Welcome! Looking for everything related to Vibram Five Fingers? Let me point you to the hub of all things VFF: birthdayShoes.com. Also, due to the steep learning curve on getting a pair of “foot gloves,” I’ve created a [beginner’s guide] to Five Fingers. It’s a free PDF e-book that covers the basics and will help you get you going. Anyway, enjoy the review!

“What are you wearing? Some kind of aqua shoes?”

That’s a common reaction I get to my Vibram Five Fingers. Others include, “Hey can you run in those?” (Yes). Or, “Do they feel weird? Is it hard to adjust to them?” (Not really and No — its like being barefoot!). And of course, “What are those? And where can I get them?”

Five Fingers are shoes. Or slippers. Or socks with flexible Vibram rubber soles on the bottom. They have five toe cutouts and absolutely no arch support or traditional foam padding in the soles. They come in a few varieties (some providing more foot coverage, one intended for aquatic uses, a couple with straps, or the simplest, the “classic", which has a bungie type operation that keeps them from falling off when used in more engaging activities (Update: Now there are 7 Five Fingers models available with an eighth VFF running shoe model on the way).

I’ve been using my Five Fingers for about three months now. So far, I’ve used them for:

• Kettlebell lifting (In action: Front Squats)
• All varieties of CrossFit workouts (In action: Burpees), which often include doing squats, cleans, jerks, pull-ups, dips, presses, etc.
• Rowing on an Ergometer (Concept 2)
• Getting around a dock and boat
• Going for walks
• Short jogs
• Hill sprints (pic)
• Frisbee throwing
• Grocery shopping!
• Lounging around in the house, grilling outside on the deck
• Hacky-sacking

Five Fingers have helped me be a kid again: as a kid, I never wore shoes, preferring always to be barefoot everywhere. Even today, I rarely wear shoes, preferring Birkenstock sandals in the summer or clogs in the winter (or just wearing flip-flops). Five Fingers are great in that they allow me to do all sorts of active things outside, no matter what the surface while still protecting my feet against wayward sharp objects on the ground.

Five Fingers take my feet back to basics. I wasn’t born with shoes on my feet. From an evolutionary perspective, human beings existed for countless millenia hunting and gathering, running from prey, lifting and carrying loads — all without the latest brand of Nike’s. It stands to reason that our feet evolved over time to withstand the freedoms (both good and bad) that result from going barefoot everywhere.

Our ancient ancestors likely had tough, calloused feet, ready to withstand sprints (or walking) across all sorts of terrain. Furthermore, they likely ran lightly on their feet (and almost certainly had little reason to ever “go for a jog"). Shoeless running would necessarily minimize contact between the foot and the ground. Just imagine a cat or dog sprinting and you get the idea. Contrast running on the balls of your feet with the pervasive long-stride, heel-striking (inherently inefficient), sneaker-clad foot-roll. This style is clumsy, and the by-product of the thick-soles of modern sneakers, which mute important feedback between foot and ground (See You Walk Wrong, referenced below).

Vibram Five Fingers minimize feedback-interference by having an almost insignifnicant rubber sole. When I wear my Five Fingers outside, I feel the curvature of the grass-covered ground. I feel rocks under my heels and get a real sense of the varying textures beneath me.

When I do olympic-lifts, I feel all the stabilizers in my feet activate (Like you might encounter in CrossFit). I feel reconnected to the ground, an empowering feeling when you’re trying to squat 250 pounds or stabilize whilst doing 1.5 pood kettlebell swings. When I do hill sprints in my Five Fingers, I am considerably less likely to roll my ankle upon hitting a dip in the ground.

Going about “virtually barefoot” may seem odd to our sneaker-crazed modern world, but why not take a break from restrictive, clunky shoes and sneakers and traverse the earth as evolution intended (Well, as close as you can get while still maintaining some protection!)? Plus, being active and “barefoot” will build stronger ankles and leg muscles and improve your agility.

Mind, the day after running “barefoot” for the first time (virtually so with Five Fingers), you’re bound to be sore in all sorts of previously forgotten ankle, foot and calve muscles. So be prepared. However, this general foot/ankle weakness should tell you something about how much your regular footwear has been subsidizing your strength.

The bottom line: if you like being active and barefoot, you’re almost certainly going to like Five Fingers.

Finally, there are a few other benefits of Five Fingers I thought I’d share:

• Five Fingers are incredibly light and compact. This makes them supremely packable for traveling.
• They are machine washable! Yeah, you can just throw them in the washing machine, then hang them out to dry.
• Wet sports. This goes hand in hand with their machine wash-ability. Doing something in wet grass? Regular sneakers will get soaking wet and could end up smelling of mold. With my Five Fingers, if they get wet, its okay! They’ll dry fast. If they get muddy? Just wash them off and throw them in the washing machine. Easy.

Okay, you’ve sold me. So what now?

If you’re interested in picking up a pair, I recommend checking out some style specifics at the official fivefingers website where you can figure out which style is right for you. I like my “classics” (which run about $70). All varieties of Vibram Five Fingers can be picked up with free shipping at kayakshed.com.

On style and sizing — I personally had no need or desire for a strap over the top of my feet (like in the “sprint” style — and I sprint in my classics all the time!) and didn’t want to risk rumored chafing. Sizing is always a question. My size happened to be the same as my Birkenstocks (European 43), but there’s some sizing info based on foot measurements available here. I actually ordered a 44 and 43 from kayakshed.com, and just returned the 44s for a refund.

Buyer beware: friends and family might chide your weird-looking footwear, but don’t be surprised when they order their own pair shortly thereafter (To date: I know two CrossFitters who are looking to buy them after seeing me use them, and one CrossFitter who has already taken the plunge).

If you have any questions about anything I didn’t cover, let me know!

Further reading:

• You Walk Wrong.

  Look, it?s not your fault. It?s your shoes. Shoes are bad. I don?t just mean stiletto heels, or cowboy boots, or tottering espadrilles, or any of the other fairly obvious foot-torture devices into which we wincingly jam our feet. I mean all shoes. Shoes hurt your feet. They change how you walk. In fact, your feet?your poor, tender, abused, ignored, maligned, misunderstood feet?are getting trounced in a war that?s been raging for roughly a thousand years: the battle of shoes versus feet.

• POSE running and Vibram Five Fingers (POSE is a method of running that uses gravity to propel you forward, running on the balls of your feet, so it stands to reason that Five Fingers would be a natural complement). Note: I’m not a runner/jogger (just sprints and short-distance running for me, thanks)

Thanks for reading my review! If you want more information, hop on over to the fan site for Vibram Five Fingers — birthdayshoes.com Also, check out my [beginner’s guide] to Five Fingers. It should help you quickly ascend the learning curve for your first pair of VFFs!