We have recently changed the image on our home page after we came across a great sports photographer called Jordan Weeks who has produced a number of barefoot running images in his portfolio.
Here some of the shots from his barefoot running portfolio.
Looking in Jordan’s other sports photography portfolios there many other fine images. Here are just a few:
To see more of Jordan Week’s work go to sports photography.
Early 2011 seems like no time ago, yet in the fast moving world of world of barefoot shoes it seems an eternity ago. Then a few brave brands made a tentative foray into zero drop shoes and the biggest of them was Merrell with the Trail Glove.
Sixteen months later buyers are spoilt for choice of zero drop shoes and yet the Merrell Trail Glove continues to be one of our best selling barefoot shoes.
Sure Merrell have added few new colours to freshen up the range, but the design of the shoe remains identical to the original design where Merrell got so much right.
The Merrell barefoot range is now extensive with 13 different models for men and woman but is still the original Trail Glove that is most popular.
Click Merrell Trail Glove to see the current colour range that we stock.
I am wearing a pair of VIVOBAREFOOT Gobi desert boots as I write this post and I’ve been wearing them every day since they arrived, so you can guess that I really like these shoes. Until now I have seen the VIVOBAREFOOT Ra as the ideal barefoot shoe for everyday wear but the Gobi has now taken over as my favourite. The reason is that the suede upper are so soft and flexible. In addition the boot shape seems to make the wide forefoot less noticeable so they look more like conventional. shoes.
It is rare to find a shoe that offers such a great barefoot experience and looks fantastic too.
We are currently only selling the suede versions as I think this shoe works so much better in suede than leather ( and the price of £10.00 lower too!). To see more click VIVOBAREFOOT Gobi.
If have just uploaded my review of the Merrell Road Glove. I really like this shoe and think it has suffered from being in the shadow of the highly successful Trail Glove. If you are mostly running on road this is definitely the better shoe for you of the two.
Apart from having a lighter more breathable upper it also has a very different sole. As you would expect the Road Glove has less distinct lugs for providing grip in slippery conditions. But more importantly the sole is flat whereas the Trail Glove sole has a quite pronounced curve to it. This makes the Road Glove much more stable on a flat surface.
To see more about this barefoot running shoe click Merrell Road Glove.
Once you get into wearing barefoot shoes you can start to find conventional shoes unbearable.
I decided about 2 years ago that I was never again going to wear a pair of shoes which pinch my toes and raise my heel. Most of the time this was fine as I don’t work in a formal office so can get away with casual shoes. But every so often an event such as parents evening at the school or a wedding turn up and the casual shoe won’t do.
The only shoe that I think exists that meets the needs of these occasions is a VIVOBAREFOOT RA in black leather. I can wear these anywhere without making waves and they don’t compromise at all on their barefoot credentials. They have a thin highly proprioceptive sole, a nice wide toe box and no heel raise.
To the best of my knowledge no one else makes any thing else comparable. To see more click VIVOBAREFOOT RA Mens Shoe.
I was lucky enough to spend last weekend in Madrid with my wife. On two occasions we went running in the Parque Del Retiro. Half the fun of this was being with the large number of Spaniards out running at the same time and seeing their enjoyment. It was very positive to see all sorts young and old, thin and less thin out running.
My wife has got used to the fact that I cannot resist commenting on which runners forefoot strike and which runners heel strike.
What was surprising was that in my opinion about 75 % of the runners were forefoot striking. In addition they were running in a far more relaxed style than an equivalent group in the UK.
This made me wonder whether we in the UK were more influenced by macho articles in the 70′s advocating heel striking that were probably seeded by marketing campaigns from major US shoe brands. Maybe the message didn’t get to Spain to the same extent.
Forefoot strikers they may have been but they were all wearing heavily cushioned shoes with seriously elevated heels. Looking in the shops that was all that seemed available. No hint of any barefoot shoes.
You don’t need to look very hard at the VivoBarefoot range of barefoot shoes to notice that unlike most of their competitors they only make shoes that are zero drop with a sole that provides a minimal amount of cushioning. If you start to try barefoot running with VivoBarefoot then they drop you right in at the deep end. Your feet feel every nuance of the running surface (good or bad) and if you were previously wearing traditional running shoes then your heels need to deal with being dropped from maybe 20mm of elevation to nothing.
VivoBarefoot competitors take the bite out of this shock by offering transitional shoes (often described as minimalist rather than barefoot). These shoes offer a modest amount of reassuring cushioning combined with a heel that is mildly elevated. The idea is that you get used to these shoes and then progress to something a bit more severe when you are ready for them. To the consumer this is an attractive solution, barefoot with less pain and hard work.
I mentioned this type of transitional shoe at one of my first encounters with Lee Saxby (world renowned barefoot coach and consultant to VivoBarefoot). The idea of a progressive journey that the customer can go on seems appealing to many especially as it enables the customer to decide on their own final destination, which might not be a pair of zero drop minimal cushioned shoes.
