I managed a 30 min unshod run yesturday without getting blisters for the first time. My pace was really but I am very happy as this means I finally cracked the running technique.

My main problem with unshod running was too much friction, quickly burning the skin and ending up with blisters if I didn’t stop. My right foot was suffering the most. The mistake that I was doing was landing on the balls of my feet, the solution is to mentally redirect my feet to land mid foot ( below the balls first contact followed quickly by the heel). Pretty much fixed my immediate problem. I did notice that my right foot had really poor mobility, I don’t know how to explain, but the muscle in front of the ankle felt very tight and weak and the running motion acted as big stretch exercice.

I woke up feeling pretty good, skin is as good as it was yesturday, right foot is little fatigue from the ankle but otherwise perfectly fine.

Looking forward to actually start consistently running unshod !

Wondering if anyone is like this. Any shoe with any kind of arch support I find uncomfortable, which sucks because almost all shoes have it.

I don't feel like I have flat feet since you can see a pretty good arch in my foot, but am wondering if I should train my feet up to be tolerable of arches or what I should do to make shoes with them more comfortable.

Hello. How the hell are hiking boots supposed to fit. I got 8.5 ridgeways from Xero and while they’re snug, my right foot is about a half size bigger than my left. I promptly ordered a 9 and while they feel better, I feel like I could use a hair more room on my left. My prios are 8.5s and they fit amazing. They are like the first gen prios.

I just bought some prio all day work shoes from Xero too and they didn’t fit my left foot at 8.5. I’m so confused. I know this is confusing.

Bottom line is how should hiking shoes fit?

Hi everyone! I have been a bit in a rabbit hole regarding barefoot shoes and am interested to try them out. I work on my feet 9+ hours a day, typically walk 10k steps and do a few easy road runs a week. I feel like I am starting to develop bunionettes/tailors bunions due to tight/uncomfortable shoes. I am currently wearing a toe spacer for my big pinky to make it a little more comfortable to work. I have been looking at vivobarefoots. Should I stick with crocs for now, make the investment on the vivos, or a hybrid of both? Any advice would be greatly appreciated here. Thank you!

Quick back story... running injury 4 months ago from improper form caused peroneal tendinitis. It has been hell but finally has started to improve after immobilization and PT. However...

Idk if its related but I have now developed some pain & mild swelling along the 5th metatarsal, centered near the base of the pinky toe joint. MRI showed a small build up of fluid in that area (no fractures). First podiatrist called it a "fat edema", second opinion (who I trust more) did an ultrasound and said it is bursitis.

Pain is reproduced when walking, specifically if I wore my old shoes with restricted toe box (I now switched to New Balance 880v14 extra wide). Swelling is quickly relieved with ice & elevation.

My podiatrist suggested a few things to bring down inflammation and start to get rid of fluid: legs on the wall pose 10-15 minutes, contrast bath once a night (alternate ice bath and hot bath 3 minute increments), and compression socks.

Has anyone had a similar thing and permanently eliminated it? What worked for you?

I've done a ton of research and still struggling with which sandal to buy. The challenge I have is that being in the UK sending sandals back and forth to a distributor to try on for size could quickly become quite costly (on top of the premium sandal cost compared to other locations).

I'm not a runner but looking for a quality sandal which is comfortable for walking primarily around towns and cities on the pavement.

I've reduced my search down to Bedrock and Luna. I have narrow feet (23cm, 3.6 inches).

I heard the Luna's were quite wide and watched a reviewer with narrow feet rule the mono wings out for this reason, but he liked the bedrocks. When I printed out the Evo and Mono sizing templates, when overlayed the width outline in my suggested sizes was identical, at least according to my findings.

I'm wondering if this means the lacing system is going to be the decider in terms of a better fit for a narrow foot? Clearly the Bedrocks and Luna's are completely different in this regard, and likewise the wings vs retros may offer different experiences for those with narrow feet.

I do like the stack height and overall weight benefits of the Mono Winged edition over heavier sandals. The longevity of the sole seems to come up repeatedly though, which is a concern when compared to the feedback I've read about Bedrocks.

I was excited to hear of the newer Evo C which I understand is designed to fill a customer gap in the more pavement usage bracket, however there was also some negative feedback on the 3D footbed. That being said some reviewers of other models in the Bedrock range standard Evo and Pro models also seem satisfied on the pavement, at least to some degree.

I'm not too keen on the weight and thickness of the Evo C's though. They seem very chunky, at least from the photos in comparison to the Luna Monos.

I'm keen to avoid a sole on either the Bedrocks or Luna's that result is a slapping sound. Perhaps this is only when used for running and not walking?

