Shoespiracy (Extended cut) 

I went "barefoot" three years ago and I'm never going back. I'm so happy, so comfortable, less joint pain, it's amazing

Once had to find my step dad in the smoky mountains during a storm. Help was taking too long so told my sister to stay and wait while I took off to where I felt was right & found him. No way I could’ve run with my shoes with out slipping in the storm so I took them off and ran my heart out through the mountain terrain. Found him🙏🏽

I'm barefoot since 2003. Results: growth of both calves far beyond what I got doing sports shod, my calves started developing muscle belts I didn't know. . Blood flow improves dramatically: no more cold feet. Muscles under the sole gain tone and cushion your bones from sharp rocks while the skin becomes so tough you can literally walk on broken glass without getting one splinter. Balance also improves and toes begin spreading apart. Injuries: can happen. But so far I only got a couple cuts and only while being very tired. Conclusion: it is not for everybody but definitely brings in a lot of benefits. It is a personal choice but not as crazy as people believes today but that's just because people today is ever more weak, scared, conformist and dependent from artificial stuff. p.s you will be able to pick stuff from the ground with your toes ;)

“Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” ― C.S. Lewis

All those 180 dislikes are conventional shoe manufacturers

I agree with the concept, but part of me thinks this is just a marketing ploy for Vivo to sell $180 shoes. If their shoes are so "minimalist" why are they so pricy?

Imagine if this was played on netflicks or sky or normal TV ! I'm so glad this video has been made! It's fantastic. Barefoot shoes are the future of shoes

I would love to see this as a more in-depth exploration and full documentary length! It could do to footwear what Supersize Me did to fast food.

As a martial artist, I am barefoot for two reasons: 1) in order to not slip away. 2) because I do more with my feet than walk or run - I choke, grab, hook and kick with them. Those are all komplex movements which shoes would restrict, even your fancy expensive minimalist vivobarefoot shoes. Of course, boxers wear shoes. In their case, it is mostly for ankle stability as they do not need their feet for complex movements. Upon inspecting boxing shoes, one will notice that they lack cushioning. The reason being is that cushioning absorbs any power of your legs pushing off of the ground leading to less punching power. And that is another reason why martial artists do not wear shoes, or shoes without cushioning.

I went barefoot over two years ago after years and years of torture and discomfort. Shoes (and socks) are like vices; they not only limit the movement of your foot, but also restrict the natural sensorics and balance. For most of my life, I was suffering from a range of issues because I was wearing or was made to wear unhealthy shoes. There were lots of blisters, raw skin between the toes, inflammations in the heel or in the arch. My toes started to disfigure because they were squeezed into unforgivingly hard, restrictive, and uncomfortable confinements. Indeed, it has taken me a long time to realise what I was doing to my feet, even though I should have known much better. Today, I can say that my feet witnessed a tremendous transformation from being sick and restraint to being strong and healthy. Alone the sensation of feeling the ground under your feet and to connect with nature is simply overwhelming. In addition, it is fair to say that my legs have gotten stronger while my posture and balance improved beyond recognition. Also, I can only agree with what was said in the video, namely that children hate wearing shoes. Indeed, it was the most traumatic experience in my childhood when I was made to walk in shoes which were too big. That was nothing else than a pure moneysaving exercise because kids grow quickly; hence, forcing their tiny feet into bigger shoes saves money because the feet have time to grow into the shoe. Well, that was the logic behind that ordeal. Conclusively I can honestly say that wearing shoes kills your feet. Always make sure you wear shoes that allow your feet to move and breath; don't wear them when they clamp or cause discomfort (not being flexible, to tight, not breathable). There is no need for sweaty or sore feet, for corns, or fungus. Be kind to yourself.

Maybe this is advertising, but it is true. After walking 55 years with all kind of „normal“ shoes, I have deleveloped all kind of problems…now Im running completely barefoot or with occasional barefoot shoes….my feet feel so alive and good. It takes some time but it is worth it.

I've always been barefoot all my life then when I was 11 I changed it up I went the park everyday barefoot only because my sandals had no traction. My bones got stronger. In freshmen year of high school I did track then entire year with just xero shoes hfs everyone made fun of me for it but I'm so glad I did. Man my foot is so muscular and I developed my own cushion my heel always had a little squish then bone. Now I have a lot of squish and it just absorbs rocks better when trail running. Then sophomore year I thought of something. People these days face another problem when running. We always seem to run and get cotton mouth, our spits all tacky gross and dry, and we seem to cough after a run. If humans evolved to run then why do we have this problem? It because humans are actually designed to breath through the nose when running. I've been nose running for a while now it does take some training for your muscles in your chest to get strengthened but. Now I litteraly started running again from not running the entire summer and fall and I was nose breathing. I ran 7 miles that day on trails with elevation. And ran at a speed of 7 to 8 mph and sometimes 2 had to dodge mud and rocks. But it seems from what I did. My body was in sync with its self with out being out of breath. When I ran it felt just like when your chillin on the couch breathing through your nose normally. And I hit the runners high faster. So try nose breathing.

