OT: Skechers Shape-ups

Most of us spend most of our standing and walking time on flat hard surfaces that were not around 100000 year ago.

spanz wrote: That is the way your foot was made to run for miles and miles over the last 100,000 years! It is folly to think that modern shoe makers can improve on that!

So spanz, I take it that you are drawing from a generalization that the body is properly created (or evolved) for the activities for which it was created (or evolved)?

If this is the case, would you explain how we have an airway passage that is problematic while sleeping? One passage for eating, drinking, breathing and speaking - not a good design!

roster wrote:

spanz wrote: That is the way your foot was made to run for miles and miles over the last 100,000 years! It is folly to think that modern shoe makers can improve on that!

So spanz, I take it that you are drawing from a generalization that the body is properly created (or evolved) for the activities for which it was created (or evolved)?

If this is the case, would you explain how we have an airway passage that is problematic while sleeping? One passage for eating, drinking, breathing and speaking - not a good design!

Yeah right ask any woman who has birth a baby - Our pelvis wasn't really designed to accommodate that size head.

spanz wrote:Unstable work out surfaces can be very helpful for developing core muscles. So weight lifting and balance exercises with anything that is unstable on your feet CAN be helpful.

However, there is a growing body of evidence that any shoe on your foot during running can cause shin splints, tendonitus, etc. Some of the advanced runners are going with a very thin flat shoe with absolutely not support--just something to keep rocks from hurting your skin. That is the way your foot was made to run for miles and miles over the last 100,000 years! It is folly to think that modern shoe makers can improve on that!

I agree completely. When you place your foot in a shoe with "arch support" it begins to weaken which is what causes most foot pain. When you allow your feet to support themselves they become stronger.

Since I started wearing the Vibram Five Finger shoes, and conventional shoes without arch support when I have to, I eliminated all of my foot pain.

Craig P wrote: I agree completely. When you place your foot in a shoe with "arch support" it begins to weaken which is what causes most foot pain. When you allow your feet to support themselves they become stronger.

Since I started wearing the Vibram Five Finger shoes, and conventional shoes without arch support when I have to, I eliminated all of my foot pain.

That may be true for feet but if I don't wear arch supports it is my knees and back that suffer to the point where I can't walk. And concrete is very unforgiving to the body.

I too have been considering these. I work with a woman who was prescribed a pair of Mary Jane's with the same kind of sole by her podiatrist. They help her feet, but she was wearing really cheap shoes before.

I wear asics Gel-Kinetic 2. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned.

If anyone has them for actual working out, please let me know how they fair.

Interesting thread... and tempted to pick me up some new shoes.

With my job, I basically am walking for almost 10 hours a day, 4 (sometimes 5) days a week. I've been noticing that my toes... especially my big toes are going numb. They STAY numb. I was off today and they're still numb. It wasn't like this before I started working this job.

Now... I have to think: MBTs or FiveFingers? What would be best for me? I work on a hard, flat surface (yes, concrete) indoors, and the floor is VERY smooth. That would be 10 hours of constantly moving, turning and stepping.

Which would be best for me?

Cygnusia wrote:
Which would be best for me?

After reading the posts here and reading a lot of online reviews of both these shoes, I have come to a conclusion for myself.

The foot is the most complicated part of the skeleton and everyone's feet are different. Many are radically different from the norm.

The only way you can discover which shoe, MBT type or Five Fingers or well-built traditional shoe, is best for you, is through extended trials. It now becomes a matter of whether I want to spend the money on one of the non-traditional types to do the trials.

Since I am not having problems with my feet, legs, hips or back, it would be difficult to justify the expense of trials with non-traditional shoes. But it would be fun to see what kind of response I would get at the grocery store and church with those Five Fingers.

Craig P wrote:

spanz wrote:Unstable work out surfaces can be very helpful for developing core muscles. So weight lifting and balance exercises with anything that is unstable on your feet CAN be helpful.

However, there is a growing body of evidence that any shoe on your foot during running can cause shin splints, tendonitus, etc. Some of the advanced runners are going with a very thin flat shoe with absolutely not support--just something to keep rocks from hurting your skin. That is the way your foot was made to run for miles and miles over the last 100,000 years! It is folly to think that modern shoe makers can improve on that!

