BAREFOOT TRAINERS ON TRIAL

FIT LIKE A GLOVE: But Fivefingers take some getting used to

Tuesday November 17,2009

By Simon Edge

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IT TOOK millions of years of evolution to get us walking on our hind legs but the invention of shoes means most of us have lost the ability to go barefoot. Nerves on the soles of our feet that are designed to send complex signals to the brain lie lazy and dormant.

The Italian company Vibram is part of a back-to-nature movement to help us re-adapt to our environment using the bodies we were born with. Their Fivefingers shoes fit over each toe on the principle of a glove and the Sprint version is designed to provide all the benefits of going barefoot but with the protection and grip of a running shoe.

On my test run the first surprise is that I can feel the texture of the pavement through the rubber soles. When the surface turns gritty I can feel it and when I hit a rough track it’s downright unpleasant. I can feel every stone and every so often I step on a jagged one that hurts like hell. Yearning for something soft I cut across a meadow.

Matt Wallden, the Fivefingers representative, tells me that since the idea is to replicate the feeling of barefoot running it’s bound to hurt a bit – it’s just that you don’t get cuts and wounds.

He tells me it’s all about posture. Because there’s virtually no heel you have no alternative but to run on the ball of your foot. You shouldn’t do this in normal running shoes but with Fivefingers your toes come back into play so it works well.

He says you improve balance, decrease ankle sprains and lower the risk of shin splints. Certainly I felt safer on the rough meadow than I would in a normal shoe, where I would be paranoid about twisting an ankle. To use Fivefingers properly you’re advised to walk around in them a lot before you start running to adjust to the barefoot posture. Hemabha Jang, of the running shoe specialist Run And Become, says she is a fan: “I like the idea of using the foot muscles properly. Conventional running trainers make your feet lazy but once you start using shoes that bring you closer to the ground it’s hard to go back.”

I try them again on a longer run. The jabbing stones are easier to deal with because I’m expecting them. Yet after three miles my soles are burning and I end up walking the last stretch – something I never normally do.

I’m not sure I’m cut out for barefoot running.

l The Vibram Fivefingers Sprint retail at £98.99. For more information, visit www.fivefingers.co.uk

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ONE NEEDS TO GO OUTSIDE.

20.11.09, 2:37am

the box.to discover that humankind has a billion year plus history. www.theyfly.com. Having exposed our origins, one may still ask ..did we evolve or were we created by intelligent design in that distant past.

The answer we got to that query was hat we were created by intelligent design, by spirit, which some mistakenly refer to as God.

Barefoot trainers discussions are fine but monkey-to-man assertions lose the writer credibilty.

• Posted by: Tommytcg • Report Comment

SURELY SOME MISTAKE!

19.11.09, 3:02pm

The diversity of fauna simply proves evolution rather than some holy joe spouting on about creation. Evolution is based on science, logic and factual research rather than the words of someone's imagination written in a book of superstition.

It's medieval beliefs like that the old mullahs are managing to recruit suicide bombers by promising 72 virgins.

• Posted by: Codeblue • Report Comment

USUAL EVO NONSENSE

17.11.09, 11:21am

"IT TOOK millions of years of evolution to get us walking on our hind legs ..."

No, it took one very clever God to create human beings.

Evos commonly tell us that evolution occurs as a result of random processes. Therefore there is no reason why evolution - assuming it ever happened - should ever produce improvements. It would be FAR MORE LIKELY to lead to extinction.

The huge diversity of life on earth today is perhaps the strongest evidence against evolution. It is a load of tosh dreamt up by racists, eugenicists, atheists, and intellectual fascists.

• Posted by: Peltast • Report Comment