Toe Shoes - New find from my Dad

My Dad has always been an active individual. From competing in weight competitions back to his early 20's to making his next goal of doing over 40 pullups. He has alwasy been a weight lifter. He is heading into celebrating a 60th birthday in the next couple months, and he has done a lot of work to find the perfect pair of shoes to help him continue to stay just as active in his lawncutting business and continue to lift weights. He came across 'toe shoes' initially by a recommendation from Jake. He used them for a while, and decided to buy another pair then another. He found by wearing these lightweight shoes that conformed to your bare foot helped him with his ankles and knees. I thought hmmm. I should try them, but then just gave it up because good shoes can be expensive. Well, one of his pairs didn't fit him just right, so he passed them on to me to see if I would use them. They may just be a tad too big, but fit comfortably.

Story goes: I have been using them everyworkout for the last three weeks. I started doing squats again, lunges, kettle balls. I still am apprehensive and don't always do the full squat. Well, after documenting mentally each workout and the reaction of my hip the next day, I have found these shoes are kind of amazing for me.

On the way out of the gym one day, an employee stopped me. By his physique you could tell that he lifted. He went on to ask about my shoes, and what I thought of them. He said the previous gym he worked out at, he would lift barefoot. And the reason behind it was to allow your body to work out in a natural state to work muscles that you wouldn't normally work while wearning regular running shoes. Think of a caveman, I guess. Well, I went to explain to him my reasoning for wearing them to help my hip joint. Because of the great success my Dad had wearing them and helping his joints. We came to a conclusion that it all makes sense as why they help the joints, because the muscles you normally wouldn't work around joints are being worked and strengthened which would then result in more protection of the joints. Makes sense to me.

So, this shoe has kind of brought on a bit of enlightenment to my workout regimand. And I am even more excited about pushing myself to new limits. This was the used pair Dad handed down.



I am keeping my fingers crossed to maybe get a new pair of my own for my birthday. It's a lot to ask for, but if I do get them I CAN'T wait to use them!