How much work should the big toe do in walking? Best Youtube how-to video?

[Andy3142]

How best to walk? I know this is a mega popular topic, so if I've not seen some sticky on the subject, apologies and please refer me. This refers to middle-width 8 cm / 3 inch heels.

Walking in heels makes me question every habit of how I walk and it's hard to know what's what. Basic things I'm doing OK are: heel first, walk with the feet a bit (or a lot) more in a straight line than normal, smaller, slower steps. So for so good. Beyond that it feels more graceful if in moving forward I roll over my big toe so my weight kind of drops forward, to be caught by the heel of the forward foot. This however feels like a lot of work for the big toe. My question is, is that normal?

There are many Youtube tutorials. However many are very short and obvious, others are made by ballerinas and impossibly complex. Can anyone recommend a good one that's in between?

Many thanks

 

[Shyheels]

Other than a few broad tips, such as walking heel to toe, it’s mainly a matter of practice which is why so many of the videos seem to say the same thing 

[Cali]

I think it is also about building up your ankle strength.  I saw a story in I think a New York Newspaper about how a Korean airline trained their flight attents to wear stilletos.  It took me about 1 minute to go from 2 inch heels to 4 and 5 inch heels, but I had had years of ankle therapy after many ankle reconstructions.

[Shyheels]

Yes having strong flexible ankles helps - I did lots of fencing in my youth and have retained a lot of that flexibility in my ankles ( probably thanks to many many thousand of miles of cycling since then )

[mlroseplant]

Ah, a subject near and dear to my heart, and one which I have probably spent way too much time contemplating. Aside from a few fetish people, the most recent example being the "leaner" guy who posted elsewhere on this forum, I think we can all agree that the ideal situation is to appear as though walking in heels is completely effortless.

I do agree that there are a ton of fairly useless videos out there, and a few that actually give horrible advice. As you have surely discovered, there are a few exponents out there who still advise walking toe-to-heel, something I defy somebody to actually accomplish. We'll make exceptions for ballerinas and professional Latin dancers, but it's a patently ridiculous assertion that anybody should ever walk this way. Nobody walks that way, even in bare feet. That being said, one definitely does not want to strike the ground aggressively with the heel, it is there to act as a stabilizer for just an instant until the ball of the foot can contact the ground. Ignore this advice at your peril! Don't ask me how I know.

So it all comes down to what you really want to accomplish with your walk. It has been the subject of much debate just exactly how much femininity, if any, that a guy needs to emulate while walking in heels. I don't mind striving toward the more feminine looking walk, but more important to me is attempting to minimize my natural bowleggedness. Therefore, I spend a lot of effort trying to walk with my knees together, something that is not traditionally natural for me. This becomes more and more difficult the steeper you go, for reasons I cannot really explain.

I see I have STILL not answered your question, and I cannot do so at this time, as I have run out of time. I gotta go to work. If there is still interest in the next couple of days, I will continue.

[Bubba136]

Walking in heels.  Something I never thought about until the first time I wore them in front of my wife.  She was just my girlfriend at the time but we had been dating for several months.  

 I met her on our first day at college.  We hit it off from the first moment we met and when it became apparent that we were going to be more than boyfriend and girlfriend, I decided that it was time I told her about my life long love of wearing heels so that if she had a problem with that part of my personality, she could call it quits before we became to involved.  

One evening coming home after nice dinner at a good restaurant, I decided to bring the subject up. I thoroughly explained my situation along with a complete history description.  I even told her that I owned several pairs that I would occasionally wear around my room where I was living.

She told me that she had thought there was something unusual about my choice of footwear because my shoes, even though they could be worn by a man, were of styles that could be found in the women’s section of any shoe store.  After a lengthy discussion, we decided that the following day I would bring a pair of my heels over to her place and show them to her.  

I picked her up the next afternoon and we drove to an excluded place out in the country.  I chose a great pair of black patent pumps with 5” heels that I had owned for a couple of years, that were very comfortable and I could walk for miles while wearing them without discomfort.  

I changed into my pumps and we got out of the car and started walking down the road.  While we were walking along, I explained that I realized that this desire was unusual and that over the years I had tried my best to stop.  But after not wearing them for several weeks, my attitude became troubling and the desire so strong that I couldn’t help but start wearing them.  So I decided since I couldn’t stop l would never try to quit wearing them again.