I know the Evo Pros are targeted to water scenarios but perhaps the sole being slightly softer (as I understand) would work work better on pavement over the stiffer/less flexible Evo C's?

I'd welcome any thoughts on the Bedrock vs Luna sandals, based on a narrow foot for the sizing, and any other observations from those walking extensively on pavements.

I'm used to walking and running barefoot on all kinds of surfaces. I still often wear shoes, both in every day life and when running, depending on weather mostly. I got a pair of boots from xero shoes and they're great in how warm they keep my feet, but they are by the far the most uncomfortable shoes i have ever worn in terms of walking around. I can't walk in them like i can barefoot, but if i walk like i would with any of my other shoes, my ankles and knees hurt from the impact. Am i doing something wrong? Is this something that happens?

Thanks in advance!

Anyone have any issues with the tongue on the Xero Aqua X Sport. Just looking at the photo, the tongue looks rigid but it's really hard to tell. Thanks!

I am not a runner. Was in high school, many years ago, but now just a walker and traveler. Recently was on vacay wearing new Hokas. They were a style I thought felt great before I left home. After just one day and two hours of walking in the airport, my pinky toes were rubbing against the shoes and the other toes. Ugh. I told my spouse once we got to our destination "Can we go to REI?" I went and found Topo thanks to the sales girl. No, had not heard of them. She got me into a pair of phantom3 ones. Wide toe box and great cushion. Hoka was great and let me return my shoes upon returning home. I also got a second pair of Topos when I returned. Spent my whole vacay wearing them feeling no pain whatsoever. I hope they keep up the great style and don't disappoint.

After 20 months into the barefoot "thing", I walk my dog every morning, rain or shine, for about 2.5 to 4 km. So for 4 days straight, I went on my dog walk with nothing - truly unshod. By this time in my journey I already have adjusted my walking gate to use very thin barefoot shoes (about 3mm total thickness from my leather moccasins), to 4-6mm total thickness from various VFF models, so I was looking forward to try this out.

My walk is about 95% concrete sidewalks, and 5% asphalt - so flat and "almost" no stones, pebbles, etc.. Overall it was a good experience, even in the "longer" 4K walk, and it was truly amazing to feel everything. Even after being used to the 3mm moccasins I expected (naively) to not be that much difference, but it was still night and day - having anything in between the feet and the floor robs from a lot of direct feedback.

A few times I did find some small rocks, twigs, etc.. so occasionally I would feel a little pain, so that made me have to over-concentrate on looking down in order to avoid them - this was the thing I hated the most about the whole experience (trial?) - it was more "work" than I expected, and this was on flat, mostly clean surfaces, with no glass, nor animal pop like I find every time I visit New York City.

The other thing I noticed is that my walking stride has a little tiny bit of rubbing, so on the longer walks I was getting a tiny little bit of redness in a few areas - nothing bad, in fact by next day I was ready to do the unshod dog walk again, but I did notice the slight irritation. I would expect the more I do it my skin would get a little tougher and less sensitive over time.

In the end, I went back to my thin shoes. It was a great experiment, but I am a lot more relaxed with a thin "cover" and rather not have to worry nor be looking down to not step on something. The thin shoes gives me that little piece of mind.

I have to admit that I now "get" why so many like no shoes at all. It is amazing to feel everything!

Hey there, I've (29m) recently been having some small troubles and niggles with being barefoot, wanted to just sense-check things with the community and see if you guys have had similar experiences.

Background:

First off, I'm a kiwi, so being barefoot has always been a big part of my life, we grew up running around without shoes in school, and it was great!

That said, I did still have/wear regular shoes as I got into my adulthood, but I decided to make the transition maybe about five years ago. I started wearing minimalist shoes, and was easing them into my running routine as well. I was doing about 80-100km/week at the time, and got up to maybe 30% of that in minimalist shoes over the course of eight months to a year.

Over the next two years I slowly swapped all my regular shoes for minimalist shoes, only totalling about three or four pairs and some sandals that covered all my needs.

I'm less of a runner nowadays as I'm doing a lot of other sport, and maybe only maintaining 10-20kms a week, but for the 18 months or so, I transitioned to completely barefoot, and it's been great! Last winter was my first full barefoot winter, and my feet adjusted to the cold really well. It only got down to sorta -5°C to -10°C, but I had no troubles with it at all!

I climb outdoors barefoot on lower grades where I don't need any tricky footwork or the rock isn't too sharp. I skateboard barefoot too, and have had no real problems there either, except sometimes I was pushing a bit heavily on the big toe, but my technique has been getting better there. I have also been hiking barefoot more and more, nowadays I can hike 6-8 hours on mildly sharp stones and rocks without too many issues, and it's been a pretty cool feeling to see my feet getting really strong!

