I spent 22 years in the Army, once I became a leader I made my soldiers do proper running, in correct shoes. I forbid my soldier to wear faddish shoes for PT and had FVV been around I would have forbid them to be worn just the same. My soldiers not only passed every phase of their APFT with very high scores, but I only had 1 injury related to running with any of my soldiers, and that was when one of my soldiers found the only hole on a huge grass field and managed to step in it while doing repeat 1000s. In my experience "running related injuries" seemed to happen when idiotic leaders ran their soldiers endlessly in formations, did stupid "wind sprints", or decided it was "leader like" to scream and yell at a soldier who struggled in a run. If you want to wear a minimal shoe then get a pair of Merrell Gloves.
Floridamp wrote:
It's idiotic, the SOF community uses and issues these out to their people, they use nothing but. Do you want to know why? It reduces injuries, at any given time in my platoon i was at 25% profile due to "running related injuries" for my Soldiers. Since i have switched due to a long history of knee, back, and foot issues(been running since i was 14, had a knee surgery and was diagnosed with plantar faciatis 3 years ago). I haven't been injured one single day while upping my mileage from 25 miles a week pre-five fingers to 60+ that is my current weekly load. That was 19 months ago. The Pediatrist the army sent me to says all signs of plantar faciatis are gone and I have shrunk a shoe size.
I haven't woken up once unable to walk because my feet were so tight i couldn't stretch them out. Not...One...Time.
This is about fashion and not function and anyone that takes physical fitness seriously will realize fashion is idiotic and function is everything. Just like in combat we wear alot of gear that looks retarded but has incredible functionality.