Her reaction was one of curiosity.  She asked many questions about my parents reaction and my experiences wearing heels in public,  One of her comments was how surprised she was that I could walk so well without difficulty while wearing heels as high as these.  How long did it take me to learn to walk in them?  I replied that I had been wearing heels since before I was two years old while playing in my mother’s clothes closet.  So, wondering about how I learned how to walk in heels was something that I had never thought about.  Walking in heels was as natural to me as going barefoot.

We walked back to the car and drove home.  As she was getting out at her place, she said that I had taken her completely by surprise springing this upon her the way I did and that she would have to think about it before she could decide how it would effect us.  She asked me not to call her for awhile.  She said that she would call me when she sorted things out and had some idea how to deal with it.  
 

 

[Shyheels]

5 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

Walking in heels.  Something I never thought about until the first time I wore them in front of my wife.  She was just my girlfriend at the time but we had been dating for several months.  

 I met her on our first day at college.  We hit it off from the first moment we met and when it became apparent that we were going to be more than boyfriend and girlfriend, I decided that it was time I told her about my life long love of wearing heels so that if she had a problem with that part of my personality, she could call it quits before we became to involved.  

One evening coming home after nice dinner at a good restaurant, I decided to bring the subject up. I thoroughly explained my situation along with a complete history description.  I even told her that I owned several pairs that I would occasionally wear around my room where I was living.

She told me that she had thought there was something unusual about my choice of footwear because my shoes, even though they could be worn by a man, were of styles that could be found in the women’s section of any shoe store.  After a lengthy discussion, we decided that the following day I would bring a pair of my heels over to her place and show them to her.  

I picked her up the next afternoon and we drove to an excluded place out in the country.  I chose a great pair of black patent pumps with 5” heels that I had owned for a couple of years, that were very comfortable and I could walk for miles while wearing them without discomfort.  

I changed into my pumps and we got out of the car and started walking down the road.  While we were walking along, I explained that I realized that this desire was unusual and that over the years I had tried my best to stop.  But after not wearing them for several weeks, my attitude became troubling and the desire so strong that I couldn’t help but start wearing them.  So I decided since I couldn’t stop l would never try to quit wearing them again.

Her reaction was one of curiosity.  She asked many questions about my parents reaction and my experiences wearing heels in public,  One of her comments was how surprised she was that I could walk so well without difficulty while wearing heels as high as these.  How long did it take me to learn to walk in them?  I replied that I had been wearing heels since before I was two years old while playing in my mother’s clothes closet.  So, wondering about how I learned how to walk in heels was something that I had never thought about.  Walking in heels was as natural to me as going barefoot.

We walked back to the car and drove home.  As she was getting out at her place, she said that I had taken her completely by surprise springing this upon her the way I did and that she would have to think about it before she could decide how it would effect us.  She asked me not to call her for awhile.  She said that she would call me when she sorted things out and had some idea how to deal with it.  
 

 

That's a nice story, candid and well-told  - and, professionally speaking, a very nice piece of writing as well. I know you were a pilot but you clearly have a gift for writing. 

 

[Bubba136]

Thank you for your comment, Shyheels.  The identity slug, beneath my initial symbol above, shows that I have posted 13.3k comments over the time I have been a member here.  I have related this part of my history before.  A long time ago.  It is the way it happened.   I felt that if we were going to become involved to a point where a lifetime commitment was possible, then that commitment should be based upon the absolute truth if it was going to succeed.  Our commitment was complete and successful.  The only problem was that It didn’t last long enough.  My wife passed away after only 36 years together.  We were the same age.  We should still be going strong.  You cannot imagine how much I miss her.  I realize that this is “off subject”.  Please forgive me for reminiscing.

[Shyheels]

21 minutes ago, Bubba136 said:

Thank you for your comment, Shyheels.  The identity slug, beneath my initial symbol above, shows that I have posted 13.3k comments over the time I have been a member here.  I have related this part of my history before.  A long time ago.  It is the way it happened.   I felt that if we were going to become involved to a point where a lifetime commitment was possible, then that commitment should be based upon the absolute truth if it was going to succeed.  Our commitment was complete and successful.  The only problem was that It didn’t last long enough.  My wife passed away after only 36 years together.  We were the same age.  We should still be going strong.  You cannot imagine how much I miss her.  I realize that this is “off subject”.  Please forgive me for reminiscing.

