When it comes to fitness nonsense I am easily annoyed. The latest thing to steam my onion is this whole barefoot running thing and how the sneaker companies are shamelessly trying to profit from it. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for profit, but the sneaker makers are really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.
For years we have been told by the sneaker companies that it is all about the shoes. Now the shoe companies are trying to tell us that barefoot running is great and that they have shoes for us that will make the barefoot running experience better. Wait, what?
And isn’t the term “barefoot running shoes” – or any phrase with “barefoot” and “shoes” in it – an oxymoron, a bad oxymoron at that? So after being sold on paying upwards of $100 for a pair of running shoes, the sneaker companies have switched gears and now want us to pay $100 for a pair of shoes that delivers the same benefits of running barefoot. Wow.
I am not saying that barefoot running is bad for you. Far from it. There is evidence that walking and running barefoot is beneficial. And there have been some rebels over the years that have bucked the “It’s the shoes” trend and stayed minimalist with the footwear, and others who have continued to carry the barefoot running torch.
I don’t think it would be so bad if a new shoe manufacturer brought a barefoot shoe to the market. I just have a problem with the same companies that have been selling us big cushions with laces on them now selling us this barefoot shoe, while continuing to sell the other shoes, as well.