I've been wearing Barefoot shoes for a little over a year now, and honestly, it has been such a relief. I know I have been slacking on my foot conditioning exercises, but just simply changing my footwear has helped me with my "flat feet" and shin splints. I always try and tell people their shoes are damaging their health and are unnatural, but I just get looked at like a crazy person LOL. Watching this mini-documentary makes me feel so pumped up and excited I cannot explain it. Thank you Vivo for brining this to the masses and really excelling in this relatively new market and leading the way in this "movement" (pardon the pun)

As a martial artist, I must say that what is said in the video is a lot true for me. The fact that I personally rely on the sensory messages that my feet send to me is 100% true. I've been doing taekwondo for 15 years now. We kick a lot, so footwork is a major thing and we are most of the time on one foot or jumping back and forth from one foot to the other, and it's true that I find myself deciding the next move also on what my feet tell me. For example, barefooted I feel if I'm on a slippery part of the mat, or if I'm just not in the condition of having enough traction or balance for an elaborate next move, so I can stick to something easy and get myself back in a favorable situation. I notice that when I train with shoes, even those created for martial arts, this just doesn't work. I've even seen boys and girls failing in competitions (where we are absolutely not allowed to wear shoes or anything) because they where actually aware of how the surface was. They just told me that they didn't felt stable enough to act, so they didn't. Training with shoes isolates your feet from the ground, so you do your move without knowing your condition 100%. You just act, and if you fall, it's ok. But you were not afraid of making that move firstly because you couldn't see the whole pic. But barefoot you might have felt that you didn't have stability, and you would have thought twice before making that particular movement. I believe wearing shoes in martial arts is like being blind. You can get the idea of what's going on, but you miss one piece of information. And when you take the shoes of for the first time, you get submerged by information that you do not know how to elaborate. You feel overwhelmed, and you don't act out of fear of your own sensations.

I started to wear barefoot shoes about a year ago and they are amazing! I have flat arches and used to get foot and back pain, and since swapping my shoes I haven't been bothered with this pain at all!!!!!!

The reason minimal shoes are seemingly pricey for what they are is because of economies of scale. A niche product does not sell in large volumes, so the price to produce each shoe is higher for the manufacturer. Costs will go down as these kinds of shoes become more mainstream and production ramps up.

I've just started on my barefoot transition. Yesterday I ran my first 5km in Vibram KSO barefoot footwear, I have run a bit before so it didn't take me too long to work up to that distance. I wasn't pushing myself but it was by far the most comfortable and easy 5km I've ever done! Felt great and was chuffed with time for what appeared to be not much effort in comparison to running in cushioned trainers. Can't wait to keep pushing and seeing the improvements. I'm actually enjoying my running and the feeling of it, you have to give this a go. Remember the technique landing under your hip and on the ball of your foot, you can't go wrong!

Wow! As a footwear designer all I can say is Wow! AMAZING VEDIO AND EVERY BIT OF IT IS TRUE. SO TRUE.

I am kind of surprised that more people didn’t know this stuff already.

Y'all out here buyin' shoes while I'm out here walking barefoot like it's 3200

I have been walking and running barefoot for seven years now. I have no more back pain, knee issues, nothing but positive results. I climb mountains like South Sister and Mt. Bachelor, which are volcanic rock barefoot. I also run in minimalist shoes three days a week. Switching to barefoot style has been a major part of my life, but it almost didn't happen. It took nearly a year to successfully switch. During my transition I had numerous issues with plantar fasciitis. I almost gave up, but I didn't and now at 59 years old I know that my feet and all my joints below my waist are better for it.

