About

Hey guys,

My name is Daniel Dessinger. I’m 32 years old, living in the Dallas area. I bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers in August 2009 for several reasons, and it was important enough that I decided to share my experiences with each of you.

The way I see it, some of you will consider buying VFFs, but the initial discomfort would discourage you from sticking it out and experiencing life on the other side of the discomfort. So I’m putting my own experiences on display on the off chance that my story will inspire you to give VFFs a chance.

So before you get into my daily blog, a little more about me:

I’m married with one toddler. Both my wife and my daughter light up my life. My daily life consists of social media marketing, search marketing, and reputation management. I handle strategy, implementation, and analysis for 6 clients at any given time. I drive two hours a day in traffic. When I get home, I spend three hours including dinner with my family before my daughter goes to bed. Most days, I spend a couple hours with my wife after our girl goes to bed.

I USED to play basketball. I still love to play, but I’m out of the habit. I quit taking time to go to the gym six months after our daughter was born because my wife needed a break by late afternoon and I couldn’t justify making her watch our girl another hour while I went off and did my own thing. Hence, I gained weight like there’s no tomorrow.

I have no idea what my ideal weight is. I’m 6’2″ and currently weight around 280. I remember weighing 240 and feeling overweight. So I’m not sure what the goal is (and while I’m thinking about that, I’m making a mental note to research and get that information so I have a realistic goal).

I’ve had dozens and dozens of sprained ankles in my 20s. I finally had ankle surgery in 2005 to reattach a severed ligament and scope out some extra stuff floating around. Due to a lack of wisdom and foresight, I failed to attempt proper formal rehabilitation after surgery. I went out on the basketball court without ever rehabbing my ankle, and my foot hurt like crazy. Some years later, my right foot hurts every day, depending on where I put pressure.

I’m on a quest to find a way to strengthen my ankles and feet so that active exercise (hopefully basketball) is once again a legitimate option.

As you can see, I’m twice the man I used to be. Seriously, It’s not easy gaining significant amounts of weight and all the strain that puts on the rest of your body. I long for my college days (above) where I was fairly thin and extremely mobile.

I know I don’t sound like the rock climbing, long distance running fitness afficionado that probably most often purchase Five Fingers.

Read about WHY I’m wearing Vibram Five Fingers.