I'll probably get flamed to bits here, but hundreds of years ago (1990 I think) I saw a photo-shoot in the proper IronMan magazine-  by which I mean the imported US version, not the butchered UK abortion (thanks McInerney  

)  In it, Lee Labrada was wearing a type of footwear I'd never seen before.  It was this sort of thing

I recalled seeing the old pics of the guys in Golds training barefeet, but f** that.  So I figured this was the closest I'd get to that feeling
They were hard to track down in the UK back then - at least where I lived (a long way from the coast).  But I finally got a pair and I can still remember my first set of front squats in them - it was a revelation (for me at least).  On the very rare occasion I feel like a standard squat, I do the little plate under the heel thing
There's probably a hundred reasons they are bad for me, but it's all I've worn ever since and.  And now you can pick them up anywhere for pennies