Best shoes for retail? - Page 7

On August 03 2011 07:14 Dude. wrote:
Ok, here's the logic behind minimalist shoes:

So I read this book Born to Run (by McDougall), and he found some research that stated 4 inches of rubber have negligible shock absorption compared to paper. It is a little better, but they will both destroy your joints if you're throwing all your weight into it.

The main cause of joint pains, from running, is proper shock absorption. With padded shoes, your feet get lazy, because they're riding on pillows and feel like they can plod around however they want to. Rather, with minimalist shoes, you don't get the huge padded soles, so you're relying more on your feet for shock absorption. And this is what they were made for.

So scientists have come to agree that the human foot is a thing of beauty. First of all, the load of your body is all supported by your arch (which is the best load bearing structure ever), then, 1/4 of all the bones in your body, are your feet, and your feet are one of the most sensitive parts of your body (torturers have gladly made use of this fact). They're made to maneuver beautifully over all sorts of terrain. Mainly because we survived by running (persistence hunting), compared to the neanderthals, who died out because they were big, heavy, and slow and relied on brute force hunting (all the prey got fast, and went to the plains, so we had to be fast and have high endurance if we wanted to eat and live).

Minimalist shoes are pretty much only there as rubber protection for your feet. They let your muscles and symphony of foot bones do all the hard work of shock absorption (because they're way better at it). For a while, shoe companies thought that shoes should be doing the shock absorption, but the truth has been found, more padding does not equal more shock absorption (in the levels that your joints care about).




Ok, so, to understand the proper running technique, imagine you are barefoot looking down a clean and clear sidewalk. You're told to sprint across. So you kind of pick up your heels and push off with your pads, your toes spreading out and pronating (little toe hits the ground first, followed by the rest of the toes (videos)), and your achilles tendon and calf muscles are being most utilized.

Your distance will go up dramatically once you start using your achilles tendon too, it's awesome. It's basically a rubber band, and it uses your body weight to spring yourself forward (another engineering marvel), but it only works when your heel is up off the ground, giving it room to load up your weight.

The first few weeks of running like this sucked tons of ass for me. I've always run in heavily padded shoes and done lazy foot planting unless I was sprinting. You feel like an awkward kangaroo at first (which is good, because if the new technique didn't feel weird as shit, that would mean it wasn't too different than the old). Then my calf muscles weren't used to holding my weight up for distances, so I had to build those guys up. But! My joints have never hurt since running like this. I've only ever stopped running because of muscles or cramps, but never from my knees feeling like they were about to explode (which is always scary as shit).

Now I wear those Green Silences everywhere, and all my joint pains are absolutely gone. I find myself being more nimble too. I feel like my weight has shifted more towards the front, instead of the heel. And my calves and hops and running distance grew pretty nicely.

Also the Vibram Five Finger type shoes are supposed to be super awesome. But really, if you go to a running store, and ask for minimalist shoes, try them all out and see how they feel. The place I went to let me run outside in 5 or 6 different pairs, with the Green Silences being the most comfortable. (

On August 04 2011 11:20 FubsyGamr wrote:
I appreciate all of the comments that have been posted in this thread!

I did what was recommended by most, and I went to a bunch of different stores, tried on a bunch of different shoes, and walked around for 10-15 minutes. I made sure to go after work, so that my feet had properly swollen (eww haha).

I have decided to go with the Nike Air Max 2011+ shoes. I found them to be incredibly comfortable and light weight, but they still felt very durable and long-lasting. I love the way they help my foot 'roll' just a little bit when I walk (I don't mean some huge, pronounced rolling. It just feels like my heel isn't hitting the ground quite as hard).

I have gone online to customize my own pair, and I'd love any opinions on color combinations before I buy them!

These are the ones I'm thinking of getting:

http://store.nike.com/index.jsp?country=US&lang_locale=en_US&l=shop,pdp,ctr-nikeid/pn-AMPlu1101/bv-2/pbid-INSPI_239326_v9_0_201102041755/piid-19145/pid-404600/cid-1&metricsId=258219654&sitesrc=dl_nikestore

Thanks for all the help, forum!

On August 03 2011 12:21 hmms wrote:


these are so comfy and look great with pretty much anything you'd wear in retail. and only 40 bucks at most stores!

On August 04 2011 11:20 FubsyGamr wrote:
I appreciate all of the comments that have been posted in this thread!

I did what was recommended by most, and I went to a bunch of different stores, tried on a bunch of different shoes, and walked around for 10-15 minutes. I made sure to go after work, so that my feet had properly swollen (eww haha).

I have decided to go with the Nike Air Max 2011+ shoes. I found them to be incredibly comfortable and light weight, but they still felt very durable and long-lasting. I love the way they help my foot 'roll' just a little bit when I walk (I don't mean some huge, pronounced rolling. It just feels like my heel isn't hitting the ground quite as hard).

I have gone online to customize my own pair, and I'd love any opinions on color combinations before I buy them!

These are the ones I'm thinking of getting:

http://store.nike.com/index.jsp?country=US&lang_locale=en_US&l=shop,pdp,ctr-nikeid/pn-AMPlu1101/bv-2/pbid-INSPI_239326_v9_0_201102041755/piid-19145/pid-404600/cid-1&metricsId=258219654&sitesrc=dl_nikestore

Thanks for all the help, forum!

On July 30 2011 14:28 Mtndrew wrote:


Vibram Fivefingers. You have to measure your feet with a ruler, but they're so comfortable. It's like walking barefoot, but your feet are protected.

On August 05 2011 00:05 rea1ity wrote:
Did you even need to ask? Amazingly stylish and comfortable...


exhibit A:


exhibit B:


But if you really want something minamilistic and incredibly comfortable: go flossy's

http://www.flossyplimsolls.co.uk/store.asp#

comfortable is an understatement and theyre very understated too...and cheap!

On August 04 2011 23:38 Laurence wrote:


They're disgusting!

On August 03 2011 07:19 Dalguno wrote:
I'm curious, do you wear the Five Fingers around? I want a pair because I've read about how healthy they are, but I'm not the running type. Still good and healthy to wear them anywhere? And not too ugly?