More nonsense

Barefoot TJ

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Mar 5, 2010
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Hmm, softer and less

Hmm, softer and less stable...but still with thick soles/ Seems like "less stable" could be dangerous when you can't feel the ground beneath you enough to create your own stability.

And I had to chuckle at this: "There is a negative heel, or a more rounded heel, that Jennifer Weiderman, vice president of Skechers Fitness Group, says gives the shoe a barefoot-running effect."



Yeah, that 1 1/2 inch sole (on the shoe on the right) looks like it would simulate barefoot running PERFECTLY!! Ha ha ha....
 
I saw a TV ad for the

I saw a TV ad for the skechers last week and I meant to post about it but forgot. I got a good laugh out of the commercial. At least it has "high-viscosity kinetic wedge technology". How can you go wrong with that?
 
I have a special pair of

I have a special pair of shoes with hardened epidermal technology and special pressure sensitive sensors all over the sole which are perfect for simulating barefoot running........they're called Feet

:cool:
 
Here, here, Rob!  You should

Here, here, Rob! You should add that to your signature.

I was at Target today looking at a pair of flip-flops for my hubby, and I came across the "K-Mart Blue Plate Special" alternative to the Skechers verisons of the Shape Up. How sick is this shoe industry?! Even the no-names, non-brands are cashing in on the insanity!
 
maybe I will TJ

:D maybe I will TJ
 
Love it, Rob!

Love it, Rob!
 
Now that's more like it! 

Now that's more like it! ;-)
 
I think these shoes actually

I think these shoes actually do have a point. The theory is sound from a scientific perspective, just like the reasoning of Mr. Bowerman was when he figured you needed padding to heel-strike. The big question they both fail to answer though is why. Why would you want something like this instead of doing the real thing?
 
So what you are saying is... 

So what you are saying is... their thinking is making it safe for us to do something we should not, such as heel strike. Yet then we found out that even padding the heel strike isn't good for us because no matter how much you pad it, it's not good.
 
I'm saying heel-striking, or

I'm saying heel-striking, or rather over-striding, needs padding to make it safe. Walking on sand makes your feet stronger and so does faking the sensation of walking on sand. What they both fail to answer though is why you'd want to run in a way that's harmful and inefficient and why you can't just walk on sand instead of simulating it. At some point you've got to just stop and realize that what you're doing is insane even if you're making boatloads of money off it.
 
I think the whole "shoe" is

I think the whole "shoe" is not all about money (though that plays a part), but more of the cultural/societal "I want it now" mentality. A lot of people are looking for a quick fix. They might look at BFR, but the training curve is longer than they are willing to suffer through. Much like people who want to take a pill to lose weight instead of eating less and exercising.

Everything I have read (and continue to read) about BFR makes "sense". Which is one thing I absolutely love about it. But people have been brainwashed into thinking that you have to have shoes or they will get hurt. Then they get hurt and either change shoes (thus repeating the cycle) or quit running.

But like Morpheus said to Neo in The Matrix..."I can show you the door, but you have to walk through it".

I haven't seen my copy of "Born to Run" since I finished it. I keep loaning it to people I know who run. And all of them have gone to some type of minimal footwear. Maybe not BF, but I think that will come. It is a natural progression. But the stretch from regular running shoes to BFR is too big for most. Especially if they aren't having any real problems with their shoes.

I'm thinking about printing some cards (the size of a business card) that will either list websites or links to articles that I could hand out when I meet someone who is asking about minimalist/barefoot running. 'Cause you don't always have time (and they don't have the memory) to retain it all.

Just a thought...
 
Wow people! I think that you

Wow people! I think that you need to read Duncan's Member blog of the week.... "Hard line" attitudes can land you short of the runway....I'm not sure that some of you aren't in danger of undershooting :-0

About 3 years ago I bought a pair of MBT shoes, these are just like Sketchers, and they really do replicate the work that your feet and legs are involved in when walking on sand. I have never tried running in them but genuinely enjoyed walking in them. When I walked my dog along our local lanes these shoes provided the sort of workout that half an hour on a wobble board would provide. I'd have to find them out and try them again, but I don't think that "heel strike" came into it.

