I oftentimes get asked the following question:
How can you be so ridiculously good looking, romantic, intelligent, charming and yet you’re not constantly surrounded by women?
While part of that answer undoubtedly has to do with racial discrimination (people never let me forget that I am Caucasian German – much like Barack Obama I would probably get shot if I tried to break into the white house), the much larger burden points right at the fact that I don’t like to wear nice shoes.
Women love shoes. And Mario won’t budge.
So, I want to start my new produkt review column by talking about a pair of shoes that will nothing but guarantee misfortune with the ladies.
My Vibram Five Fingers socks shoes, model KSO.
These things are great. You can wear them everywhere. The guy in the store told me that he even wears them out to the bars. Please don’t do that.
But seriously, here’s why I really like my Vibram Five Finger Shoes.
Walking in them = walking barefoot
That’s actually the whole reason people wear these shoes. Walking in regular shoes isn’t what you’re supposed to be doing. They squeeze your toes together and the whole concept of heel striking doesn’t make much sense anyways. Walking in your Vibrams is like walking barefoot. While it’s not fun to do that on concrete, these are great for running on trails or lush green meadows (see romantic comment above). I also love wearing my Vibrams to ride my bike, but they don’t work with clip-ins.
Walking barefoot = Good for your feet
Walking in regular shoes is really no good for you. Here’s a block of text that I stole from the manufacturer’s website (see intelligent comment above):
The typical human foot is really a miracle of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised.
Many experts believe the shoes we wear not only cast the foot in a protective form, but also weaken our foot and leg muscles, leaving them underdeveloped and more prone to injury. And while there are many occasions where traditional footwear is essential for protection, safety, and security, it is equally important to stimulate and exercise the foot in a more natural state on a regular basis.
And wearing these suckers is just like walking barefoot. So every time you wear them, you’re training your feet. Shoot me an email and ask me for a picture of my left foot. Super muscular.
Again, stealing from their website, here are six good things that happen every time you wear them.
1. Strengthens Muscles in the Feet and Lower Legs.
2. Improves Range of Motion in Ankles, Feet and Toes.
3. Stimulates Neural Function Important to Balance and Agility.
4. Improves Proprioception and Body Awareness.
5. Eliminates Heel Lift to Align the Spine and Improve Posture.
6. Allows the Foot and Body to Move Naturally, Which Just FEELS GOOD.
These shoes are darn light
I like to go camping. I like to go backpacking. I don’t like to carry a lot of stuff. These five finger shoes are super light, and can be used in a lot of different settings (no, not going to the bars). Heck, you can even wear them in the water. They dry super quickly, so you’re not going to be left with wet feet.
Smelly and expensive
My reviews aren’t going to catch on if I only talk about the positives. Because there are a couple of negatives as well. For once, these shoes can get pretty smelly pretty quickly. You’re running in them barefoot so that’s no surprise. Hence, don’t wear them to bed after going on a long run. Fortunately, it’s really easy to wash your Vibrams and you can even line-dry them. Last but not least, these are not cheap, costing around $80. That will almost buy you a really nice pair of girl-friendly leather shoes.
Still, my final verdict on these is very positive. 8 out of ten stars. You can check them out on Amazon.com, but make sure to buy 1/2 size smaller than what you normally wear. You want these to be snug. They do come in a variety of colors and styles but I think mine are the coolest. Just saying.
It should be noted that it takes a little time to get used to these. You can’t just put them on and start racing. Your feet aren’t used to or trained for all that goodness. Wear them for a couple of hours walking around the house. Then go on a hike with them. A week or so later, you should be good to start jogging.
Mario,
Do these help with arch support at all? I recently was told that my arches collapse a large amount and I want to strengthen my arches. Would the VFF’s work for this?
Charles, while I am no foot doctor, it definitely seems like these would help in strengthening your arches. I run a fair bit, and usually mix in at least one day a week running in these. It feels like these balance things out a bit.
I just wore my classics to school and one of the cutest girls in the class was asking about them. Ill have to ask her about the shoe and women thing, I know your right but I love these shoes.
I have a friend that said i will get no where with the ladies wearing these, and the first day i had them on 3 girls asked about them and 2 guys, all were positive.
Makes ya think. It may look funny, but then again… sometime back I was looking up MDB shoes. And then something happened, Nike’s new style of sports shoes do resemble that function… got one and it does feel like walking on air. Okay, back to the Five Fingers, I heard some say avoid doing over 1/2 mile on your first time out. I guess it takes some adapting and getting used to. Word has it, it force your toes to be spread open.
Mark Martinez,
Testing out best plain creatine like the energizer bunny
I got these shoes this past weekend and wore them to school and track. I ran a mile in gym class in them which was ok and 5-6 miles in track. They have caused two blisters towards the insides of my feet.I had been running barefoot previously a bit and I find that running in my kso’s are extremely comfy and efficient. My form has started to change where I lean forward slightly more and basically juyst propel and bounce with my feet. I am concerned slightly with the fear of a stress fracture in my foot which will most likely occur if I overdo it.
Cool layout of your blog and I’m looking to do the same for site. Any links? You can PM.