Jikatabis as minimalist shoes?

[Zixinus]

To be clear: I have changed my opinion from "minimalist shoes giving potential health benefits and hence why I am experimenting with them" to "I am experimenting with them because I just like them".

Even before I learned about barefoot running/minimalist shoes I recall tending to prefer simpler and lighter shoes.

I am sharing my experiences and thoughts about jikatabi here partly because I can find relatively little written about them in English. At most, either marketing blurbs or general Japanese culture bits, but first-hand almost exclusively English-speakers in a few posts on anime-forums. Relatively little on how it actually feels to wear them. I would have brought these or similar spit-toe shoes and I have been actively considering a Vibram Fivefingers for a long time (if I had the disposable income, I'd probably would have already brought one). To me, this whole thing (costing me about 60$ so about a full priced game) was a curiosity I had for a long time and an experiment I could indulge once in a long while.

It also works perfectly well with normal running shoes.

Good form works in any decent shoe, yes, but with shoes your freedom of movement and ability to feel how you are moving is restricted (somewhat). Especially padded shoes that fool you on how hard you are hitting the ground.

That's why it makes sense to me why I should try learning barefoot: any martial artist learns how to throw a punch bare-handed first to perfect technique and only move unto gloves that's down. I want to learn good form barefoot because then I will more surely know when and what I am doing wrong.

I am not planning on running solely barefoot for the rest of my life or throwing out my regular shoes. I am going to use my range of shoes depending on terrain I plan to use and what weather I can expect.

When it comes down to it, you should just choose whatever footwear you are most comfortable running in. For some people that is minimalist, for others it isn't. What's important is that you are distributing your weight evenly and not wearing something that is overly restrictive or mis-shaped for your foot.

I'm afraid that you are trying to use the minimalist thing as a short-cut; any exercise, including running, is only beneficial with hard work and psychological dedication.

I am experimenting with minimalist shoes because they are what I prefer. Even when I believed more of the barefoot-running claims, I didn't believe that the shoes will do anything that I won't or aren't.

As I said, I have tried running last year and I ended up with hurt knees that I then needed to go to a doctor with. It took three months to heal up. I had foot pains a good while longer. They disappeared after a while I started doing foot exercises.

Right now I am mostly doing exercises and drills. I also need to lose weight but I have to figure out how I practically would actually do that too. With school and a ever-bulging study load, my fitness is sort of a side-project right now. I am certainly lacking necessary cardio.

Hire a personal trainer.

Not really an option, perhaps there isn't even one in the city. I am also attending kung-fu classes along with flute-playing classes, so I have only so much space. Ordering this jikatabi was a rare, one-time extravagance I could afford once in a while (and it was "only" 60-65$ worth).

Or go to a class at a gym. If you go to or work at a university, you will have free access to both.

I might be too late, but I am already making inquires about that.

I recommend this source.

Thank you, I will take a look and read up.

Yeah, expensive running shoes are generally just marketing bullshit. I would content that barefoot running and expensive running shoes are extreme ends of the same spectrum, and the best option is somewhere in-between.

If you mean as choice of shoe, that sort of makes sense if you are talking about the current maximalist trend of sports shoes. The fashion pendellum has swung the other way.

[madd0ct0r]

This a sole of the Tukoshei and I marked with red where I intend to cut:



The triangles at the toe would mean triangular cuts (with a triangle file) that would allow the big toe to move left and right without being restricted by the sole.

Would this work and not cause undue stress?

I would use a wide radius round file instead of the triangle. Probably not much actually difference once you start flexing it and creasing the material, but it might give you a little extra time before the location starts to degrade.