Thanks, Mr. Raghavan. It reminded me of an experience being on the road a couple years ago on business. I lifted at a wonderfully-furnished iron gym tucked away in a suburban industrial park in the NE of the U.S. It was a Monday afternoon and fairly slow. Several guys there were quite friendly and welcoming when, after squatting and pressing, I walked over to the portion of the gym that contained the deadlifting platforms, where they were sitting. One of them watched me pull a triple at 455 and then mocked me gently for wearing Oly shoes, as if I'd never received proper advice on the subject (had only been lifting for three years at the time.) I'd seen lifters squatting and deadlifting barefoot occasionally in the past and thought it was, well, somewhat ill-advised. I also vaguely recalled that Rip had said or written something on the topic. On this particular day, however, I was apparently (and embarrassingly) highly suggestible and open to new experiences. I let him talk me into removing my shoes for a second triple and pulling in socks (it was a nice, grippy, rubber mat, not a smooth surface. I'm not quite that stupid.)
Yes, I nailed it. No, my arches didn't collapse. No, I'll never do that again. I was nearly 53 at the time, and I had adopted a policy of trying actively to be less of an idiot in several ways annually. This lesson was one of my incremental gains in 2018. Another one was no longer pulling two heavy deadlift sets at my age. A third was to read and watch material regularly on the SS site so I don't make these boneheaded mistakes. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.