THANK YOU from my heart for this!! you reawaken my natural calling to go barefoot. i never wanted shoes with heels. i totaly vibrate with this!! i lived near mountains for 6 months and run barefoot (no shoe) in the woods and run over rocks and did not cut myself at all !! if you do not get afraid, if you mentally focus and being well - you will !! some will not believe but i did it and i believe. i always felt better to run barefoot. now i realised that indeed we have an amazing feet technology by GOD !! did you hear that 26 bones, 33 articulations and 20+ muscles in our feet !! the arch itself is a shock-absorbant & rebound GOD natural technology in our feet. we do not need carbon plate. i started running few months ago and my knees hurt. i bought modern running shoes with 12mm cushion heels. now i am looking at this barefoot videos and i realised i was running in distructive way - heel bash in the ground becausde of heal shoes. I went and grab my old 5 fingers and my running is different !! feels much better. thank you guys for your video !!

I've been wearing barefoot shoes for 2 1/2 years and love them! One of the best decisions I ever made. Before I had poor circulation in my feet until I got vivo barefoot. It's healed and my feet don't get cold anymore also :)

Great docu VIVO....nothing better then moving back to our roots with barefoot training! thank you for providing quality footwear that HELPS humans to be better, stronger, and faster!

Such great information! Love learning about the feet and have created a program to help my clients strengthen their feet because of all of this. It's amazing how much better their proprioception gets when they begin to work on their feet and the elderly clients I work with are able to balance and begin walking again without a cane. Thank you so much for this information!

We were brainwashed back in the 1970's by Nike showing their running shoes commercials where they would show the running foot in slow motion landing on the heel as a demonstration as to how the human foot was supposed to run. I hate Nike I'll never buy their products again.

I love seeing these types of documentaries/video shorts. I don’t know if you guys have out out more since this one, but every minimal shoe company ought to get the word out there besides the ones in the know enjoying the feel & comfort that comes from what we ought to wearing since childhood. Excellent piece.

I would love for all the big brands to get on this wave (Nike, Adidas, Puma...) it would make it mainstream and “cool” to alot more people!

I wear XeroShoes! They are amazing I have the regular running shoe version and the sandal. They are minimalist, zero drop shoes!! And they aren’t that expensive at all!

I switched to "barefoot" shoes in 2012, after wrecking my left knee training for a race in 1998. The injury was so bad, and so sensitive that I hadn't run since '98. I purchased a pair of Vibram FiveFingers, ran 7.5mi that very first day up and down the local 1,200' peak, and 27mi that first week, including long runs along sidewalks and the shoulder of the road. That's not the correct way to transition into barefoot style running, and minimalist shoes, but I was so happy to be able to run again, that I just couldn't dial it back! Here it is, the end of 2020, and I'm not only still running, but I train year round, have run R2R at the Grand Canyon 7 times in 6yrs, run a half every weekend on a loop route that goes up and over 2 of our local 1,200' peaks, and in March, raced a half on a favorite coastal mountain trail. My then 8th grade daughter joined me in wearing the FF's, trained and raced in them through high school, and wound up being the only athlete on her XC or Track teams to never have an injury. I say this often: "Shoes are not a religion. They are a tool. Choose the right tool for the job." We don't always train, adventure run, or race in FF's, because they're not a fast shoe, and on many trails, they simply don't offer enough protection. Other shoes we love: Vivobarefoot, xeroshoe, Nemes, New Balance Minimus V1, Merrell Trail Glove or Vapor Glove. I'm a mechanic and work standing, 9hrs/day, with no breaks, 5 days a week, and another 4-6hrs on Sats. My work shoe is the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail. We post quite a few of our run adventures on my channel.

It's really INFORMATIVE, which delivers many detailed ideas & modern foot wear history! How mostly all modern shoes (designs) / are always ruining our (otherwise) amazing feet, which many people(>99% of the population) still neglect! I started refraining from running without shoes since 2013, which 9 years' Barefoot Run experience told/still tells me many benefits told in this video. The term of "Shoes Coffins" is the very precise & vivid descriptions about the many DRAWBACKS of Shod Running, but only in two words! Thank you! Thank you! & Thank you!

Little over 10 years ago I started wearing vibram 5 finger shoes, and I haven't worn regular shoes 👟 ever since. Sometimes I walk barefoot on the street. Feels awesome! PRAISE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!!!!

I use “water shoes” to run. I can get them at $9.99 in the supermarket near home.... 😎👍🏽

I agree. My feet are shaped like SHOES. Why have we come to this. I say we abandon SHOES from now on. SHOESPIRACY IS REAL! 🦶 Thank you for the likes everyone, i know we can stand together on this, and we will stand on pure feet, not those moulded by shoes!

