Should you buy a pair of Vibram Five Fingers barefoot shoes?

For the past two years I have been walking and often running in a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. I originally got them as I bought into the whole "barefoot" running craze thing that was going around.

I thought that these shoes would be the cure to all my injury problems at the time. Let me explain this further. Vibrams are marketed in a big way around the notion that most of us strike the ground incorrectly while running. This is said to be due to the heavily padded shoes (Nike, Adidas, New Balance etc) we grew up wearing.

We hit the ground in a heel strike whereas the East African runners, who grew up running barefoot, strike the ground on their mid or forefoot. Now while I won't argue that a midfoot strike is far more superior than that of heel, I will argue the role that zero drop shoes such as Vibrams play in correcting improper foot strike.

Many people believe that all you need to do is throw away your current pair of trainers, replace them with Vibram shoes and BOOM... proper form! That is definitely not the case as I soon found out. You do not automatically start running with a midfoot strike just because you changed shoes. Changing your foot strike takes a lot of practice. There are numerous form drills you have to do and you need to really focus on the way your foot hits the ground every stride you take. Even with all this it will take a long time until you run in proper form without thinking about it.

You also do not need to be running in barefoot shoes to do this. Although I think they will help you get a better feel for it, it is definitely not a necessity. I dedicated a whole chapter in my ebook to this topic and will speak about it further in future blog posts. For now, let me answer the question of whether or not you should get a pair of Vibrams?

I would say yes, you should. They are great to walk in and very comfortable. Just please do not think that they are going to magically transform you running style into that of David Rudisha.

If you are going to run in Vibrams, keep the mileage low and do not do too much too soon. They offer less protection than normal shoes and will take a while to get used to.