Vibram Five Fingers, aka "What is that on your feet!?"

I became the center of attention on the bus today because of these. One girl was like "Ohhh, those are crazy!" Which was then followed by explaining what they were. Even the bus driver piped in and called them "feet shoes!"

Ha, if you want to be the center of attention, get some of these. People are way more often intrigued than disgusted. In fact, the only people I've seen disgusted by them are you people.

Also, here's a new video by Vibram. I like it; it explains what these are for in a nutshell:

Sure, I'd wear them if I where rock-climbing, but just as a normal shoe? No.

Originally Posted by Earth

While barefoot, your feet and legs move more because they're acting out the body's natural shock -absorbing motion. I still think you're arguing from a traditional shoe's perspective. A "sturdy" shoe sounds really harmful to the heel and knee. You don't want your movement restricted. It's not just the foot that works when you wear the VFFs; everything works differently, in your favor.

Check out this review: http://www.allclimbing.com/archive/2...fingers-shoes/

Also, this video really shows how awesome VFFs are for climbing:

[*youtube]o04Ts3HHpOk[/youtube]

Also, I have dangly bits, but my ankle isn't one of them. Wear a cup or something; don't depend on your shoe for that.

Two things. First of all, I don't climb such flat surfaces, I climb things where bits and pieces giving way under my foot is not uncommon. I have no wish to twist my ankle when a foothold suddenly shifts. Secondly, I mentioned the "dangly bits" as a comparison between you saying barefeet/these shoes are "the way nature intended"; the only reason humanity didn't evolve to have internal genitalia for males (while not mating) and nothing but flat chests for women is because we made clothing to protect these parts before such evolution could get very far. We also made clothing to protect our feet (hence why our feet are not as hard as many other mammals).