I started running two years ago (52 years old; often cycling on long distances). Started to feel real pain on the knees sides, even when not jogging at all. Stopped after one month. Then, looking at some videos on YT this spring, explaining that jogging with "barefoot kind of" shoes would help to reshape the way I run. So, got a new barefoot pair of shoes, and it seems to work. Calfs sometimes hurts, but it's from fatigue because the pain goes after two or more hours.

re 8:32 "... unnecessary junk" is a motto for an entire life. So much for the US economy.

Here is one more problem, we aren’t adapted for walking on a perfectly flat and hard ground.... But yes, I love barefoot trail running

Before I switched I would get stitches around my torso at least 50% of the time. Running forefoot: never happens. Shins and knees also pain free. Plus it's fun! Running is more like play than a chore. I'm in my 40s but can't wait for the next run because I feel like a kid again.

Convinced me, just got a pair of your shoes for Christmas, they’re great

Our understanding is reflected in our "science" and "technology". We always find later how little we know.

I've had trouble with my feet for years. My heel would hurt while walking and I twisted my ankles so often so badly that I was conantly afraid of falling. I could lose my balance and fall by just stepping on a small stone. The result: I was wearing hiking boots year round even in summer. I had braces around my ankles and I had custom made insoles. Did it help? A little. It was very expensive and due to al this things on and around my feet I got a lot of blisters wich made walking even more unpleasent. Since two years I'm using barefoot shoes and it changed so much. No more pain, no more falling and no more blisters. It did hurt in de beginning but after a while all the pain was gone and there was so much comfort.

I used to be one of the top runners in my state. Competed since I was 7 years old. Junior olympics and all that. Before my very last scholastic race senior year of college I fractured my hip. I wore the same model training shoe (I won’t name which line it is) and fractured my hip. Over 4 years later now I still can’t train properly. I blame traditional footwear for the poor running form I suffered from. I am a vehement barefoot and minimalist user now. Don’t try to improve what God has figured out in designing our feet function!

A well presented case. Count me in I want my feet back

I've been using "barefoot" what I'll call glove shoes for running and some versions for casual wear. I love them. I am slowly converting some of my other shoes to minimalist designs as I find ones I can use for work. I'm going to have to start spending more on fewer pairs of shoes to be able to afford them. I will probably still throw on heels sometimes because I don't feel dressy in flat shoes.

I am all for barefoot minimal shoes. I own 3 pair of Vivobarefoot and some other barefoot options. But the fact is, we do not walk on soft porous earth full-time any more. Most people go years primarily walking on one hard surface to the next. Concrete, asphalt, hard wood; all extremely hard surfaces compared to a natural environment like a wooded path or beach. I walked through NYC with barefoot shoes and it felt like a metal spatula was whacking my feet on every step. If I was hiking on some more forgiving material, barefoot shoes are perfect. But for every day city / urban dwelling, it just doesn't make sense.

Vivobarefoots are the best

Quite interesting. Evidence based work. Thanks!

I luckily never developed bunions and preferred to be barefoot most of the time. My feet naturally spread in the summer months and narrow during the winter. Hopefully, this winter, they will retain their wider form now that I use barefoot shoes.

"Minimal" shoes are not an alternative to going barefoot, the real thing will never be reached by anything else. They are however an alternative to regular shoes when you must wear them for whatever reason (extreme coldness, very dangerous ground or even a business environment that will not tolerate bare feet). Just switching from regular shoes to minimal shoes won't do the trick, to really activate your full potential of tough skin, stronger muscles, improved circulation, better perception and greater awareness, you should walk barefoot whenever possible and generally walk and run a lot. Living a sedate lifestyle won't do it either.

Contrary to the advice dispensed by the experts, I'm finding that my Haglund's deformity, an increasingly common injury among long-time runners, is slowly being cured by barefoot/minimalist running. The experts say runners with Haglund's should run in shoes with raised heels or insert heel lifts into their shoes to take strain off the achilles and its insertion at the back of the heel bone (calcaneus). That would seem to make some intuitive sense. But even the experts don't know exactly what causes Haglund's, i.e, what mechanism causes the bone formation that occurs at the back of the heel. They do know, though, that Haglund's often occurs in women who frequently wear high heels. That's why they often call it "pump bump." So you can infer from that that Haglund's is associated with having the heel elevated in relation to the forefoot, which means you actually DON'T want to run in shoes with elevated heels. In my experience, that actually EXACERBATES the problem in the long run. This much I know for sure: I experience much less heel pain, or even no pain, when I run barefoot as compared with when I run in conventional running shoes, even so-called "low-profile" conventional running shoes. When I MUST wear shoes, I wear the Xeroshoes Prio or Xeroshoes running sandals (and I have NO financial interest in Xeroshoes whatsoever). But it seems that there are now many minimalist shoes that offer the same benefits. So FWIW to my fellow Haglund's sufferers, gradually switch to barefoot/minimalist running and STICK WITH IT for as long as it takes for the back of your heels to remodel. In my experience, that could take MANY MONTHS, but your only other options are a fairly radical surgical procedure (they often have to detach the achilles from the heel bone, shave the heel bone, then reattach the achilles to the heel) or quitting running forever. Why opt for risky surgery or quitting when you can fix the problem with a little patience?

