I lucked into a free personal training session this morning; my gym wanted to boost awareness of the "training experience" in the hopes of signing up new clients, so they held a contest to see which trainer could sign up the most free sessions. I got a good one: my Hard Core instructor. She was awesome; totally knowledgeable about the body and also injuries like mine.
I came away with a great circuit to strengthen glutes, glute med, hamstring and core. She showed me an exercise on the springboard that's perfect for simultaneously stretching and strengthening hamstrings, but unfortunately that's where my body said "no thanks." Left leg absolutely rebelled on this one; lots of pain in my hamstring attachments.
We started talking injuries and I mentioned that I likely have a foot issue that's been throwing off my gait... haven't been able to bend my left big toe in 15 years. She highly recommended training in the Vibram 5 Fingers to start strengthening my feet... I'd already been thinking about them so I headed across the street that (conveniently) had the only Vibrams in town. Apparently every store in SF was sold out except for the one around the corner from my home.
So... voila, my Christmas present to myself.
Other than feeling like I'm in a gorrilla costume when I look down at my feet, I love them. I got the KSO Trek which is a bit better for outdoors use and cooler climes than some of the thinner soled models. I was sold when the gal who ran the store shared her personal experience with Vibrams: she'd been having a lot of back and hip pain and doctors couldn't figure out the cause, so she decided to start treating herself naturally and holistically starting from the ground up. She said the Vibrams made a huge difference and her physiological problems ended up going away.
I will eventually try running in them, but right now I'm just focusing on activating my big toe when I walk. I walked to the grocery store tonight and my feet were tired when I got home... I can tell I'm working muscles that haven't been activated in a long time, even though I do go barefoot at home. The other benefit I'm hoping to see from them is stronger arches... I have very high arches and they're starting to cave in, especially on my left foot. I'll keep you posted on my experience with my monkey shoes Vibrams, especially when I start running. So far they're very comfortable and I feel so much better going "natural."
If you have experience with Vibrams, I'd be interested to hear about it.
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