My Goal

If you read my About page, you know that I have historically bad ankles. I literally went through a period in college where I sprained at LEAST one ankle per month. I was simply too impatient to let them heal, so I’d strap up my expensive ankle braces and head back out to the basketball court.

Here’s a quick laundry list of issues I’m facing:

Weak Ankles
Weak Back
Weak Stomach (core muscles)
Bad Posture
40+ Pounds Overweight
Not a Lot of Free Time

For too long, I’ve let my body compensate for imbalances. I’ve literally relearned how to walk and run based on my attempts to run while injured.

So why wear Vibram Five Fingers? Here’s the Vibram answer:

The typical human foot is an anatomical marvel of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles, and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised.

That’s why we recommend wearing FiveFingers for exercise, play, and for fun. Stimulating the muscles in your feet and lower legs will not only make you stronger and healthier, it improves your balance, agility and proprioception.

I don’t have a lot of time, and I’m not the most patient man in the world. So here’s my thinking:

These Vibram Five Fingers will demand that my ankles and feet get stronger in order to handle walking without all that usual sole cushion.
If those muscles strengthen more than they have in the past, then I can play basketball and get good exercise with greater confidence.
If I lose weight because I’m able to exercise in the ways most enjoyable to me, my whole quality of life will signficantly improve (and I can finally buy some new clothes)
I should be able to stand with better posture and less back pain
I’ll be a healthier, more energetic, and thus happier person

And THAT, my friends, is my goal. This image will show you how our bodies need to be lined up and how the average shoe inhibits that alignment.

As Tim Ferriss mentioned:

The fastest runners have a style quite similar to that of a person running without shoes. They absorb shock by landing lightly on their forefeet rather than on their heels, and their landing leg is beneath the torso, with the leg slightly bent to absorb impact.

According to exercise physiologist and Olympic marathoner Pete Pfitzinger, the key to starting out is to go slowly. He advises walking barefoot for a few weeks to toughen up the skin on the bottom of the foot as well as the muscles in the ankles and feet. Once you are ready to run, start with a mere five minutes, increasing slowly and running barefoot every couple of days. From there, build to up to 20 minutes over a month. After a few weeks of this, the feet and ankles will be stronger, thus reducing the risk of injury. Possible places to train include sandy beaches and golf courses.

Tim Ferriss on Vibram Shoes from Kevin Rose on Vimeo.

So there you have it. I’m starting off by getting my feet and ankles used to the difference. Then I’m moving on to brief running until I’m well adjusted enough to run for significant stretches.

And after that? Who knows. I’m dedicated to wearing my VFFs for six months. During that time, I hope to see significant improvement in my ankle/foot strength, back strength, and posture. If , after six months, I’ve met all those goals without any super special training, will YOU be ready to take the plunge?