Looking forward to this movie :)

One of the most truthful video ever seen on yt😉👍🔝

4:31 is actually quite a sad video. In Berlin 1936, a Korean young man named Son gi-jung competed in the men's marathon game. However he was not allowed to patch on his nation's flag which was Korea. Instead the imperial police forced him to patch on the Japanese flag on his chest. He won the gold medal but looked really sad on the ceremonial stand...He did however lived until 2002.

*Dr Irene Davis* [1:17]: _"Our brains were enlarging and we needed meat…"_ - That's a highly controversial hypothesis. The predominant view today is that it was primary food processing and cooking what made it feasible for human ancestors to meet the energetic requirements of a larger brain. It's worth to note that other carnivorous and omnivorous species don't have proportionally larger brains than the herbivorous ones. The traditional belief that predator species have more highly developed and energy-demanding brains than those of their preys has been debunked. On the other hand, the so called expensive-tissue hypothesis has been often widely misrepresented: _"The human brain stands out among mammals by being unusually large. The expensive-tissue hypothesis explains its evolution by proposing a trade-off between the size of the brain and that of the digestive tract, which is smaller than expected for a primate of our body size. Although this hypothesis is widely accepted, empirical support so far has been equivocal. Here we test it in a sample of 100 mammalian species, including 23 primates, by analysing brain size and organ mass data. We found that, controlling for fat-free body mass, brain size is not negatively correlated with the mass of the digestive tract or any other expensive organ, thus refuting the expensive-tissue hypothesis. Nonetheless, consistent with the existence of energy trade-offs with brain size, we find that the size of brains and adipose depots are negatively correlated in mammals, indicating that encephalization and fat storage are compensatory strategies to buffer against starvation. However, these two strategies can be combined if fat storage does not unduly hamper locomotor efficiency. We propose that human encephalization was made possible by a combination of stabilization of energy inputs and a redirection of energy from locomotion, growth and reproduction._ […] _"Brains are energetically expensive[2]. The human brain is about three times larger than that of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, and thus requires much more energy. However, relative whole-body energy consumption rates of individuals at rest are about equal in the two species[3], which raises the question of how humans manage to cover the energetic requirements of their much enlarged brains. One of the best-known attempts to solve this central riddle of human evolution is the expensive-tissue hypothesis, proposed by Aiello and Wheeler in 1995[1]. It postulates an evolutionary trade-off (although obviously not an immediate physiological one) between the size of the brain and that of the digestive tract in anthropoid primates. Thus, if other processes have reduced a species’ energetic needs of digestion, it should be able to evolve a relatively larger brain. It has therefore been suggested that early hominins evolved larger brains as a dietary shift towards more meat[1], cooked food and underground tubers[4] gradually allowed for a smaller digestive tract."_ - Navarrete A, van Schaik CP, Isler K. *"Energetics and the evolution of human brain size."* _Nature (2011 Nov 9) vol. 480 (7375) pp. 91-3_ DOI: 10.1038/nature10629 researchgate. net/publication/51796271 Supplementary material: media.nature. com/original/nature-assets/nature/journal/v480/n7375/extref/nature10629-s1.pdf ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/22080949 Press release: sciencedaily. com/releases/2011/11/111109131304.htm Review: web.archive. org/web/20151217062733/paleovegan.blogspot. com/2011/11/its-curtains-for-expensive-tissue.html _"First, the adoption of cooking would have helped ancestral humans thrive. Meat and tubers have been exploited by humans for at least 2 million y, and the energetic resources of these foods are believed to have provided critical support for the evolution of costly increases in activity, birth rate, body size, and brain size (34). Meat would have been a preferred food, but its pursuit would require a large energetic investment with low rates of success (35). Tubers, by contrast, were less preferred but more consistently available, and this consistency would have made investments in the high-risk pursuit of meat possible (36). The proportions of animal and plant foods consumed by ancestral humans are unknown, but the parallel effects of cooking that we found suggest that the adoption of cooking would have led to energetic gains whether meat or tubers predominated. Moreover, because we found the effects of cooking to be incremental to the effects of pounding for both foods, the adoption of cooking was likely advantageous even if pounding methods were already in widespread use."_ - Carmody RN, Weintraub GS, Wrangham RW. *"Energetic consequences of thermal and nonthermal food processing."* _Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2011 Nov 29) vol. 108 (48) pp. 19199-203_ pnas. org/content/108/48/19199.long ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/22065771 _"Given the importance of lipids as a uniquely dense source of energy, our results have significant implications for both ancestral and modern human nutrition. Despite being costly in time and energy, cooking is a cultural universal (Wrangham, 2009). A functional perspective suggests that cooking therefore should increase overall fitness, and a proposed mechanism is through increasing net dietary energy gain (Carmody and Wrangham, 2009). However, prior research on the energetic significance of cooking for human evolution has considered only two of the three major macronutrients. Thermal processing has been previously observed to increase the energy gained from carbohydrate-rich tubers and protein-rich lean meat (Carmody et al., 2011); our data show that it increases the energy gained from lipid-rich nuts as well. Tubers, meat, and nuts are thought to have been major components of ancestral human diets (Peters, 1987; Ungar, 2007). Our findings therefore imply that cooking these foods would have raised the human energy budget, helping fuel expensive increases in body mass, brain size, locomotor activity and other costly physiological traits (Aiello and Wells, 2002)."_ - Groopman EE, Carmody RN, Wrangham RW. *"Cooking increases net energy gain from a lipid-rich food."* _Am J Phys Anthropol (2015 Jan) vol. 156 (1) pp. 11-8_ ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC4272645/ ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/25293786 _"Evidence that present-day humans cannot extract sufficient energy from uncooked wild diets, whether or not they include meat ( Koebnick et al. 1999 ), has led to the suggestion that hunter-gatherers are biologically committed to these benefits of cooking ( Wrangham and Conklin-Brittain 2003 ), including the provision of sufficient energy to fuel an exceptionally large brain ( Fonseca-Azevedo and Herculano-Houzel 2012 )."_ - Carmody RN _et al._ *"Genetic Evidence of Human Adaptation to a Cooked Diet."* _Genome Biol Evol (2016 Apr 13) vol. 8 (4) pp. 1091-103_ academic.oup. com/gbe/article/8/4/1091/2574082 ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/26979798

