How To Transition to Barefoot Shoes - 6 useful tips 

This should be easy I've been bare foot my whole life. I'd always get screamed at, now I feel vindicated with the earthing movement.

I began transitioning to minimalist shoes a few months ago. I had posterior tibial tendonitis and was put in a boot for two weeks, but I could not get out of the boot without excruciating pain. What do do? Started foot exercises 2x a day and learned how to tape my feet with kinesiology tape just to be able to get out of that boot. After a year of doing this, I bought a pair of Altra shoes, but I put my custom orthotic in these shoes as I continue to build up strength and flexibility in my feet. My goal is to go completely minimal. My feet were ridiculously weak, but the podiatrist's recommendations made my feet worse. Physician, heal thyself!

Maybe it's because I never wore shoes with much of a heel and started walking completely barefoot through the forest before buying my first pair of barefoot shoes, but switching to barefoot shoes was no problem at all for me, i just put them on and started walking with them. It's interesting for me to hear that it can take years to switch, I imagine your feet must have been already very specialized to walking in fashion shoes.

Hello! I recently been wearing my Vivo for about two weeks and decided to run a mile in them yesterday. My calves and ankles are so sore and I’m just stumbling upon this video! How long did it take you to get out of the soreness you showed in the video?

Who the heck gives this video a thumbs down??!! Thanks for taking the trouble to make this.

Such an inspiration! I am only on my 3rd day of transitioning to a medium barefoot shoe. I was very surprised by all kinds of changes and awakenings that are causing discomfort and mild pain. I am in my 60s and not many people share their difficult journey like you have. Thank-you I am sure your video gave many people the encouragement they needed! 🥰

I wish I’d come across this video two years ago! I decided to give barefoot shoes a try and immediately ditched my old trainers. I developed bad plantar fasciitis and very tight calves. I went back to regular shoes and sprained my ankle playing my first soccer game with them and have been dealing with the aftermath ever since. I’ve been working on exercises to regain my foot and ankle strength and hope to eventually re-transition to barefoot shoes!

i got Merrell vapor glove 3 for about 2 months and i love them. thinking about toe stretchers though, not sure which to get. plus remember that good socks are also helpful

I started using barefoot shoes a couple of months ago. Besides of my yoga practice (or thanks to) I got to notice that my body was getting tighter and tighter. I was also noticing that my body was getting out of balance more often (in the sense of some areas getting tight, creating uncomforting or hurting feelings). In any case yoga was helping a lot. One day, last week, I decided that was a good moment to make the first small run. I was aware that my achilleas tendon was a bit tight and probably my back leg area muscles were too. The result was I rupture of fibers in the soleus. I would be happy to understand to to transit the adaptation to this kind of shoes and which physical changes they create, because I am feeling a lot of them, but I cannot really transit and be aware of them. And I would also like to know how this adaptation would differ from one person to another (one being a trained person with good body condition, and other with a sedentary lifestyle). How each of them should face such adaptation? Thanks for the help!

Best Accent eva

I'm 55yo and slowly making the transition to barefoot shoes. Thanks for this, it's a great help. I'm always barefoot indoors and feel like this has been a big plus with the transition. I feel good so far, taking it easy, and am confident that I'll integrate barefoot shoes completely at some point.

I'm not sure why RU-vid is suddenly showing me all these barefoot videos but I've been surprised to hear how much difficulty people generally seem to have with transitioning! I've been barefoot for about a year now and I just full sent it one day. I bought a pair of Vivobarefoots and began wearing them exclusively the moment I got them. I quickly bought a pair of running shoes as well, and I do all my running/hiking in barefoots. I haven't worn any of my old "normal" shoes since, and I've never had a single problem with the transition, no pain or difficulty or anything, so I'm genuinely surprised to see these videos and read all the comments sharing "barefoot transition horror stories."

I made the transition too. I went too fast, thinking “I’m different and will adjust quickly.” No. Doesn’t work that way, no matter your level of positive thinking. Thankfully I held onto my goal through my recovery and listened to advice as presented here (though from earlier sources).

Got my first pair of Vivobarefoot this week, went out for a few hours in them last night, goodness!!! My feet feel everything today! I never realised we can engage our feet so much. And this is from someone who is barefoot at home all the time. This is going to be INTERESTING.

Thank you for awesome words in this video. I started walking around the house without shoes. It's been 3 months and I started walking outside without shoes. Today I successfully own my first pair of barefoot and I'm so happy :D

lor lor you give everyone from a normal perspective good info and the pit falls to look out for , thanks

I find for gym work barefoot shoes are awesome, using a curve runner is also a great way to start running in barefoot shoes. Foot massage is key to stretch the muscles and ligaments in the foot. Nice video 👍

One of the few real videos on barefoot shoes. Thank you.

I did the toe rubber band exercises two days ago and overdid it. My poor left arch is achy.

thanks so much for this! Not only packed full of useful info but a really well recorded video, top stuff.