help with minimilist shoes

I know you just want to run and have fun but I think you'd enjoy it a lot more if you dropped a few pounds.

From an injury point of view, I mean. I think flats might be a bad idea for you.

try strengthening your muscles, thats probably a cause for the injuries, not necessarily the equipment. if you want to go into minimalist running, gradually (over a period over 6 mos or so) switch into a lightweight trainer (zoom elite for example) and jog on grass 2-3x/ week. after about 2 years you can start running in racing flats. also, make sure you stretch and run on trails if you want to be a minimalist runner.

try running it Indian Moccasins

If you have nothing to lose, try Saucony Jazz originals. Nothing fancy, no support features, just great cushioning and durablility. $29 on Eastbay or Dick's sometimes has them. 10oz, not a flat, but minimal everything but cushioning

any other thoughts?

I would go along with what the others are saying...

I think a pretty safet minimalist shoe to start with is the asics ds racer... this doesn't really qualify as a minimalist shoe even, but it is lightweight and there isn't much to it

if you find this doesn't give you problems then go into even less of shoe...

try the nike frees as well, see how those feel

i am somewhat similar to you, i ran for years and while my injuries never sidelined me, i always seemed to plagued by a mild case of itb, pf, sore hip flexors, etc.

once i switched to lighter shoes, all, literally all of those problems are gone and i run completely injury free

i do all my mileage in nike frees (preferably the trails if i can find them) and the asics ds racers which i love

every once in a while i'll switch to a brooks t4 or something which i also like

what effect do you think my size would have on the change?

THANKS

b

take this with a grain of salt as this is just my opinion others may think different but...you are a bigger guy, you can keep running in more substantial shoes where you blindly go on heel striking and really pounding your body (thus the heavier shoes are actually causing you more damage) OR you can try the lighter shoes and learn how to run more 'softly' with a lighter stride, in the end the lack of cushioning won't be a big deal because your stride should be better and you should be landing with less impactthere was a guy on here who used to post pantman i think, his weight was all over the place - heavier than you at times and at other times very lean and others could confirm that he was running 120mpw in puma h-streets (the most minimalist shoe), even when his weight was up different for everybody but there is only one way for you to find out...

Cottonwood Trail wrote:

what effect do you think my size would have on the change?

THANKS