I'm a martial artist too and I must say that what is said in the video is a lot true for me. The fact that I personally rely on the sensory messages that my feet send to me is 100% true. I've been doing taekwondo for 15 years now. We kick a lot, so footwork is a major thing and we are most of the time on one foot or jumping back and forth from one foot to the other, and it's true that I find myself deciding the next move also on what my feet tell me. For example, barefooted I feel if I'm on a slippery part of the mat, or if I'm just not in the condition of having enough traction or balance for an elaborate next move, so I can stick to something easy and get myself back in a favorable situation. I notice that when I train with shoes, even those created for martial arts, this just doesn't work. I've even seen boys and girls failing in competitions (where we are absolutely not allowed to wear shoes or anything) because they where actually aware of how the surface was. They just told me that they didn't felt stable enough to act, so they didn't. Training with shoes isolates your feet from the ground, so you do your move without knowing your condition 100%. You just act, and if you fall, it's ok. But you were not afraid of making that move firstly because you couldn't see the whole pic. But barefoot you might have felt that you didn't have stability, and you would have thought twice before making that particular movement. I believe wearing shoes in martial arts is like being blind. You can get the idea of what's going on, but you miss one piece of information. And when you take the shoes of for the first time, you get submerged by information that you do not know how to elaborate. You feel overwhelmed, and you don't act out of fear of your own sensations.

Thank you for making this! I'm a performance basketball shoe fiend, and as a kid thought the more cushion the better. As I got older, I found I not only played worse in more chunky midsoled shoes, but got knee tendinitis from them too. I fully support the truthful findings of the detriments of our footwear designs, and am trying to make shoes that allow the body to be natural while still protected and stylish. It is SO encouraging and refreshing to see you already at it and spreading the word!! Thank you

just wait till the vivobarefoot team get a scoop on something a little more recent! hahaha love your shoes please make some cheaper!

Great video. Will definitely share it. 👍🏻👣

Nice ending!

So true!!!

the irony is that this is a shoe brand commercial haha

its 3 in the morning i need to sleep

Amen! Vivibearfoot shoes typically have too narrow toe boxes tho. Y’all can do better, I believe in you. I don’t have qualms with the price. Once it gets mainstream manufacturers will make them at a variety of prices.

