Taking the five fingers for a walk

Posted on September 20, 2008

vibram five fingersThe autumn and winter is approaching in Europe. I was walking most of the days barefoot in summer. It would be cool to still walk barefoot even when the weather becomes colder. It looks like there is a chance of doing this: vibram five fingers.

Theuni started with the five fingers. I ordered myself a pair of five fingers classic from barefoot.com with the size of 46; tried them and recognized, that they not fit. barefoot.com didn’t had a bigger size in stock, found one pair at globetrotter.de and ordered a 47. The five fingers homepage has a good introduction on how you measure the size you should order.

So, my key points are:
  1. is it really different to walk in those shoes from walking barefoot?
  2. can you still wear those shoes in autumn, maybe in winter?

Difference between walking barefoot

So to summarize from the first walk: it is different. I wouldn’t believed it. You still have to adopt on wearing those shoes.

You can sense the ground under your feet. You feel that the ground is cold. Your feet feel kind of numb. For example, if you walk barefoot through gravel it feels really uncomfortable (depending on the gravel). If you use the shoes, it’s much easier because of the vibram sole catches most of the stones. But you still sense that you’re walking through gravel. If you’re walking through grass, you sense that the grass is cold and soft, but you can’t feel the grass on your feet.

Wearing five fingers during cold times

It was 9.0 ℃ when I took a walk today. I sensed the cold ground under my feet (especially when walking through grass). Though I was wearing thick clothes to keep the body warm and it turned out to be working. After 5 Minutes the feet were getting warmer and were well temperatured. I will continue doing this even when the temperatures drop. I really want to know when it is to cold to not take a walk “barefoot”.

General

In general I like to wear them. It’s a great alternative in times where it’s not possible to walk barefoot. I’d like to test the five fingers sprint. I can imagine to take them for running.