Walking in heels.

[heellover21]

Why is it harder to walk in heels outside then it is inside your house? I find it much more difficult.

[CRabbit]

Top four reasons i can think of: 1) Nerves. You'll naturally be less relaxed while outside than inside. This means your leg muscles are more tense, your body is stiffer and so your balance is compromised. Try and relax, take some deep breaths and put aside any worries you might have. The world wont end, you wont be immediately shot/stabbed/run down/etc. Your just out to enjoy your walk 2) Uneven surfaces. In your house you'll have carpets, pitch-smooth wooden floors, tiled surfaces, etc. All of which are absolutely smooth (or at least one would hope so!) These surfaces are great for getting used to being in heels, but cracked pavements, gravel and gradients on the roads & sidewalks makes life a lot different. You wouldn't notice the gradients and cracks in flats as your ankles would move to take a lot of the change out of each step. In heels, you don't have that luxury as the heel height moves the ankle into a less flexible posture. Take more time with each step, keep your eyes up and watch what comes up several steps ahead so your mind can adjust each step accordingly without your eyes looking at the floor, which again affects your balance. 3) Weather. Sounds daft, but inside your house it's most likely nice and warm. Add a cold breeze, bit of rain or if your in the UK today, a bloody frosty wind and your muscles want to tense up, your skin tightens and you begin to lose sensation in your toes or feet. All of which make walking in heels a lot more 'interesting'. Wrap up a little more than normal for the weather, wear boots if you have them and try and keep your toes warm! 4) The heels. Walking around town in heels it a tough enough job without the heels moving under your weight, twisting or kicking out. My first public outing was almost ruined by a pair of stiletto heels that moved when I put weight on them, which went to an extreme on the polished marble surface of a department store. Go with thicker heels or wedges until you get more comfortable with being out in the wild before you venture towards the ultra-skinny stilettos. Hope that helps, Chris

[heellover21]

very helpfull. thank you.

[yozz]

To add a fifth point: 5: Outside you walk to get somewhere. Inside you just step around a bit. This different type of walking makes also a big difference. In my experience your steps are much shorter inside. With heels that is quite important. Y.

[heellover21]

To add a fifth point:

5: Outside you walk to get somewhere. Inside you just step around a bit. This different type of walking makes also a big difference. In my experience your steps are much shorter inside. With heels that is quite important.

Y.

that actually is true. thank you.

[Gudulitooo]

I would like to emphasize two points : 1) going down sloppy hills is a nightmare in heels when you are not trained. I am not sure there are many San Fransisco street heelers here. 2) stop and go is much slower than in flat shoes. Same phenomenon, I feel I have more inertia in heels, you can only experiment the first part at home.

[Walkonit]

I agree with all the reasons below and want to add distance. Quite simply: Inside you rarely walk more than say 5 or 10 paces before running out of room. Heeling outside means you need to walk much further.

[roniheels]

I totally agree with CRabbit and yozz. And the more you walk around outside in high heels, like anything, the easier it gets.

[wedgemao]

very smart remarks!!!

[Tech]

I have to say, EVERY single one of these points raised so far is totally spot on... I remember my first proper street heeling in Belgium, when a bunch of us went to a fellow HHPlace members house for a weekend (I think it was a weekend, Xaphod and Jagman, Firefox, Ronald, Jeff and others, there were about 8+ of us I think) anyway, up until that point, it had just been at home, and out to my local shops almost daily, nothing fuerther than a hundred feet (pun pun) but that time in Belgium, that was proper out shopping all day and walking around everywhere... I had deliberately taken my chunky "man-heels", rubber soles and 4" rubber heels, and even that was a total eye-opener.... My legs were totally not used to that, and were aching after, but we all had a great time... Was about 15 years ago now, roughly... Takes time, practice and possibly even building up the height gradually, not steaming out in the highest things you can find for your first outing... Even if your feet/toes are ok, your muscles need to adjust and get used to it too :-)

[dww]

I think at first you try and rush, out of the car quick dash here and back to the car or whatever etc, sit down thinking I've done it, what a relief. Then after about 5 or 6 attemps you settle down and begin to enjoy what you are doing. You start to think about how you look and are these jeans to short for my heels or whatever. The only thing I can say is after a while you will adjust and start thinking what is best for you, and you will be out in your heels and thinking whats the big deal, anybody can do this. I know been there done that took thirty years though. I could write a book on heeling and if I did I wonder how many people would say I have thought and done just that I started in 1968. My interest in girls shoes in general started in about 1955, heels came much later 1968. I may have been very young but at the time I always knew what I was doing, and it's been with me all my life.