Awesome 👣🐾

I agree with the message of all of these people, however don't buy Vivobarefoot. They're so overpriced. You can buy much cheaper minimalist shoes.

The only conspiracy here is Vivo discontinuing all of our favorite models and having all their new designs suck!

Thanks for sending me here eagle

Just got my first pair of Vivo. Been doing the Merrell barefoot since they first came out. Maybe 8 yrs or even longer. I got the first generation trail glove like when it first came out. Putting on my new Vivo was AWESOME!!!! It’s hard to explain but I’ll put it in a way that all will understand......wearing barefoot shoes makes you feel like you can do all things Ninja related. Your soooo connected. You get your spring back. The shoes are so comfortable. They become and aide to your foot and not a jail, or hindrance. I’m a carpenter. I build 10,000 sq ft homes. I spend a lot of time walking down what basically is an inch and a half tight rope, walking on 2x10’s set on edge, for 8 hours a day. I just turned 42 years old and I’m still as agile as I ever been. Buy some!!! Slap like now!! They are epico!!!!

I've been using barefoot for my daily shoes for almost a year now , it is the best decision I have ever made, it wasn't pain free at first , cause I started with a very very fucked up feet and hip so it took couple days for the pain to fade away but after that i can't even imagine myself without those kind of shoes. the best I have ever tried were from vivobarefoot , quite expensive but better than xeroshoes for example , I'm not getting a penny for saying this but it is a dream to walk in them and they look way better , I haven't tried to run in them cause I'm a heavy guy but yeah good luck if you are going to do so but take it easy

Why are minimalist shoes so over priced? Less material but same or more cost as regular shoes. Doesn't add up.

I don't get why people criticize the video because it's made from a company.... Who else has the resources and contacts?? It's completely fine in my opinion because it's more of an educational video than an ad! The fact that the documentary is by a shoe company, doesnt change a thing about the truth teached in the video.

I thought arch support helped keep your arches from flattening. 🤔

Why do they keep saying 40,000 years ago and then show 3500 BC on their timeline. That is 5500 years ago.

OK, cool. Is this a conspiracy to get material for wikifeet? Because if it is, I totally approve.

I took up running early end of 2020, and stopped for a few months, took it up again around March 2021. Wearing Nike pegasus 37, I completed two 10km, and sustained a calf injury, whatever it was it took 2 months to fully heal. Hadn't run since then as I got a bit anxious. About 3 weeks ago I did some rearch and found "barefoot shoes". To transition I use merrell Glove trial, that has a little midsole and arch support. In the next few months I want to go completely barefoot. In advance I brought merrell vapor gloves and some barefoot sandals. Never will I go back to wearing Nike, or any other shoe with silly 10mm drop and being over an inch off the ground.

There is actually so much more to this topic, then just a 9 minute info documentary. I was plagued with injuries from playing basketball. Total ACL tear at 16, arthrosis at 26, another complete acl tear at 36. I was researching for a solution, because i really wanted to keep on playing the game that i love, without having so many serious life altering injuries. Well, while i was on rehab after the second ACL operation, i have bought my first pair of zero drop completely barefoot vivo shoes, and that was the day that i immediately started walking without crutches, it was on the 6th day after the operation. I truly couldn't believe it, but finally all of the training that i have done barefoot and using natural techniques paid off when i have changed the shoes that were used for rehab. I have been using barefoot shoes on the basketball court ever since. The transition wasn't easy, took some time to relearn the proper running technique of forefoot running and proper jumping and landing, but it is all worth it, i have stopped injuring my legs, no more ankle turns, bad landings etc, my feet became much stronger, and i have much more control of my basketball technique, like dribbling moves, spin moves and step backs. If the whole World switches back to barefoot shoes in every day life and especially in all types of sports, we are going to become a much healthier society. I can tell it by my own example, i had a perspective of becoming partially disabled, with a possibility of using artificial joints for most of my life, yet it has been over 15 years since my arthrosis diagnosis, and my legs are my own, i still enjoy the sport that i love, and live a pain free life. P.S. Just recently, i began dunking the ball again at 41

2:37 Heels were never worn with stirrups to 'prevent the rider from falling off'!! For clarification, heels help to prevent the rider's foot from slipping through the stirrup, which can be dangerous especially if you do fall off, having one's foot caught in a stirrup while you are being dragged is ...not recommended. Good film otherwise :)

really interesting doc recon i shld start looking into this

Anyone who wants to start true barefoot running, i would recommend what i started with ::: running slow and steady and just 1km every single day. When i felt good, comfortable and my enjoyment and routine was set in stone i upped it to 2km then 3, 4, 5 and further. Your foot muscles, calves, joints and skin all get tougher and resilient over time. Absolutely would recommend 👌