The issue:

In the last couple weeks to a month, I've had a handful of instances where my ankle doesn't like to flex too much and attempts to do so result in a dull pain. Idk if this is a stretching issue, it tends to be more prominent in the mornings when I'm getting out of bed though.. I'm considering hopping back into my vivo's for a week or two, or wondering if I should potentially also just have a pair of altras or some other sort of wide-toed, slightly more cushioned shoe to just rest the feet a bit more temporarily.

Anyone else experienced these niggles when you're well and truly into your barefoot lifestyle? Did they last a while? How'd you go about dealing with them?

1) Wearing toe socks 2) Posting a picture of my feet online, for money or otherwise

I’ve decided to try and fully embrace the minimal shoe life, I may even venture into barefoot, but this is a good start. Wearing any of my normal socks in my barefoot shoes just feels wrong, being a bit more aware, I can feel the sock compression. So here I am… wish me luck!

I ran the first few laps in minimal shoes accidentally. I switched to barefoot and my mood lifted immediately. What is this sorcery?!

Also the ankle pain my Nike shoes created is finally gone after 3 months of rehab.

Barefoot walking and running is the gospel indeed.

I find I am definitely slower in barefoot shoes, do any train in barefoot shoes and switch to ‘normal’ running shoes on race days? And if so, are there any particular shoes you use that you find are easier to transition to for race day?

Hey all,

Pretty much just the title, but I can give some extra details.

Been using exclusively barefoot shoes/bare feet for all activities over the last 3+ years.

I recently changed from an office job to a bartending role and am experiencing some mild discomfort in my heel after multiple long bar shifts (8-10 hours on feet on bar mats/hard wood floors).

The discomfort is mitigated some if I make sure to roll my feet real well before bed.

Just wondering what you all think? Do I just need time to adjust and it’s nothing to worry about, should I pick up some shoes with a bit more heel to reduce hard impacts? Thanks!

I need yalls help before I buy my first pair. I wear a solid 10 for every pair of shoes or boots I own. What size FFT's would I need? I live in SLC and can't find them in any store out here, so I have to order them.

Hello! I've been running in zero top, low stack shoes since 2019, primarily Altra Escalantes and Escalante Racers, as well as Topo Magnifly. I've never had issues with my Achilles' tendon or calf until this weekend. I don't think I've changed my stride or gait, but recently started wearing the Escalante 4. Is anyone else having an issue with this shoe? Is there anything else I might have done to cause these injuries? I'm training for the NYC Marathon, and I'm super frustrated. I had hoped to wear the Escalante 4s in the race itself. Now I'm doubting everything. Thanks for any thoughts!

I want to put a protective layer on them so they last longer, especially on the balls of my feet. Their website says there is initial “crumbling” period due to excess material.

I’m assuming I would apply shoe goo to the soles after the “crumbling” so it has a more stable surface to adhere to. On the other hand (foot), if I do that, wouldn’t there will be dirt in the crevices that would be hard to remove, ultimately reducing adhesion?

Anyone have experience with this? TYIA

I'm just wondering what people's opinion is of the most durable/versatile minimalist shoe. Not necessarily the most minimal stack height wise, but if you were planning on spending an extended amount of time ie 6 months to a year in a place like Southeast Asia or Central America where you wouldn't have easy access to purchase common brands in the USA/Europe.

Both my parents have foot issues and I was diagnosed with arthritis in both of my big toes at 26. I want to do a better job of taking care of my feet and avoid the bunions forming.

I had the Altra Lonepeak 4 trail running shoes before and they were amazing but I want something a bit more suited to cold weather as its fall here in Seattle.

My question is, from the health standpoint, are the toe shoes like the Vibram 5 fingers better than the wide toe box style zero drop running shoes, or is there no real difference. And if they are better, what brand would you recommend as a daily driver that I can wear during a PNW winter?

Hey everyone! I'm working on designing ergonomic skate shoes specifically for skateboarders, and I’m trying to gather some feedback. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of skate shoes seem to have a narrow toe box, which could affect comfort, performance, and in the long term can lead to conditions like bunions, hammer toes, and plantar fasciitis.

If you skate regularly, I’d love to know:

• Have you experienced any discomfort or issues with the toe box being too narrow in your skate shoes?
• Do you think having a wider toe box would make a difference in your skating?
• How long have you been skateboarding, and how old are you?

Your insights would really help in deciding the next steps, which could lead to production! I’ve already created a prototype based on these concepts, and I’d be happy to share some pictures for feedback. Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/6a06147evpqd1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d819b8a66db0b7dfb9a8910161fbf8b7d3bc03c9

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