Has anyone tried the Vibram FiveFinger shoes?

[Dee*Jay]

I worked out in the shoes on Sunday, using them for 20 mins elliptical, 20 mins bike, 20 mins elliptical, and had virtually no issue. I had the *slightest* cramping in my arch about 10 mins into the first elliptical session, but it went away almost immediately and was not nearly as bad as when I wear my regular shoes. I also had no numbness, and my toes were fine.

To be fair, my knee was a bit sore Sunday afternoon and yesterday, but I don't know if that was a result of the shoes or if it was due to my marathon workout on Saturday. Or maybe I'm just old and falling apart!

Regarding the stretching; I don't have any literature to reference, but I have heard that stretching is not really beneficial. And my own personal experience was that when I went back to working out I would stretch after each session. And my knee hurt EVERY DAY. One time I forgot to stretch and my knee felt fine the next day. I realized what had happened, skipped it on purpose just to see, and have never had discomfort again like I did back in my stretching days. I'm no specialist, and I'm not advocating one way or the other for anyone else, but FOR ME, it seems the stretching wasn't doing me any favors. Yowch.

Swam yesterday, and had to fly somewhere this morning, so I have nothing new to report, but I'll work out in my crazy new five finger shoes tomorrow!

 

[Haven]

Yay for a successful workout in your Vibrams, Dee*Jay! I'm so happy to hear that the cramping and numbness aren't as bad anymore, that's excellent!

 

[Aoife]

Dee*Jay, that's great news about your workout! I'm so glad that the Vibram Fivefinger shoes work for you, Kelpie's posts about some of the other barefoot options where the toes aren't divided has me taking a look at the Merrell barefoot line, so your thread has been a help to me, too.

I'm the one who posted about the recent (meaning last 5 years or so) research questioning the value of stretching. If anyone is interested, just do some searches, you will turn up lots of papers. I didn't save links, but I remember some from the British Medical Journal, University of Nebraska, and a plethora of others. It's a hot topic, that's for sure.