I agree completely. When you place your foot in a shoe with "arch support" it begins to weaken which is what causes most foot pain. When you allow your feet to support themselves they become stronger.

Since I started wearing the Vibram Five Finger shoes, and conventional shoes without arch support when I have to, I eliminated all of my foot pain.

I agree also. I have been modyfying my lifestyle to a more ancestral one based on human evolution.

I ruined my arches playing football from about 2nd grade through high school. I had to sit out my senior year in high school due to severe plantar faciitis. The doc told me I had to wear orthotics for the rest of my life. So until about a year ago, I was led to believe that the only shoes I could wear were those with a strong arch support.

Then through my research into the evolutioanry approach to health, I decided to begin walking barefoot whenever possible. So now, I were a pair of Merrell shoes to work with little arch support, low heal, flat, thin, and flexible soles with very large toe box and when I'm at home I'm barefoot all of the time. In general, my feet hurt less, although the transition was a bit painfull during the first couple of months.

I got a pair of Five Fingers, but honestly don't were them all that much since I use my barefeet more often. I have learned to walk differently ... shorter gait, minimal heel strike and less impact force going through my feet/shins.

Our earliest ancestors begin using minimalistic shoes (sandles and moccasins) primarily to protect feet from sharp objects (and cold for those in glacial environments) rather than for arch support or fashion or shapely asses. We too should keep to minimalsitic shoe styles IMO.

DreamStalker wrote: So now, I were a pair of Merrell shoes to work with little arch support, low heal, flat, thin, and flexible soles with very large toe box and when I'm at home I'm barefoot all of the time.

Which model?

roster wrote:

DreamStalker wrote: So now, I were a pair of Merrell shoes to work with little arch support, low heal, flat, thin, and flexible soles with very large toe box and when I'm at home I'm barefoot all of the time.

Which model?

World Summit ... I think it may now be discontinued.

I have a pair of the Skechers one and OMG I can't live without them. Every time I need to do a lot of walking I put them on and next day: magic. My abs look flatter and my butt looks firmer. I'm not hallucinating, ask my boyfriend. His mom and her friends all bought a pair and I wasn't the one who convinced them... They really do work. Just wonder how come they haven't thought of these earlier. I mean we sent a men to the moon, couldn't they figure this out sooner...

I wouldn't recommend MBTs for running and would anti-recommend them for trail running, but they're not bad for walking and make wonderful in-home sandals. Earth Shoes have a true negative heel -- could be useful, I suppose, if your calf needs constant stretching -- but with MBTs you balance over the mid-foot. With them, you have to be particularly careful on stairs because it's easy to slip on the way down or not lift your foot high enough on the way up to clear the next step. For running, I'm going with Vibram 5-fingers and Copper Canyon-style forefoot running.

Cygnusia wrote:Interesting thread... and tempted to pick me up some new shoes.

With my job, I basically am walking for almost 10 hours a day, 4 (sometimes 5) days a week. I've been noticing that my toes... especially my big toes are going numb. They STAY numb. I was off today and they're still numb. It wasn't like this before I started working this job.

Now... I have to think: MBTs or FiveFingers? What would be best for me? I work on a hard, flat surface (yes, concrete) indoors, and the floor is VERY smooth. That would be 10 hours of constantly moving, turning and stepping.

Which would be best for me?

As someone who has studied massage - Your feet are like the basement of your house - they hold everything up and in the right place. If the basement of the house shifts if affects everything right up to the roof.

Find so foot exercises - even simple stand on toes and rock back on heels a dozen times several times a day will help.

If you are standing /walking on concrete you need good padding with some spring in it (None of our ancestors walked on concrete all day) If your arches fall your ankle shifts over, which causes your knees, hips and back to become un-aligned This can even cause migraines as nerves in the neck get pinched.

Masks and shoes - so many of us are fascinated by masks and shoes. My shoes collection match my mask colection and I bet that many of us may be able to match Imelda Marcos (3,000 shoes) world record