Let me preface by saying that i read "Born to Run", I run in minimalist shoes 1-2 per week (Merrell Vapor Gloves and Vibram Bikilas), and the rest of the time, I run in Altra Zero drops. I'm 100% in favor of natural running and strong feet................ BUT........... all of the elites are now wearing Carbon Fiber trampoline shoes and lots of amateurs are also wearing them and getting PRs and breaking records. I don't see anyone in Vibram's, Merrels, or barefoot athletes getting PRs and setting records....just saying....

I work as a nurse and am on my feet for 13 hours a day? I would just worry that I wouldn't get the support I needed from a pair of these shoes??

This may be the BEST VIDEO EVER PUT ON RU-vid!!! Thank you!!!

Which of the latest models can I wear playing golf......seen a few people wearing them but not sure which sole is best

I agree, but I don't have 180 dollars to buy your shoes.

I agree that living in cushion would make our feet out of shape but I not sure our joints can sustain walking on concrete and tile without cushion.

Yamuna Zake! 🙏

I live in a very snowy part of the world. And would like to go barefoot/minimalist, BUT my feet would freeze to death. So what should I wear?

This should not have been used as a vehicle to sell footwear, rather it should have been used to teach exercises to strengthen feet and improve balance for the aging.

But . . . but. . . . how can you make money telling people not to wear shoes!?

I bought yesterday my 1st barefoot shoes, let's see how this goes!

Is it possible to get a link to the study mentioned at 7:55 ? The one showing that foot muscles in the arch get stronger when walking in "minimal shoes"?

Interesting view here.... they are not saying walk barefoot when you're an adult. I would have thought no shoes would be the best shoes. Even in minimal shoes you have no 'connection' with the ground. There is still a barrier. I think a blended approach works best for me - I wear vibrim five finger shoes mostly (minimal toes shoes) for walking and sometimes running. I wear Hoka One Ones for running ultra marathons. When you're running for up to 12 hours on rough rocky terrain, that extra padding makes a huge difference. But also, the walking and running in the minimalist shoes during training is a huge benefit. I can go over on my ankle in a race and because my feet are so strong and yet flexible, what would for someone else, be a race ending injury, is nothing for me. i can carry on without it being a problem. So my message would be, each type of shoe has a purpose, use the shoe for the purpose it is built for. And spend a bunch of time barefoot. It's good for you.

I have not money to buy shoes. Because I don't (like to) wear shoes. My bare feet are the best shoes in the world. I'm a barefoot hiker, since at 3 years old (in 1962). But I have money to buy more important things: food ! Otherwise ... no shoes, no god, no mobile phone, no car ... but just useful things - for life: health and happiness ^___^

Been barefoot for over a year now, would never go back. People often comment on how big my calves are as a result and my balance is much better than before. When I have to wear boots for work it makes my hips hurt.

When I was younger, I was barefoot the whole time. My friends and some family will get these injuries when they're barefoot that I think are bizarre and strange because it has never happened to me. I'm really wanting some good minimalist shoes but a lot of them are really pricey...

Humans arent meant to walk on concrete all day though so Id imagine youd get more injuries from that then avoided.

Yeah guys, still using rubber in bottom of shoe. It would be awesome to use mushroom leather or something what keeps you grounded when walking. With rubber it is absolutely same to buy regular shoes.

I have used barefoot shoes for over 6 years and I wouldn't go back to anything without a zero drop and a narrow toebox. I suspect the introduction of the heel-to-toe drop was due to a desire by short people to appear taller. At the time the health implications were probably not known and before long the drop went mainstream. People who get knee pain just assume it's them, not not the shoe. It never occurred to me that my knees hurt because of the shoes, or that I was spraining my ankles because of the shoes. But one week into my first pair of VFFs and the knee pain was gone, and I've never had a sprained ankle since.

I definitely believe that the barefoot shape is good since a lot of nba players have absolutely messed up feet with those narrow shoes, but we don’t have any affirmative proof that the heel on modern shoes are bad.

I'm very skeptic watching this because half the people in it aren't identified. What are their credentials? And the ones who are, don't have relevant credentials to the topic at hand. A director? A poet? An Author? Ok...any evolutionary biologists? Any podiatrists?