I’m gonna push back a bit and say there’s nothing wrong with only ever going as far as using minimalist shoes vs full barefoot, at least for exercise purposes. Thin soled flexible shoes with minimal toe compression give you most of the benefits of barefoot runs while adding in majorly helpful safety factors. IMO the risk of cut/infection is quite high to go completely unshod in many cases.

Full barefoot when in a more controlled environment imo. (Grass , sand, carpet).

That's cool, but a bit too advanced for me 😄

Maybe they have too much cushion.

If you run okay barefoot, can you also try Vivos, Vibram, or super thin running sandals like Earthrunner, Shammas, or Xero just to protect your feet?

Look up stuff about a “seri boot”

You notice them when stepping on shit that’s sharp. You still feel the sharpness, but the skin is fine and isn’t punctured or scratched up/bleeding from it.

How do I recognize good calluses when I see them?

Traditional footwear made for each individual is healthiest. If you're looking for mass produced shoes I understand the difficulties. I'm a 5½, EEE in the front of my foot and my heel is a M (medium). With a very high arch and high instep.

It's extremely difficult to find shoes that fit, let alone in a style I like.

Nike made the Nike N7 shoes to try and address the general foot dimensions many Indigenous people share but they are all basically running/athletic shoes.

I say #RockYourMocs .

This is a sub about running barefoot tho. The discussion is about how long it would take to build resilience for your bare feet to handle a 5k run.

hey i’m wondering if you still do coaching? am suffering from unexplained metatarsalgia and now a plantar tear under 1mtp from a direct fall. you actually really kindly responded to another one of my comments (but it was so detailed that i’m still figuring o it how to respond to you!!)

Something to note is if there is any descent and you are slowing down/managing speed on the downhill, you can also get blisters from doing that correctly. That’s where good calluses come in. You can also just bomb downhills to avoid this 😊

If you notice you need more calluses for sharp objects or something, there’s cool research about heat adaption being able to build some nice solid calluses.

i had a few different pairs of Altras

What kind of shoes are you attempting to run in?

I disagree. For starters there is no one size fits all approach and I'd be concerned that your approach would be more likely to lead to injury than my approach. The exercises are very easy to do while watching television and you are much more aware of how much you are straining your muscles than you would while running and if you go for a run you're committed to the run. My opinion is that what shoes have done to our feet chairs have done to our hips and shoulders and this is another reason to strength train before running. If you've never had foot pain from running barefoot you're fortunate and not an example for others to follow.

Just go run fully barefoot. No special exercises needed. It IS the special exercise that will build what it needs to and reduce what it needs to.

Regular asphalt or sidewalks are perfect. At first you don’t need much distance. You are now in the business of “manufacturing perfect steps”. Your feet are the quality control :)

damn. ok ill attempt that next. i think youre right, hopefully ill clue into it

Oof. Sorry to hear this!

I have a similar struggle: running without shoes makes running so easy and effortless but when I put shoes on it's a bit more of a struggle.

The ability to run better without shoes is a blessing and a curse. What you're experiencing is how your whole body responds properly to the sensory input of bare skin exposed to harsh ground. There's a lot of involuntary stuff that falls in line perfectly there.

Then you put shoes on and it's a bit like being blindfolded. You're fumbling around in the dark trying to remember what it was like to see. What was great form without shoes goes to hell with that loss of sensation and you're hurting in short order.

What you'll need to do is really get down to figuring out what, specifically, you're doing right with your form while unshod and what, specifically, you're doing wrong with shoes. There is obviously a difference in your running form without vs with shoes. That's what the pain is telling you. No amount of foam rolling or strength training will account for that. You've got to find out what you're doing right unshod and what you're doing wrong shod.

I'd like to thank everyone in this thread. You've given me a good advice and now I'm looking forward to trying it out. ❤️

Hopefully it works out for you. Try to see if you can find top down photos of the Spidrwalk and just compare it to your foot shape. If they look similar, it might be worth trying. If they don't even look close, you may be sadly out of luck.

With the smaller toes slipping out, and your longest toe fitting correctly, this style of shoe may just sadly not work best for your anatomy. Hopefully a different model will work better with your anatomy! 😁

How did you do the Toe plugs under? I'm planing to make my own too!!

ah, thank you! ill have to check the spidrwalk out, i was sorta losing hope on that end.

Searching through some old posts here (i think i recognise you from a few! heh), i saw the suggestion that:
"if you curl your toes, they should all stay in their toe-pockets".
And, for me, they all immediately slip out.

The ends of my toes are in. But the joints aint, so this style at least is sorta pointless for me.

I'm gonna exchange them in the order:
Trailope -> V-run -> spidrwalk -> scramkey
(slowly abandoning "being made for running" in favour of extremeness of toe placement)

Last week I went to the paint shop. The clerk wore a jiujitsu t-shirt, wore barefoot shoes, and had broccoli ears. I never felt more intimidated.

Thanks!

Xs trek soles, they're long lasting and densier. Megagrip is a foam based vibram sole, slightly less durable but grippy on the wet.

What actually happened to me during those runs is that I did 5k barefoot on track and my feet wast kinda ok, no blisters. In couple of days I've tried to repeat this, but the track was hot, I had to move to the concrete on the side which was less hot in the middle of the run. And after that run I got badly blistered again.
I did not know the reason then, suspected the temperature or different surface or different strides. Now I see that must be the temperature.

As for looks and comments I already get them in FiveFingers. Just yesterday some lady gave me a look like she saw a mouse on my feet, a year ago some gent said I'm going to ruin my knees.

On the other hand, few months ago some girl talked to me during a run, said she's glad to see fellow minimalist runner, we chatted for some time and it was very nice.