footwear (or lack thereof) for lifting

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by Serpent
If this were true, you wouldn't be able to lift. Try it - do you really think your toes and "other foot muscles" are eliminated by shoes?

Ok, ok. The word eliminated was too much. But answer me this. Do you think that your grip strength is reduced while wearing mittens? Now imagine that they are leather mittens with a big piece of hard rubber attached to them. Do you think your grip strength would be reduced now? I think it would be. This is my reasoning behind the original comment.

I could be wrong though.

[Serpent]

Yeah, you're still wrong.

Your analogy doesn't hold true, because you're not trying to wrap your feet around something to grip it - as you would with your hands.

Your feet perform the same gripping function on the flat sole of the shoe as they would on the flat floor. Except you have an extra layer of rubber grip against the floor and some level of protection from the material over the foot.

Unless you've got some really weird monkey feet and lift while clinging to a bar or something...

[Chief Fox]

I just might be right.

Consider this:

*A 1949 study by Samuel B. Shulman of rick-shaw operators in China who spent long hours running barefoot pulling passengers found that these men performed their jobs "without pain or pathology."

*Steele F. Stewart in a 1972 study reported that "Millions of Indians, both American and Asian, and Congoids wander their native savannas and rain forests without protection, inconvenience, or complaint. Footgear, therefore, would appear to be unnecessary."

Got the above from HERE

Check it out.

Originally posted by Serpent
Yeah, you're still wrong.

Your analogy doesn't hold true, because you're not trying to wrap your feet around something to grip it - as you would with your hands.

Your feet perform the same gripping function on the flat sole of the shoe as they would on the flat floor. Except you have an extra layer of rubber grip against the floor and some level of protection from the material over the foot.

Unless you've got some really weird monkey feet and lift while clinging to a bar or something...

[Serpent]

Non sequitur. You were saying that wearing shoes would adversely affect your grip and I explained how it wouldn't. Now you're talking about how people that have never worn shoes don't need them.

[Chief Fox]

Originally posted by Serpent
Non sequitur. You were saying that wearing shoes would adversely affect your grip and I explained how it wouldn't. Now you're talking about how people that have never worn shoes don't need them.

Actually my original post was about how lifting barefoot would better utilize and develop the muscles of your feet. But I did change the subject there just to get some backup and you caught me.

At least the article I supplied was interesting.

[Serpent]

LOL.