Reebok Realflex Review From a Flat Footed Runner

Chances are, you’ve been hearing about this whole “barefoot” shoes craze…

…and while there’s plenty of people discussing the science of why running barefoot makes more sense, the thing that intrigues me the most is not all the science stuff.

That stuff generally goes over my head.

But what I really like is the idea of finally having a shoe that doesn’t have any arch support!

You see, I have flat feet.  And when I say flat feet, I mean FLAT FEET.

Reebok RealFlex – Barefoot Minimalist Shoe?

Seriously, I quite literally do not have an arch to support so all of these fancy cross training shoes that promote great arch support do nothing but give me insane amounts of pain.

And believe me, I’ve tried them all.

In fact, the last time that I went to go buy a pair of shoes I asked the salesman for shoes that specifically didn’t have any arch support in hopes that I wouldn’t be in pain.

His response was, “well, have you tried wearing the shoes for 30 days and breaking them in?  Most people think they don’t need arch support but they really do.”

Hogwash.

I simply responded by taking my foot out of my shoe and showing him my “arch” (which was none!) and he simply said, “wow”.

At that point, it seemed like he realized that I wasn’t just blowing smoke and that I really did have a problem that I couldn’t seem to fix.

That’s when he introduced me to the concept of the barefoot shoes.

I had seen the commercials on TV so I kind of already knew the concept.  I just had never tried them before or really knew what the deal was.

So I went through the normal process and tried on a bunch of different shoes and eventually settled on the Reebok Realflex shoes.

He said I could try them out for a month and if I didn’t like them, I could bring them back.

So I figured what the heck and gave them a shot.

When I went to workout with them the next day, I was absolutely amazed.  For the first time since I could remember, I was able to get through an entire workout and not have my feet in pain halfway through.

My main use of the shoes initially was for my weight and strength training.  For my cardio, I generally like to go to spin class and I wear the cycle shoes so I can clip in so I didn’t really buy the Realflex for any actual running.

But, after a while training with these shoes, I finally decided to bite the bullet and go for a run.

I couldn’t tell you the last time that I actually went on a run longer than a quarter of a mile so this was a big deal for me.

Anyway, I decided to check out this trail right next to my apartment.  It has changes in terrain, inclines and declines so it’s a bit more of an adventure than just running on a treadmill.

And living in Southern California, I feel like it’s an absolute crime to not be outside when the weather is so nice.

With that said, I got up on a Sunday morning and began my running adventure.

I started just casually jogging to the trail and after a while, I really started getting into my groove.  For the first time since I could remember I was focusing on my run, taking in the scenery and not on the pain in my feet.

Before I knew it, I got back to my apartment and when I looked at my run app to see how far I ended up going, I was shocked to see that I had run farther than any other time in recent memory, 2 miles!

Curt’s Flat Feet!

Now that may not seem like that big of a deal to most people, but for me, that was a huge deal and accomplishment I was stoked about.

And best of all, I had no pain whatsoever!

I got to enjoy my run and focus on running instead of the pain in my feet for the first time in recent memory!

It was truly a fantastic feeling.

[box type=”note”]All in all, after this experience, I have to say with certainty that these shoes are the best shoes that I’ve ever trained with. If you haven’t bit the bullet yet and tried out some barefoot shoes, these are a great pair to get started with (and relatively inexpensive)![/box]