Are running shoes too cushioned these days? Is this bad for the feet? Should we be running barefoot / minimal for better foot health?
Running literally barefoot is hippie crap, crap you can stick your feet in but there’s no good reason to. Even the Tarahumara, about whom that McDougall egghead wrote to sell books to make money, wear sandals.
For most people, using minimalist vs well cushioned shoes is a matter of personal comfort and injury prevention experience, but there’s no one size fits all advice.
This is one of those topics where the "experts" go back and forth.
Back in the 90s it was all about the cushioning.
About a decade or so ago, minimalist was all the rage, because it let your feet bend, flex, and do what they naturally do.
Then the boing boing pogo shoes came along, and the runners are all wearing Herman Muenster stilts again.
Eventually, the pendulum will swing back the other way, and the beat goes on.
No, the pendulum won't swing back. There is no doubt that light weight Pebax foam is superior and you'd have to be an idiot (and a slow runner) to want to go back to a minimalist shoe. Nobody who wants to race fast is going to buy into a minimalist shoe. It would be like a climber wanting to use hemp ropes again. Technology progresses forward, it is not a pendulum.
Hey sorry you're mad because you're fake. I might not be as fast but at least I'm for real, and you're fake. But chances are if we're around the same age and weight, I'm probably still faster than you.