"Barefoot" Running "Shoes"

 I like the term TJ.  Its

I like the term TJ. Its positive and accurate. It keeps the word barefoot which so many people want to use and yet there is a distinct difference in its meaning compared to just barefoot.

Those barefoot runners wearing shoes are still going to come here for advice and companionship and we can introduce "barefoot inspired" when they get here if they have not already heard the term.
 
Aloha everyone...I'm the odd

Aloha everyone...I'm the odd man in...forgive me as the newbie...just trying to enjoy these rants and posts... my positive sentiments with Barefoot TJ---as for me, I'd not change a thing, just keep smiling and setting the example. Pretty soon the newness will become a special household mainstream word...like jumbo shrimp.

Mahalo and Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas!)

Best to you

Kauai-Runner
 
Welcome, Kauai!Well said,

Welcome, Kauai!

Well said, Angie, and exactly my sentiments, as to why I created this thread. I wanted to "put it out there" as a heads up. There's a small start up minimaist footwear company that contacted me a little while ago called Stem Footwear. He and I had a nice long conversation. He refers to his shoes as "barefoot running inpsired." I told him as long as he continues to refer to them as "inspired" by barefoot running, then he will no doubt please both sides of the argument. Remain true, and you will go a long way. I think he took this to heart.
 
miker wrote:I was

miker said:
I was wondering...do the health benefits come from mid/forefoot strike vs. heel strike, or do they come from being totally barefoot vs. any type of footwear?



I think the health benefits comes from being totally barefoot whether you are running or walking. I read something somewhere that the sensations you get from the nerve sensors in the bottoms of your barefeet, increase seratonin levels in the brain and acts as a natural anxiety reliever, and it also lowers blood pressure. I also read that walking your natural stride helps put your body back in natural alignment, and this is all pure barefoot, as in nothing covering the skin, bare skin to earth. there is probably alot more stuff too, but I need to find the article so I can post it.
 
"Barefoot inspired" is a huge

"Barefoot inspired" is a huge improvement, though people will still continue to use the other term. And even if they get the term right, ignorant people will still be anoying with their comments of "they simulate a barefoot experience" or worse "its like being barefoot, but without the pain" What pain?! More like being barefoot but without the fun and lack of sweaty smelly-ness! (Seriously, its december, and my feet still get sweaty in my huaraches.) Or the absolute worst of all "Better than barefoot" (love you invisible shoes, but no, its not better), you can't improve upon perfection.

So I think more important than the actual wording, is the realization that you are not getting the whole experience if you have anything on your foot. If someone said "Yeah, I've got some barefoot shoes, but I prefer to just go barefoot." It wouldn't bug me at all. Heck, even if they like minimal running better, the important thing is that they know that there is a difference between your foot, and your foot + covering.
 
nature runner wrote:miker

nature runner said:
miker said:
I was wondering...do the health benefits come from mid/forefoot strike vs. heel strike, or do they come from being totally barefoot vs. any type of footwear?

I found a little info for you. http://jerickweb.50webs.com/goodlife/Barefoot.htm it doesn't say alot about running but good info just the same.



NR, it is good info. Thanks for sharing it with me. But what I was wondering, is if the ailments that many here have dealt with when shod (pf, shin splints, sore knees, sore hips, etc.) are because of footwear in general OR because of foam, heel drops, etc.

For example. If a person decided to quit wearing TRS, and start wearing VFFs, and IF they took it slowly, to avoid TMTS, would it be effective? Because moving to minimal would cause the midfoot/forefoot landing to occur, thus eliminating the heel strike. And if I understand correctly, heel striking is the main culprit with injury. But if someone was able to wear footwear with zero (or minimal) heel drop, over time their achilles would stretch and their calf muscles would strengthen. And if they went really minimal, they could get a shoe that would exercise the foot muscles, right?

I am not saying that any minimal is the same as bf, but I also believe that we are not going to change the world overnight (better give us 2 nights :) ). But if we could get people started slowly in something that would help the strengthening process, over the long term they would be able to convert to bf, if they wanted to.

I agree that going barefoot from the get go is best, but I don't believe the masses are ready for that yet. So I'm looking for a place to start, and I was looking for some input from this group.

Cheers,

miker
 
 If Facebook can trademark

If Facebook can trademark the word "Face" why can't we trademark the word "barefoot"? Then we would have the power to decide if a company can use it to market their shoes.
 
stomper wrote:evil genius at

stomper said:
evil genius at work! you should be in the next Austin Powers.



