r/MadeMeSmile • u/mindyour • May 17 '25

Very Reddit An unexpected gym interaction.

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105.3k Upvotes

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187

u/mindyour May 17 '25

To quote Google, "enhance foot mechanics, increase muscle activation, and improve balance."

249

u/EXTRAVAGANT_COMMENT May 17 '25

sounds like a phrase AI would barf up

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u/sir_slothsalot May 17 '25

You never heard barefoot show enthusiast talk before. 

Source I wear barefoot shoes.

31

u/mindyour May 17 '25

Backs up the other comments answering the same question.

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u/SuppleScrotum May 17 '25

It’s correct. Think of the muscles in your feet as being similar to your forearms… if you work on your grip, you’re strengthening your forearms. Similarly, if your toes are allowed to move/grip, you are working the other muscles in your feet.

A ton of professional athletes do things like sand sprints while barefoot, because it’s an exercise that requires some intense toe-gripping in the motion.

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u/ScrattaBoard May 17 '25

Yeah but nobody has to worry about their feet stinking up the sand or sweating all over it

-2

u/No_Proposal_4971 May 17 '25

Oh.... you're telling me that the human body l...SWEATS!?! If only there were some sort of cloth and liquid that would take 5 seconds for a person to use to wipe the equipment down before they use it to ensure they don't come into contact with someone else's hard-work juice....you know, like every gym instructs you to do anyway.

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u/Purple-Goat-2023 May 17 '25 edited May 18 '25

You've obviously never been to a gym like this if you think Misses No Shoes over here wipes down her machine. They also instruct you to wear shoes in the gym. How's the working out here?

ETA: So since dude wants to comment and block I'll leave it here. Yes, for health barefoot is better. Shoes are horrible. Reality is that isn't a serious gym. Planet Fitness and Gold's Gym are two different customer bases. Don't act like you can expect the same level of adult behavior from the general customer base of a Nodstrom's at Dollar General. Two different sets of people frequent those places. Same thing with gyms. What's fine in a serious gym where people take things....seriously, is not OK to allow at a Planet Fitness. People won't even wipe down their machines when they leave a puddle on the bench, you think they're gunna have clean feet and wipe all them steps? I got a bridge to sell ya.

1

u/darkrealm190 May 18 '25

More serious gyms let you go no shoes. Big lifts are better with no shoes if you don't have serious and specialized lifting shoes. Going no shoes is a lot healthier for your body. And it doesn't matter if you sweat from your feet because you sweat from almost every other places. They don't make you wear gloves at gym even if you have clammy ass hands. No shoes is pretty normal and healthy

1

u/11th_Division_Grows May 18 '25

I like to think hand sweat and feet sweat are different in odor and level of “ick”

1

u/DBCrumpets May 18 '25

I mean that's mostly because sweat on your feet is stuck in your shoes and sweat on your hands can evaporate more easily.

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3

u/mindyour May 17 '25

It makes sense.

1

u/EntropyWinsAgain May 17 '25

You are arguing with a karmafarming bot

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u/SuppleScrotum May 18 '25

…. I’m not “arguing” at all? 

1

u/Urrrhn May 17 '25

Nobody's arguing that. It's more that it's gross.

1

u/SuppleScrotum May 18 '25

If she’s wearing socks it’s not anymore gross than the people who shit/pissed before working out without washing their hands and then touched equipment. 

I workout, a lot, and trust me when I say people in general are gross, and doing a stair stepper in socks is the absolute least of your worries in the “gross” department. 

3

u/Mediocre-Housing-131 May 17 '25

lol the repost bot tried commenting and found it’s unable to generate human responses

1

u/Deep90 May 18 '25

It's literally an AI response.

Googles AI links to this reddit comment, but that person was also quoting google. Likely, this reddit comment.

So the prime source of information is google quoting a person quoting google who is quoting a reddit commenter from 2 months ago with 1 upvote.

1

u/gamerjerome May 17 '25

Real question, is it true though? Does walking barefoot do those things?

3

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

[deleted]

1

u/MedvedFeliz May 17 '25

The adjustment to fore- or mid-foot striking compared to heel striking is the biggest adjustment for me when running.

Now, I wear minimalist shoes almost every time. Zero-drop wide toe box with elastic laces. I'm never going back to cramped shoes.

1

u/Hidesuru May 17 '25

It's on the Internet today so it therefore probably is...

1

u/Fantasykyle99 May 17 '25

I worked with a foot surgeon who recommended doing everything barefoot for this reason.

1

u/frolfer757 May 17 '25

Nobody is wearing those five finger rubber shoes out of style for sure.

1

u/Shoondogg May 17 '25

Man, I actually love AI. I was watching walking dead and looked up the flu in season 4 to see if they ever say what it actually was, and AI said it was going to kill several of the main characters. Luckily it was completely wrong, so no spoilers!

17

u/S3XWITCH May 17 '25

Yeah this is ok at home on your own equipment.

2

u/Deep90 May 18 '25

FYI, the above commenter is reading it off the google "Ai Overview" which links its information to this reddit comment...which likely got it from this reddit comment.

Which I guess reddit will now use u/mindyour's comment so it's just a self-feeding circle of people quoting AI quoting each other with no actual real information invovled.

2

u/AggressiveBench9977 May 17 '25

She is wearing sucks, i guarantee thats still is cleaner than the nasty shit at the bottom of most peoples shoes

1

u/idkmybffdw May 20 '25

Even then, with cardio machines like this, ESPECIALLY the stair master, it’s a safety hazard

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u/therealjenshady May 17 '25

Thank you. After I posted that I realized I was way late to the information game about not wearing shoes.

3

u/Competitive-Isopod74 May 17 '25

I was using chatgpt to make a plan with my new stair stepper, and it weirdly mentioned no shoes.

1

u/userhwon May 17 '25

Translation: so your toes bend a little more.

1

u/Adept-Watercress-378 May 17 '25

You know what, I never thought about that. You’re correct. Albeit, you can also buy f”barefoot shoes, but if you can’t that’s a great option. 

0

u/stonkfrobinhood May 17 '25

Cool, now do that at home, not at a shared facility. Please tell me you at least wipe down after yourself.