Not at all!!! Entirely understandable. You struck it lucky in finding a life partner - and I don’t mean anything to do with heels but partner in the fullest richest sense of the word. That’s so rare

[mlroseplant]

20 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

Thank you for your comment, Shyheels.  The identity slug, beneath my initial symbol above, shows that I have posted 13.3k comments over the time I have been a member here.  I have related this part of my history before.  A long time ago.  It is the way it happened.   I felt that if we were going to become involved to a point where a lifetime commitment was possible, then that commitment should be based upon the absolute truth if it was going to succeed.  Our commitment was complete and successful.  The only problem was that It didn’t last long enough.  My wife passed away after only 36 years together.  We were the same age.  We should still be going strong.  You cannot imagine how much I miss her.  I realize that this is “off subject”.  Please forgive me for reminiscing.

You know I've never been one to worry about meandering conversation. In fact, my intended reply which is back on topic seems so silly and petty following your statements, that I have decided not to say anything about walking mechanics at this time. Because, in the grand scheme of things, who really cares? Thank you for sharing your story, Bubba.

[Bubba136]

Now, back on topic.

Seeing a man wearing a pair of high heel shoes evokes impressions of a man dressing as a woman which could be considered as being mildly sexually deviant in today’s society.  

 Since high heels have been associated exclusively with the female gender over the past couple of centuries, any male sporting a fashionable pair of elegant Black Patient leather pumps with five inch heels on his feet would be an unusual sight and could become subject of intense conversation when he’s wearing them in public. While the practice has become increasingly accepted these days, it still largely remains controversial. 

It seems that in the past decade people have become more likely to discuss the pro’s and cons of crossdressing (which some psychologists believe wearing only heels to be) than to openly condemn the practice.  Those men that have been wearing their “girls shoes” openly in public for years can attest to this measurable change in attitude, having personally experienced the “slings and arrow” rebukes, insults and criticisms intensely directed in their direction in the past.

The degree that any male desire to wear female attire, whether it’s 100.% passing as a female or occasionally mixing items of women’s clothing, such as shirts, blouses, jackets or shoes, is immaterial.  For the most part, the person dawning the clothes is usually doing so to satisfy their own desires and not to try to deceive or fool others into believing they are something they aren’t.  

The accepted norms for female fashion is much more complicated and complex than male dressing as those of us that have female partners are aware. The choice of clothing to match the event, color and proper accessories accenting “the look”, among other attributes, is intensely important. 

The main accessory that can “make or break” the overall appearance of the “look” is the shoes.  The choices for men are is severely limited - work, play or dress up.  Women’s choices, on the other hand, are as numerous as the different species of flowers. Fashionable dressed women work over time selecting “just the right pair” to succeed in accomplishing their dream appearance.

The aspect that is most common to both genders, when it comes to wearing high heels, is walking while wearing them.  Whether you’re a man or a woman you have identical problems.  You have to learn how to walk properly while wearing them.  Some men/women are natural wearers.  They pop on a pair and trot on off about their business unaware they are even wearing high heels.  Others encounter physical difficulties they cannot overcome.  It’s those in between that need training and proper instruction.  

For those “first time” wearers, it is only to human nature to try them on the first time they get their hands on a pair.  Once they have satisfied their curiosity and decide to continue wearing them, it would be a good time to talk with an experienced wearer, comparing and discussing sizing and professional instruction, should they feel it would be helpful.  

Keep in mind that acquiring professional instruction early on would be very beneficial before developing harmful practices and hard to break habits that could lead to physical discomfort.  Thoroughly reviewing websites on the internet and using email evaluate course content could be very helpful.

Most importantly, be aware that wearing an absolutely beautiful pair of high heels is an enormously satisfying and thoroughly pleasurable sensation that there is. Once you’ve began, you’ll never quit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26 by Bubba136

[Shyheels]

Men are still living in the era of the Great Male Renunciation as some psychologist in the 1920s termed it. That was the period in the 18th century when men forswore any form if theatre, colour or ornamentation in dress in favour of some vague ideal of the thinking man. And here we are two hundred and fifty years down the track still uptight about breaking ranks, having painted ourselves into an ever smaller style corner.