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Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

joshwhiton.com

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Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#11

Post by darklajid »

I recently (after my move to TLV) bought me a pair of these Vibram (five finger?) toe thingies. Yes, if you try them in the store and are used to ~30~ years of wearing regular shoes, they are 'funny' at first. What a surprise..

I still bought them, convinced myself that I'd give them a decent try and at least wear them on the awful hot beach or something if they suck completely.

I love them. I only wear regular shoes now on rare occasions. The first two days were a constant source of laughter and I tried to walk on every type of ground (and - stuff) I could find. Childish? Hell yes, but fun!

Now they are comfortable like no pair of shoes that I owned before. While having no proof I do believe that I walk more straight with them and you relearn to roll your foot instead of stomping around.

If anyone wants to try this experiment and thinks about shoes like this: Don't give up after 5 minutes in the shop..

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#12

Post by pavel_lishin »

eof wrote: post #2

Not sure if it boosts your intelligence; I am an avid barefoot walker. City streets, the woods; pretty much anything other than screaming-hot blacktop. It feels good; your feet get accustomed to it pretty quickly. The OP mentioned his eyes were really needed to watch where his feet were going, but if he keeps up this habit this won't be the case near as much. Small bits of broken glass or things like this will tear t…

I live in New York. About a month ago, I watched a barefoot guy try to walk through Hell's Kitchen. I looked away for about a minute, and when I glanced back, his friends were bringing him napkins to cover the huge bleeding gash in his foot.

Sure, he could have watched where he was going and made sure his soles were tough. I'd just rather minimize the chances of stepping on a sharp chunk of metal, or a syringe. I think I'm at my smartest when I'm not worrying about tetanus.

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#13

Post by pavel_lishin »

wccrawford wrote: post #5

And then he stepped on glass, a rusty nail, got ring-worm, and several diseases that he doesn't know the names of yet. But he will. That's how I think the story will end. Shoes were made to protect our feet and they've lasted for a reason. I go barefoot whenever I can, but that doesn't include uncontrolled environments. Also, I wonder if the shop owner would have let him in just having shown the shoes and shirt... Th…

I wonder how the shop owner felt about him washing his feet in this bathroom.

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#14

Post by eru »

dev1n wrote: post #4

I went running barefoot a few weeks ago. It was an amazing sensation and the best run I'd had in a long time. I went significantly faster too, which I suppose can be attributed to the lack of weight wearing shoes brings. It just felt awesome. That following week, I went running through the same course. Not over a quarter mile into it did I manage to step on a bee. The course I run on is grass and a little pebble-y. M…

Was it your first run barefooted? Did you get sore calves?

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#15

Post by joshkaufman »

darklajid wrote: post #11

I recently (after my move to TLV) bought me a pair of these Vibram (five finger?) toe thingies. Yes, if you try them in the store and are used to ~30~ years of wearing regular shoes, they are 'funny' at first. What a surprise.. I still bought them, convinced myself that I'd give them a decent try and at least wear them on the awful hot beach or something if they suck completely. I love them. I only wear regular shoes…

Agreed. My story is similar, with a medical twist: years of chronic lower back pain disappeared once I stopped wearing "normal" shoes.

If Vibram ever makes a shiny black leather version, I won't have to wear anything else.

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#16

Post by rbrcurtis »

joshkaufman wrote: post #15
darklajid wrote: post #11

I recently (after my move to TLV) bought me a pair of these Vibram (five finger?) toe thingies. Yes, if you try them in the store and are used to ~30~ years of wearing regular shoes, they are 'funny' at first. What a surprise.. I still bought them, convinced myself that I'd give them a decent try and at least wear them on the awful hot beach or something if they suck completely. I love them. I only wear regular shoes…

Agreed. My story is similar, with a medical twist: years of chronic lower back pain disappeared once I stopped wearing "normal" shoes. If Vibram ever makes a shiny black leather version, I won't have to wear anything else.

I use my vibrams primarily for running and have also found that my knee problems have almost completely vanished since I started running in them.

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#17

Post by RobertHubert »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #10
brd wrote: post #8

"It was a little more like being barefoot than regular shoes but was way more like being in shoes than being barefooted." I'm a big fan of VFFS (vibram five finger shoes) and I can attest that you can feel terrain changes through vibrams, this also means that you will watch where you step to avoid the occasional large rock, etc which can be extremely uncomfortable. Barefoot shoes provide much of the positives highlig…

I like the juxtaposition of these Vibram shoes as a fashion fad and the old Doc Martens boot fad (which seems about as opposite a direction as you can get, perhaps you could go all out and get steel toed but still) My feeling is that we cut of sensory inputs as a defensive mechanism, fewer sensor inputs, more cycles to focus on our thinking. And yet when we're 'not' thinking we don't necessarily un-block those inputs…

How about steel-toed five fingered shoes?

Re: Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

#18

Post by dev1n »

eru wrote: post #14
dev1n wrote: post #4

I went running barefoot a few weeks ago. It was an amazing sensation and the best run I'd had in a long time. I went significantly faster too, which I suppose can be attributed to the lack of weight wearing shoes brings. It just felt awesome. That following week, I went running through the same course. Not over a quarter mile into it did I manage to step on a bee. The course I run on is grass and a little pebble-y. M…

Was it your first run barefooted? Did you get sore calves?

I've done sprints barefooted before for cross-country practice but yes. It was my first distance run barefooted. It definitely worked my muscles differently than when I ran with shoes.
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