Social Workout

Purists

Barefoot Running and the Paradox of Choice

Fivefingers! (Via caseywest.)

Last week CJ spotted a dude doing a handstand in Vibram fivefingers "shoes," and we had to dig deeper. Turns out fivefingers are a rich vein to mine. This was not your normal product for Vibram, which invented the rubber-soled hiking boot in 1935, and now churns out 34 million rubber soles a year. The "shoes" were the brainchild of an Italian industrial designer who managed to convince Marco Bramani, grandson of Vibram's founder, to give it a try: The human foot achieved mechanical perfection over millions of years of evolution, our man argued, and we've done nothing but screw it up by wearing Manolos and Nikes.

Whether entirely true or not, the response among some people has been evangelical. Lifestyle entrepreneurs like Tim Ferriss (Four Hour Workweek) rave about the fivefingers in long articles on the Huffington Post -- affirming that raised heels and running shoes have made us soft. These shoes let us "reclaim our rightful arch strength, our stability, and undo the damage of years of unnatural posture," writes Ferriss. Then there is Barefoot Ted, a motivational speaker/blogger and personal trainer in Seattle, who seems not to have met flimsy, archless footewear he doesn't love dearly. Who knew there was a barefoot running movement? 

But of course, it makes total sense. As product choice multiplies, and modern life becomes ever more mediated and manipulated, comes the consumer counterreaction. Slow foodies and raw foodies abandon hybrid crops and prepared foods. The interior design crowd goes in for minimalism and DIY. Film Directors embrace Dogma 95. And, so too, body people take up barefoot running, or primitive looking kettlebells, or, for that matter, they flock to yoga.

And, frankly, we're sort of all for it. But then, we -- and  by "we," I mean "I" -- don't run with music either. Also, I have problematic feet. Perhaps the problem all these years has not been my faulty anatomy, but the corrupting effects of  Nike. Damn my podiatrist and our endless orthodic fittings, if I had listened to Zola Budd, my feet would be miracles of strength, with sexy widespread toes. 

To be honest, I love spin class with blaring tunes, and I fear my own feet may be beyond repair by Vibram. Still, I think these things look cool, and might just help, and I plan to experiment. Will file further reports.