BTW, I trademarked the word "stomper" I'll be sending you a bill. $)
 
miker said:
But what I was
miker said:
miker said:
But what I was wondering, is if the ailments that many here have dealt with when shod (pf, shin splints, sore knees, sore hips, etc.) are because of footwear in general OR because of foam, heel drops, etc.
I tend to think that ailments are caused by using too much of one thing (with the exception of going barefoot). I believe variety is necessary to build up the needed strength to stay injury free. I exclude barefoot because inherently you have different surfaces, angles etc... to deal with. In shoes you have a formed surface that your foot is confined inside, which prevents real foot strength development regardless of the surface you are walking on. So you basically have a very weak lower limb and foot, combined with thousands of repeated motions a day it isn't surprising to me that injuries occur. Actually it surprises me that there are not more ailments.

So no, I don't think we can blame one portion of footwear as much as the lack of variability. In fact I would assume that if someone were to bounce between using vff's, TRS, flip flops and sh!t kickers they would probably have pretty good strength compared to someone who only wore TRS.
 
I would only stretch so far

I would only stretch so far as to blame shoes for shin splints (because I have encountered SO MANY people with shin splints and had them myself when starting out shod...most runners have told me they are a normal running pain and I continued to work through them until they went away. Took a year. I was a determined lil bugger...)

Anyway, shin splints seem to be caused by the heel drop. The shoes are literally putting the front of your foot on a different level than your heel --- this has to be the cause of shin splints. I know a few peeps who have gone minimal (NOT BAREFOOT) and it's eliminated their shin splints. The easing of their pain was not related to posture, feet sensing the ground, etc. It was simply putting their feet on the same level.

But, this is all estimation, however passionately I believe it. :puzzled:

I think shoes solve some things, & barefoot really solves everything. Then some people perfer to wear clodhoppers, and it works for them. It depends on the person and the injury.
 
Mary- most PTs I've talked to

Mary- most PTs I've talked to attribute shin splints to the heel strike/overstriding. It causes a ton of stress on the shin due to plantarflexion. It is possible to cure shin splints in foot coffins... if you stop overstriding.
 
So then you can get shin

So then you can get shin splints from barefoot running IF you overstide? Not necessarily heel strike?

My experience is that most barefoot runners don't experience shin splints. Davis refers to this as well in one of the Newton videos.
 
not sure why folks have a problem with the term barefoot shoe.. implies a shoe that replicates running barefoot while providing protection from debris. if someone says shoe, I imagine a big soft roam rubber clown shoe people call "running" shoes... but I digress, barefoot shoe is the best of both worlds
 
They should be renamed to "barefoot style" or "barefoot inspired" running shoes, imho. :penguin:
 
not sure why folks have a problem with the term barefoot shoe.. implies a shoe that replicates running barefoot ........
Because none so far do replicate running barefoot. Runners who run barefoot style in them do just as well in any shoe, they have the proper form regardless of what is on their feet. People with poor form in traditional running shoes that transition to "barefoot shoes" don't run barefoot style in them, and instead end up injured even worse.
At best "barefoot shoes" are a cold weather/rugged terrain alternative for barefoot runners that already have the barefoot technique installed in their muscle memory.
Ken Bob says that even then only a maximum of 25% of one's running can safely be done in them, otherwise non-barefoot technique will start to rear it's ugly presence.
The big problem I see with calling them "barefoot shoes" is that runners believe they will replicate barefoot running style for them, when in fact they don't.
 
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Barefoot shoes also confuses docs when patients go in. The patients often say, I run barefoot, when in fact they don't, they run minimalist... I hate that term for that very reason. When I tell people that I run barefoot, someone always asks, you mean those toe shoes? Or, oh ya, what brand of shoes? Or, do you mean you run in those funky looking roman sandals? People associate barefoot with shoes for some reason thanks to the damn marketing. Barefoot is barefoot. Period. The use of that term "barefoot shoes" is a perversion that corrupt marketers have come up with in order to sell more shoes. It's horrible and gives true barefoot running a bad name when someone goes out and gets hurt in minimalist shoes (because they can run farther and faster than they could truly barefoot) and then tells the dr they were running barefoot.
 
And then you read about 'barefoot' 'running '' studies 'only to find out that the only accurate word in the headline is the one in the middle.

I agree, 'barefoot shoe' is annoying.