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Need your advice: I want to try barefoot/minimalist shoes for my weightlifting workouts, but the Vivos are hell of spendy, and the alternatives I’ve seen advertised seem cheap or flimsy – like dropship fast-fashion quality. Do you have any experience with barefoot shoes and weight training? What do you use and feel comfortable recommending?
@adamgreenfield sorry, it's Vivos, I'm afraid, and they're great. Buuut I also lift in socks or bare feet (my weight room has a foam floor) and the mechanical pressures aren't much different.
@adamgreenfield Leave Curious nature YouTube channel has a 20% referral discount for Vivos at the moment if that helps... cheaper shoes and support a small creator! :) Code is LEAVECURIOUS
Is there some reason you can't just lift barefoot?
@adamgreenfield i've been wearing ZZFABER shoes from Aliexpress for the past year and they're fine? perfectly good shoes. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005083785174.html
@adamgreenfield I tried several different wide-fit/wide-toebox trainers (or sneakers, depending on what language you speak) about 10 years ago, most of which were also minimalist and/or zero-drop styles.
The ones I liked best were the Vivo Barefoot and the Merrell. I didn't ever purchase any Vibrams, which are the other obvious contender, or were back then anyway, as I just didn't get on with them personally, but I had friends who rated them.
If you want less spendy, the parkour community is a good place to look for tips. They burn through footwear like nobody else, but tend to want quite an overlapping set of things to barefoot runners and weightlifters... good proprioceptive feedback from your feet etc. Last I knew they were largely going for a subset of Puma's Faas trainers, but it will certainly have moved on in the intervening decade.
@adamgreenfield Almost forgot, the super-cheap (relatively anyway) option of the industry-standard kung fu footwear of choice: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08DYG52QC
Those are absolutely not going to defend you from even the lightest of impact/landings though, so you might want to work up to them (or down), or break your feet in and build up your foot musculature by wearing them in half-hour bursts initially.
@adamgreenfield the vivos are nice (and mine are going strong after more than a year of being used 3-5 times a week, which I can't say for most sneakers).
That said, a cheap option (and a very old school one) would just be some converse-esque chucks.
@adamgreenfield Just taken a leap into barefoot shoes. Ended up with a couple of pairs of Saguaros which are quite good.
@adamgreenfield also these, but they seem a bit less like what you’re after. https://www.saguaro.com/products/forestep-1
@adamgreenfield
have you looked at Xero? I have a pair of 360s I wear almost every day. The upper has a small tear from a piece of sharp metal, but other than that they seem solid after 2 years. (I don't use them for training because for me the soles are actually too sticky for that - apparently they were designed for parkour & adjacent activities, I got them for cycling & walking.)
@FeralRobots @adamgreenfield I came here to praise Xero shoes as well. I have the 360s and wear them for sword fighting. I also have the regular Prios that I wear for walking around and such, and both the SpeedForce and the Mesa 2 for running, Daylight Fusion for hiking in the dry, and the Xcursion for hiking in the wet...
@philipbrewer
Xero is a pragmatic choice for me. Apart from having always preferred as low-rise a shoe as I can get, Xero are one of the very few brands that comfortably work for the shape of my foot. I just wish their sizing were a bit more reliable. (I need a 15 in some, a 14 in others. End up using the free returns A LOT. Alas that's life with my feet.)
@philipbrewer (Propet also work alright with my feet, but they don't make a lot of low-rise shoes. My legs & back are so accustomed to low-rise that doing much walking in something with a higher heel can give me significant hip & lower back pain.)
@FeralRobots Yes. I years ago had to completely give up wearing anything that isn't zero drop.
I have barefoot shoes from Softstar shoes - they do open toe boxes which I appreciate for balance when working out. They've worked well for me, though I do think I'll have to replace the soles in a few years.
@adamgreenfield Good ol’ Chuck Taylor low cuts?