Vibram Five Fingers

I have been kicking around the idea of getting some. My brother in NYC bought a pair of the KSO's and loves them. However, he says that he gets some strange looks since he bought the all black pair and it looks like he is wearing the bottom part of a gorilla costume.

 

I know a few guys who swear by them. Look funny, but I bet they are great to run in.

-dsd

 

Love them. Your legs will be sore after the first few times, since you use different muscles. They are my best driving shoes; better than the old Nike Aqua Sox.

Make sure you get the right size, since a few sizes will seem to fit. And (this is gross), keep your toenails trimmed, so they don't rub or cut through. The tops of your feet may get sunburned the first time or two.

 

I've been rocking a pair for about 8 months now as does my fiance', yep the looks are funny (kinda like driving in the sports car), but man are they functional. Excellent for lifting at the gym and hiking and running etc.

 

Those are definitely funky! Big seller for the Ape guys in October I'd say.....

 

OMG! Those look awesome! Not sure about wearing them in public but I'll bet they're hella comfortable!

 

I have a pair of brown treks I got after my first pair of red and black sprints. love the sprints but was just sick of answering questions about them so picked up the Treks, they are very subtle and are exactly what I was wanting. I still run in the sprints and love them they will be used for the lake house duties

 

Wow here's a something I never thought I would see being talked about on FChat.

I've been looking at getting a pair of Treks for running trails (one of my favorite things to do). I know my feet will be sore the first few times I wear them but are they really that comfortable to run in off of pavement. Are my feet going to be killing me when I'm done with my run?

 

I have never seen or heard of these.

Looks odd but interesting. I might buy a pair just to see my wife's reaction

 

I have only run in my sprints but I have done a couple runs in them most being 3 miles. I never had an issue with my feet killing me with them at all complete opposite pure comfort

 

It's not that they are super comfortable--they provide no cushioning so you are forced to use your legs to absorb the impacts, which forces you to stride as nature intended.

They are very good for you because they force you to run in a manner that is not harmful to your knees. There is no cushioning, so you don't throw off your natural biomechanics by doing heel strikes or pronating or supinating incorrectly, relying on the shoe to absorb the shock. In the long run, you lose your natural ability to walk properly and the increased shocks cause a lot of injuries, and by then you are dependent on shoes and orthotics because your muscles have atrophied.

With vibrams and other thin-soled shoes, you run as nature intended, flexing your toes to reach out, striking with the ball of your foot, pronating to the outside, transferring weight along the outside edge of your foot to the back, and taking off for the next step. The shock is absorbed by the arch of your foot, with the flexing of the ankle joint, and the tensing of the quad muscles as the knee joint articulates.

Heavily cushioned shoes that restrict your feet make you get lazy and stomp down on your heels, which transfers the shock vertically to your knee joint. That's why runners today have so many injuries. You don't hear about barefoot runners having those injuries. That's because they build up the right muscles (in the arch, heel, calves and quads) to run properly and dissipate the impact forces properly--as nature intended.

If you run improperly with these shoes (or barefoot) you will hear it, and feel the jarring sensations all the way up to the base of your skull. Run on the balls of your feet, and it's like you are floating along.

I run barefoot, btw. It has taken me about 3 months to get to the point where I can do 5 miles without blisters. It requires a fair amount of time to keep them clean--I spend a good ten minutes on each sole after each run. Summer's approaching, and the asphalt is getting hot, hot, hot!

 

The shoe that fits like a glove!

 

Did they come, how do you like em? I'm gonna get a pair of running shoes and I like the look of these funky things.

 

You run barefoot on the road???? How the heck do you deal with small gravel, broken glass, etc? I used to walk a lot barefoot in the summer and developed thick pads of callus but tiny stones were still really painful. I can't imagine running barefoot on anything other than just above the water at the beach.

 

Are you talking about the socks that they sell specifically for these shoes?

 

I just saw your reply, and socks?? I never would have thought that, I'm guessing they sell the special socks in the same store as the shoes. Next time I'm near a place that sells these I'm getting a pair.

 

Injinji socks are what you are looking for.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=injinji&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=R24bTJFMgfvwBrjP5L0J&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CF8QrQQwAg

 

Thanks

 

For those who have found a comfortably fitting pair - did you use the measurement method on the Vibram website, or did you rely on typical european sizing charts?

These shoes seem ideal to me - I really only feel comfortable when my toes can grip the ground, but I can't try these locally and am more than a bit leary of ordering online without knowing they are likely to fit properly.

I say that because based on measurements, I'm a size 45 on the Vibram chart, but wear a size 47 shoe...

 

Well, I got my KSO's - they fit & feel great at size 45. Look pretty silly though, but don't much care - maybe it will bring more customers in to laugh at me...
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Bought a pair today, looking forward to trying them out for daily use. I hate shoes and socks so this may be the ticket (?)