My five tips for walking with the five fingers
I did a 10km walk up the Brocken (1141m high, highest peak in my state) and a 20km walk. I want to share some experiences with the outside world about the five fingers:
- Take it easy
Train your feet to walk barefoot. Don’t start with too long walks. Not only that you hurt your feet, you could also get blisters while walking (vibram five fingers classic). - Wet feet getting colder much faster
Don’t let them get wet, and your feet are getting colder even faster. They could stay cold. - Sun heats you up
It’s better to walk in the sun. Your body temperature get’s warmer as well as the feet. - Avoid walking on concrete
My walks on concrete were awful so far. Maybe it’s a training thing, maybe not. I’d rather avoid it. - Minimum temperature
If the outside temperature is colder than 9°C, your feet are getting colder much faster which you can’t compensate with warm clothes covering the body. Though the rubber sole isolates very good between the foot and the icy ground. - Hiking
If you’re up for hiking, be sure you practices enough before. You should be aware that you can cut your feet at sharp things (not from the sole – from the top). Check if not poisonous animals can cause problems (e.g. Australia).
Taking the five fingers for a walk
The 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:
- is it really different to walk in those shoes from walking barefoot?
- 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.
