". I mostly got laughs.

 

[bare_ftazn]

After my jog around the lake, I decided to run all my neighborhood errands barefooted. So I got coffee, went home and took my dog - sitting charge on a 2-mile walk and then took him on another walk to the UPS station to drop off items to return to Amazon. All-in-all, about 8-1/2 miles. It's not as dangerous a driving a tractor on a farm or rock climbing and definitely safer than climbing a ladder or a roof!

I wonder if my neighbors are getting used to me yet ...

 

[narrowtoeboxisstupid]

i'd like to go barefoot always or at least with flip flops, because wearing shoes hurt my feet and deform specially the toes, i don't want to use shoes that hurt my feet the shame i would not want to use gloves that deforms my hands, i aprecciate my hands and feet too much to let shoes or hypotethically bad shape gloves to deform them