New Balance UX200V1 Unisex Training Shoes for Men & Women - Lightweight Comfort for Gym, Running & Workouts

These are great IF you know what you're using them for and why. A lot of people get these kinds of shoes as some kind of "macho" statement or because they're a "fad," but they were really conceptualized and designed with serious purpose in mind, promoting a balanced way of being closer to nature that goes far beyond just the mere athletic.These shoes are for trail-walking and running but NOT for beginners since the minimal vibram sole will make the feet of beginners so sore, they won't be able to walk straight for a week. They feel like socks on your feet, that's how light they are! To get the maximum benefit of a shoe like this, you have to develop your full stride first, which, you cannot do without shoes like this that imitate or at least allow you to be "almost barefoot" and feel the ground in minute detail. For beginners who think they have the patience for this kind of training, I recommend the standard New Balance Minimus trail shoe which has slightly less ground feel but more arch support and ground grip on dirt trails.https://www.amazon.com/New-Balance-Mens-MT10V4-Trail/dp/B015XCQSV4/ref=pd_sim_309_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=T0YBAGJS5F1VD5CB3GHCI would train every other day on a trail with lots of uphills using the standard New Balance for one month and then starting the second month, I would use these even more minimal shoes once a week. After 4 months of hiking every other day, you should be able to use the UX200V1's every time. You have to go slow and concentrate on rudiments to the point of making sure each step you put on the floor is flat with a mid foot contact with the ground while YOU remain in far more control of your stride than gravity or momentum. This way each step is a soft landing with the force of the impact with the ground evenly distributed throughout your entire body and not just distributed into your foot and legs. It takes a couple of months of every-other-day slow training and maximum concentration on balanced landing on trails with all kinds of rocks and slopes for your feet to get strong enough so that the soreness only takes a couple of hours to relax itself and go away. But once that's done, the leverage you get from a stride that is balanced and fully controlled at all times is like having a bicycle with 50 gears. Slight movements of the legs, your feet, your body position, your arms, etc. all start making a huge difference and you start to get tired less and less. The next thing you notice is that few people can keep up with you because your strides become almost as fast as slow jogs, especially on uphills.Also, as long as your landings are skillful, you glide over the ground with only the minimum contact necessary to propel you forward and the ground, especially ground made up of rocks and boulders and asphalt, will MASSAGE your feet and transfer stored energy into you. Yes, you read that right: if you do this kind of training right, you will be able to massage your feet on hard rocks and soft asphalt and absorb energy from the ground at the same time, while walking, jogging or running! lol Running correctly in minimal style is not as "easy" as some people assume. It's not supposed to be done with the traditional runner's way of striking the foot to the ground. You have to learn to absorb impact in an entirely new way. Then you speed it up very gradually, never losing sight of the foundations built on how your feet contact and deal with the ground, until you have the jogging or "running" pace you want. .This kind of training is really the wave of the future from the past, since for thousands of years people had minimal padding on their shoes. This is for those who want to be OF the mountain and OF the hill and canyon, not fighting the elements but in balanced harmony with them. I'd say they're more for those who meditate while they're training or for those who approach training as a form of meditation.A minimalistic, barefoot style, glove like fit and zero drop shoe. I would say this is New Balances take on the Vivobarefoot Motus. The outsole is tough and durable yet totally flexible, has a sort of a rounded shape to mimic natural foot contours. Rough measurement is the outsole is around 3 to 4mm. A difference to Vivos is the UX200 has a midsole of around 3 to 4mm which adds a tiny bit of cushion. This is very welcome as the Vivos are near impossible for walking on concrete and its not natural for humans to be walking on that hard a surface, whereas the UX allows for concrete with the slight added cushion. But remember this is still next to nothing compared with any other shoe. No insole either, allows for better ground connectionTo wear this form fitting glove like shoe you must get the correct size, ie way smaller than you think. Your feet and body must be in good strong shape with well formed arches. Can take years to transition to this type of shoe. My foot is 270 mm at the longest toe, arch up, knees straight, no pronation or supination in lower leg. Legs inline with hips and outside edge of feet facing directly forward. I have size a 9US and fit is perfectly snug, that is my foot fills entire shoe at every point with toes almost touching end. I am 6 foot 2 tall and before transitioning to barefoot shoes used to wear size 11.5US runners and have progressively downsized. Takes many many shoe pairs of decreasing sizes to get down to perfect size, realigning feet and legs. Most people are wearing shoes too big for themselves , causing foot and body problems. This is opposite to the convention thinking of sizing up, exactly form fitting fit is what is required.New Balances best minimalist shoe ever. Hope this is successful and stays around for a long time.I bought these hoping they would be a good replacement for my worn-down MR00 Minimus, and have been very disappointed. I used the MR00s mainly as trainers for gym workouts and really loved their no-frills, low-profile approach. Unfortunately, the 200 Trainers don't live up to my experience with the MR00 for a number of reasons.It starts with the outsole. The MR00 had a flat outsole that gave you good stability for weightlifting and enough traction for agility work. The 200 Trainers have sufficient traction, and the outsole seems at least as durable as the MR00's, if not more so. But the outsole on the 200 Trainers is curved to the shape of the foot. It feels fine anatomically, but the curvature is pronounced enough that there's a little wobble to them on flat surfaces. Not to the point of being dangerous, but definitely something I was conscious of when squatting or performing weighted single leg exercises.The upper, though it appears durable, is also a step back from the MR00 in my opinion. The front of the 200 Trainers is a stiff reinforced material that isn't as comfortable against the toes as the material of the MR00. While you could throw on the MR00 sockless and not feel uncomfortable, I can't say the same for the 200 Trainers. The lockdown of the midfoot is good, but I wouldn't say that was a problem I had with the MR00.The real dealbreaker though is the heel. It's flexible and comfortable, but doesn't have enough structure to withstand rigorous activity. I knew I was done with the 200 Trainer when I literally walked out of them while doing sled pushes. It didn't matter how tight I tied them, the heel is just so flexible that I would push out of them after a few steps. For a trainer, this level of performance is just unacceptable.New Balance has done some good things with this shoe, but overall it's just not a worth replacement to the MR00, and not at all worthy of the label "trainer."Very light, very flexible.I have 3 pairs of New Balance Minimus shoes. The other two come "as expected" size-wise. But these are a good half a size small.I would not buy these to run in. Other NB Minimus models (the MX20MB5 and the stunning 10v3) are compitent running shoes, but these UX200v1 are a less competent in that regard.