Lee was adamant that in his opinion transitional shoes were not something that he could endorse. “My objective is to enable my clients to enjoy injury free running. To achieve this I need to help them to stop heel striking and become a skilful forefoot striking runner. If I put them in a pair of shoes with a bit of cushioning I’m allowing their brain to detect that the odd heel strike is acceptable and everything that I am trying to achieve is wasted. A pair of shoes that makes heel striking feasible is not doing them any good”.
Lee then went on to explain that running is a skill that humans are particularly well designed to perform but we have forgotten those skills that need to be relearned. Ideally we would run barefoot but most of us feel the need for some form of protection for our feet. But if that protection includes superfluous cushioning it has a detrimental effect on our running form
When I suggested that this was a message some consumers would not want to hear Lee then explained further, “I’m a coach and an academic. My job is to tell the truth. Marketing people may feel the need to modify the truth to make it more palatable but I am not a marketing person”.
Even though Lee works closely with VivoBarefoot, he emphasis the need to effectively re- learn the skill of running. He’d rather you didn’t wear shoes, but if you must then they should come as near as possible to the barefoot experience….hence no cushioning.
So it’s clear where Lee is coming from but as he admits he is not a marketing man.
When I met recently with Galahad Clark, MD of VivoBarefoot it seemed an ideal opportunity to discuss this further and understand the perspective of the businessman.
So I asked Galahad “Why do you insist on making such uncompromising barefoot shoes? Surely your sales would increase if you added in some more conservative transitional shoes.”
Galahad answered “At Vivobarefoot we believe that barefoot is the gold standard and shoes should mimic the foot and the barefoot gait (not the other way round). Minimalist or ‘transitional’ shoes mimic the conventional running shoe (still with padding and motion control features) influence the gait and allowing heel striking. We believe the transition to barefoot is achieved through walking around every day as close to barefoot as possible with maximum sensory perception and your body and brain adapting at slower speeds before progressing to more dynamic activities like running.
We are an independent company with very clear principles and are latest debate is whether to even include a removeable footbed in our 3mm thick shoes? (we have opted to include!)
In a world where commercial objectives drive so many decisions it is refreshing to hear of someone who sticks to their principles and only does what they believe in.
Inov8 now have 4 shoes that are suitable for CrossFit use. I find that a number of people are quite confused about the relative merits of these shoes. Inov8 have a modular approach to shoe construction that enables them to combine different sole, midsole and upper components to create shoe that look similar but have quite different characteristics.
I thought it would be useful to make a video that tries to explain the differences between the shoes. The video below covers:
The video shows that the shoes differ in the amount of heel elevation and cushioning underfoot. This gives the shoes quite different characteristics. In particular they suit users with differing levels of running skill and confidence in their ability to avoid heel striking.
The range is now sufficiently wide that there is an Inov8 shoe to suit the requirements of any CrossFit athlete.
To see further details of these shoes click Inov8 CrossFit shoes
I have written quite a bit about recent barefoot shoes that have come on the market and find myself regularly referring to the level of cushioning that they provide. I thought it might be useful to summarise my thinking on this subject and talk about ”ideal” barefoot shoes and how design is modified to cater for a wider audience.
When people talk of barefoot shoes they are usually referring to shoes that protect your feet from injury but give an experience as near as possible to wearing no shoes whatsoever. Implicit in this approach is the idea of forefoot striking instead of heel striking. The construction of barefoot shoes involves a number of design elements:
Whilst a “full-on” barefoot shoe will exhibit all of these characteristics, such a shoe is only suited to a committed barefoot runner who is willing to make the effort to learn good barefoot running technique and invest in progressively building the strength in muscles and tendons that need to be developed.
You do not have to search hard to find stories of people who tried barefoot running but encountered pain and discomfort because they tried to make the transition too quickly and without changing their technique appropriately.
The industry is responding to this issue by developing more “forgiving” barefoot type shoes that can accommodate some poor form and weak muscles. This entails:
Many of the more popular barefoot shoes exhibit some or all of these characteristics. The market for more accommodating barefoot shoes is much bigger than the market for “full-on” barefoot shoes designed for hard core barefoot enthusiasts.
A good example of a “full-on” barefoot shoe is the VivioBarefoot Aqua-Lite, but our sales of this shoe are modest. Our sales of shoes with a bit more cushioning and a bit of arch support are much greater.
My advice would be to think seriously how committed you are to becoming a great barefoot runner and then buy shoes appropriate to your aspirations. If you are ambitious this may mean buying shoes that aren’t the most popular.
Busy day for videos as we have also completed our video review of the the New Balance Minimus MT00 Trail shoe. Possibly a bit too much cushioning for some tastes but those who value something a bit more forgiving will love this shoe especially given it’s stunning looks and amazingly low weight of only 135 gm.
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