Vibram Five Fingers

[The Holmchicken]

Im gonna stick to combat focused PT. I dont plan on wearing vibrams in combat any time soon.

Absolutely. I'm a fan of doing PT in boots and body armor.

[mortar_guy78]

Shit, why not just wear ballet shoes. The gay factor is about the same.

BTW, do you have to wear those homo rainbow toe socks with them?

[Seabass1-4]

PF Flyers. Run faster, jump higher.

Can't wait for these to make a come back.

[goon175]

I guess I will go ahead and be 'that guy' on here. When I left C co. 1/75 a couple months ago, almost everyone in the company had a pair, including the 1sg and CO. They were used regularly in PT for sprints and lifting. Of course combat focused PT is and will continue to be in the boots you wear in combat. Someone on here said that they are popular among cross fitters. thats true, and maybe thats part of the reason they are becoming extremely popular in batt. and across the SOF community, as crossfit and gym jones are what everyone is doing for PT. I personally will vouch for these all day long, as my knee problems/consisten shin splints have all but vanished since i started wearing these. You can't wear these for everything you do obviously. But when applied in a common sense way to your PT plan, they are another tool to improve you physically. If they work for you, great, use them. If not, don't. I am just saying that these things have gotten overwhelmingly good responses from guys currently in batt., I know I am not alone on this opinion. as far as the AR 670-1 goes.....

Chapter 14-3 says:
"Commanders may authorize the wear of commercial running shoes, calf-length or ankle-length, plain white socks
with no logos"

So, Vibrams are 'legal' to wear as long as you wear them with the injinji socks, which are plain white and go over the ankle. Really its up to the commanders discrepency of what he wants to consider running shoes. I personally do not like to wear the socks with them, and in c co. they did not enforce wearing socks with them, but when I went to big army schools I got away with wearing them by using the socks. Anything that is new will draw criticism, everyone that has served a day in the military knows that. But you can't improve yourself or your organization unless your willing to try something new.

[jrgong]

I use them on my runs and as previously mentioned it took care of any shin splints or knee pain I might have had. Over time they supposedly give you some massive calves, as well as develop your "finer" foot muscles. Anyone have any questions on them just ask.

[Silverback]

I use them on my runs and as previously mentioned it took care of any shin splints or knee pain I might have had. Over time they supposedly give you some massive calves, as well as develop your "finer" foot muscles. Anyone have any questions on them just ask.

I passed 24 years of APFT's without ever having them...

[goon175]

"don't you think this woulda been discovered and become standard 30 years ago?"

Abebe Bikila ran bare footed at the 1960 Summer Olympics Marathon and won the Gold Medal. A couple of hours before the race the decision was taken by Abebe to run barefoot, the way he’d trained for the race. Bikila won in a then record time of 2:15:16.2, becoming the first African to win an Olympic gold medal. He finished 26 seconds ahead of Rhadi Ben Abdesselam of Morocco.

Alot of professional athletes are wearing them, that's how this whole thing took off. None of us are going to change each others minds on this, most of the guys on this board have been working out longer than I have known how to ride a bike, are set in there ways and know what works for them. You can't deny its good healthy debate though, and as I said before, what works for one person doesn't necesarily work for the other.

[RangerX]

Shoes are relatively new in the scheme of things.

Feet are not.

That said, I would say these are probably just fine for relatively smooth/flat surfaces, but I wouldn't want them going cross country. Small/medium stones are a mofo on bare/nearly bare feet. I say this from having worn Chuck high tops quite a bit in my youth.

[jrgong]

I use them on my runs and as previously mentioned it took care of any shin splints or knee pain I might have had. Over time they supposedly give you some massive calves, as well as develop your "finer" foot muscles. Anyone have any questions on them just ask.

I passed 24 years of APFT's without ever having them...

I do not doubt that for a second, but these shoes are not claiming to make you faster, they are simply supposed to be better for your feet. Do you have any knee or hip pain today? Did you suffer from shin splints? Perhaps wearing these type of shoes might have solved those problems for you.

[Flesh Thorn]

Five Fingers have been around for a while ( 10 years maybe) and are just now reaching "fad" status. Research is showing that shoes prevent our feet from functioning as designed by nature. Five Fingers are pretty much just high tech moccasins that offer a better fit and slightly more protection from stone bruises, glass, etc. Of course we all know that aboriginal people can not run. I tried bow hunting one year in moccasins and finally just went barefoot as the moccasins tend to become loose and ill fitting when wet.

[panthersix]

I use them on my runs and as previously mentioned it took care of any shin splints or knee pain I might have had. Over time they supposedly give you some massive calves, as well as develop your "finer" foot muscles. Anyone have any questions on them just ask.

I passed 24 years of APFT's without ever having them...

yeah, but you run on all fours....