Tactical Shoes?

[Jordan]

Heh, you do actually have a good point about the military. It takes quite some time for new things to work their way into Army life. The downside to that being, these creepy looking shoes could be the best thing since the repeating rifle, and due to their sheer strangeness... soldiers wouldn't have them on their feet for years. The upside is, we aren't subjected to every fitness trend that catches the public eye. If we were, morning PT might have been infiltrated by the likes of jazzercise, pilates, and barefoot running before we knew it :-P.

Joking, of course, when I am old and my hips, knees, and ankles are riddled with osteoarthritis from failing to jump on the fivefingers bandwagon... I offer all of you one free "I told you so". :-P

[butterknife]

We became a lot sicker since the neolithic era hit and sicker since all this new processed garbage hit the stores.

This is a dangerous philosophy to have, and one that's been held off and on through the ages by people who didn't know any better. Drastically fewer women and children die in childbirth these days compared to then. People commonly live well into their 80s compared to 40 being "old" for "back in the day". In first world countries like ours, people almost never die of dysentery, polio, gout, tetanus, salmonella, cholera, tuberculosis, giardia, hystoplasmosis, internal bleeding because of an improperly set broken bone, pneumonia because of a punctured lung, or any number of other "common" neolithic ailments. And if their legs, back, hips, or feet gave out because of a lifetime of hard use, they'd die of starvation or infected bed sores. If they lived long enough for their teeth to fall out, they were toast.

If you want to make an argument for them not having obesity, sure. You're right. They would tend to die of starvation more often than heart attacks. Every day was grueling. Ever slept on a bed made of branches, stuffed with leaves, and maybe covered in a fur or blanket for a month? It's not easy on your back. Ever eaten the bare minimum every day for a week, and then sharing a freshly killed deer with your entire tribe? Slept in the rain for a week? I mean, maybe that sounds like camping for you, I dunno.
But we're definitely living better than cavemen.

We're able to live comfortable and happy lives, so that we can live long enough to die of a stroke, heart attack, or cancer. That's more than most cave men could dream of, bro.
Could we learn a thing or two about hard work, perseverance, ingenuity, and maybe running techniques from them? Definitely, absolutely, sure, and maybe. But were they healthier than us? Definitely not. They just didn't live long enough to die of heart attacks, is all.

[HotSoup]

I have two pairs of Vibram Five Fingers. I sometimes wear them out when walking downtown. Yeah people stare and ask questions, but I've seen more and more people wearing them. They are comfortable. Its like walking barefoot.

I mostly use them for running. I try to jog 3-5 times a week. Just moving away from 'running shoes' to these has increased my stamina. The first couple weeks are rough. Your feet hurt. They also get a lot tougher.

I love these, and refuse to wear cushioned shoes for running ever again.