Why would I want to replicate walking on sand rather then actually walking on sand? Because I don't live near a beach...not that difficult to understand is it? :-|

"Hard line" attitudes work both ways......you can't complain about attitudes towards barefoot/minimalist and then go off on one about MBT/Sketchers ;-)
 
"Hard line" attitudes work

"Hard line" attitudes work both ways......you can't complain about attitudes towards barefoot/minimalist and then go off on one about MBT/Sketchers ;-)

When it comes to these types of shoes, Lap, that's where I draw the hard line, and I won't have to ever worry about going back, and I won't have to ever worry about wanting to cross it. I will never go back to a pair of bulky, insane shoes again. Shoes are what screwed my feet up...for life.
 
Sure TJ, but I'm not fighting

Sure TJ, but I'm not fighting against that. I'm not suggesting, or wanting, that you cross your line. The point is that I have worn, and enjoyed walking in, MBTs and don't think that using the same rhetoric that the anti-barefoot brigade use does the pro-barefooters any favours.

We should be questioning running in the latest Womble Tech' shoes, MBT or otherwise, but being anti for the sake of being anti is no different to the pro-womble tech'.......in my, very, humble opinion!
 
I get what you're saying, but

I get what you're saying, but that's basically what I'm talking about too.

I chose Duncan's Member Blog for the Week because I so appreciated what he had to say...in regards to his line. His line and my line are not the same. If someone likes a pair of old boat anchors that they've never had a problem with and wants to go back to them, sure, go for it. But if they've run off at the mouth about how that type of shoe is the devil, then puts their feet back in them, they can look like a hypocrite. I don't have to worry about that. I will never desire big wobbly-womble shoes. I think they are unhealthy for most people, and the latest in insanity flavors are not healthy for anyone, IMHO.

Not only am I questioning this type of shoe, I am also anti-this type of shoe. It's insane.
 
OK, Duncan's line and my line

OK, Duncan's line and my line are the same. I certainly respect you selecting his blog if you don't go along with his line, but why wouldn't you? Live and let live.....

I'm anti Womble Tech' shoes because I bought into that ethos, ran in the latest Womble Tech' shoes payed the money and suffered the injuries. I "came over" to the American RW site and BRS because the UK sites are so anti barefoot. I don't want to buy into an equally anti non-barefoot society.

My anti-Womble Tech' goes back about 25 or so years. Runners in the UK talk about barefoot/minimalist in the same terms as you are refering to MBT. Please forgive me for being arrogant enough to point out that I have run Womble Tech', minimalist, barefoot and (walked) MBT.

Please don't fall into the same fundamentalist attitude as the anti-barefoot brigade.

As a(phylosophical)Buddhist I don't do that stuff....
 
The reason I selected his

The reason I selected his blog is simple. If you are going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk; if you are not going to walk the walk, then don't talk the talk. That's the message I got out of it. The message you got out of it is different, not wrong, just different.


For the readers, here is his most excellent blog: Member Blog of the Week - The Short of the Runway By Duncan


EDIT: He was also saying we don't have to be all or nothing, only be of one group and not the other. We can do both if that makes us happy, and I am all for that...if it makes someone happy. It made him happy. It just so happens, I am in the barefoot/minimalist group, not the crazy, insane shoe group.


I am not anti-shoe, I am anti-insane when it comes to particular types of shoes. I thought I made that clear. There's nothing wrong with people running in shoes if they enjoy it, if they make them feel good, if they are not being injured by them, if they are being offered some sort of protection, etc. Running in something that is clearly not healthy is the problem I have with some types of shoes. So don't put me in the anti-shoe camp. I'm not there.