For a shoe to be considered minimalist, it must interfere as little as possible with the natural movement of the foot. There are 5 criteria that, taken together, give the index indicating whether the shoe promotes natural running or not.
In this article, you'll find out which factors tell you whether your shoe is minimalist.
WEIGHT
One of the key criteria of the minimalist index is weight: a lightweight shoe is more readily considered to promote a natural stride. A shoe weighing less than 125g will score highly on this scale. Conversely, a shoe weighing more than 325g is considered heavy and will therefore score low on the minimalism scale.
FLEXIBILITY
There are two types of flexibility used to define this index.
Longitudinal flexibility (front-to-back axis) and torsional flexibility (on pronation).
The easier it is to twist the shoe along both axes, the higher the index. Conversely, the more resistance there is to twisting in both directions, the lower the index and the more the shoe is considered maximalist.
THE DROP
The drop is an indicator in mm that measures the difference in sole thickness between the forefoot and the heel. It can also be referred to as "gradient".
A shoe with a drop of 0 will be 100% minimalist in this respect, while a shoe with a high drop — i.e. greater than 10 mm — will be considered maximalist.
THICKNESS
Measured at the heel, it assesses the distance between where the foot rests (centre of the heel) and the shoe's contact point with the ground under the heel.
The thinner the shoe, the higher the score. A thickness of less than 8mm gives a high minimalist index, while a thickness of more than 32mm gives a low minimalist index, tending towards a maximalist shoe.
STABILITY TECHNOLOGIES
The fewer integrated technologies a shoe has, the higher its Minimalist Index score. These technologies vary — for example, medical plastic reinforcements or a raised insole.
