Lifting Shoes 101
Core
Posts: 2,509
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[size=x-large]Lifting Shoes 101[/size]
Image Credit: psychotic1684
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E[size=small]ver thought about the shoes that you wear to the gym? Of course you have. You've actually spent some time thinking about which shoes to wear, and you probably have a pair designated as your 'gym shoes'. How did those shoes earn that illustrious title and serve such a noble purpose? Suitability for the task? Performance enhancement? Safety? Not usually. Comfort and looks seem to be the main criteria associated with gym shoe choice. This is a problem if your training includes any free weights at all. Most of us would never consider wearing a pair of Bruno Magli's to play racquetball. They are built to look good, not to perform well on the court. While this may be obvious to some, many of us will make an equally poor footwear decision and wear running shoes to the gym to lift weights.
Proper footwear in the gym is important, especially if you are lifting free weights. When we lift weights we want two things to happen: (1) all the force our body produces under the bar should contribute to moving the weight and (2) the weight needs to be controlled in a safe manner. If we lift in a running shoe, it's akin to trying to lift while standing on a giant marshmallow. The soles of the running shoes, the marshmallow, will absorb and dissipate a large amount of the force generated against the floor that should be directed towards moving the weight. A gel or air cell shoe is a great thing for reducing the impact shock that causes the repetitive use injuries associated with running. But in the weight room, shoes should provide for the efficient transmission of power between the bar and the ground. You can't lift as much weight in the wrong shoes.
The second issue is control of the weight - and your body - while standing on an unstable surface. A compressible medium placed between the feet and the ground will behave inconsistently enough during each rep to alter the pattern of force transmission every time. This means that the subtle points of consistent good technique on any standing exercise are impossible to control. And there is an increased chance for a balance or stability loss-induced injury while lifting heavy weights, since perfect balance cannot be assured on an imperfect surface.
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Image Credit: tabatatimes.com
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Weightlifters and powerlifters have known this for more than 50 years, although the shoe choices available for their purposes were formerly quite limited. Until the 1970's, combat boots, Chuck Taylor's, and even patent leather oxfords (see old photos of Paul Anderson) were the shoes used for lifting weights. To be stable and perform optimally, a weightlifting shoe needs to be snug fitting, provide exceptional support, and have a noncompressible wedge sole with neoprene or crepe for traction against the floor. Most will lace all the way down to the toe for adjustment to individual foot width, and will have an adjustable strap across the metatarsal area for added lateral stability. When Adidas from Germany and Kahru of Finland became available on a limited basis in the US, weightlifters finally had the opportunity to use equipment specifically designed for their activity. High topped and not especially stylish, these shoes had minimal appeal to the fashion conscious, but lifters loved them because they worked.
But there was a scheduling problem: the gym and fitness club industry had just been revolutionized by the simultaneously-evolving exercise machine industry. Having removed the factors of balance, coordination, and technique from the equation, exercise machines temporarily sidelined the development of weight training shoes. Over the past two decades, free weights and the benefits of their use have crept back into gyms and fitness clubs everywhere. The need for weightlifting shoes re-emerged without a supply beyond the stalwart Adidas corporation's Power Perfect, Equipment, and Adistar models. Other major shoe brands like Nike, Puma, and Reebok began to experiment with weightlifting shoes. A number of foreign brands such as Do Win (China), and Power Firm (Canada), as well as the American company Safe-USA have also competed for a share of the growing US market. All these companies offer shoes that are designed for competitive weightlifting or powerlifting, but that are good for all basic lifts, especially the squat, given their exemplary support and incompressible heel design. A variety of powerlifting shoes with essentially flat soles and no heel lift, much like track flats or wrestling shoes, are also available from powerlifting equipment houses like Inzer (USA), and also work for basic exercise purposes. These shoes are less suited for squatting, since they require that you have better than average flexibility to squat in them, but they are excellent for floor work and standing exercises.
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[size=x-small]Credits: http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Weightlifting/WeightliftingShoes.html [/size]
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Comments
pero ako pag legs day at deadlift yung nike presto gamit ko. Tapos pag ung normal ko eh yung airmax cross training shoes
I prefer barefoot pag naglilift pag walang nakakakita (except sa CCTV) ... Now that's integrity
di nga lang flat sole.
balak ko palitan nito
tama ba?
di ah.. kundi lang mahal...
Yep, barefoot talaga , useful on running , walking, swimming, beaching, gymming, whoring , owling, planking lol
@rtravino
yun lang, pero nabili ko to 60% sale hehe kaya ayos na rin
san mo nabili? medyo tuklap na yung saken, 3 years na rin kase.
ang problema ko lang ngayon, di ko sya masuot dahil dito sa ingrown kong kuko sa paa, takte ansaket namaga pa last last week.
Actually fail yung unang bili ko neto, 2nd day tuklap agad , that makes it a lemon unit, napalitan naman nung bumalik ako ng 5th day as in total brand new na same model at tinest na talaga nila so far so good, lamog at subok ng panahon dahil sinusugod ko rin to sa baha at ngayon sa araw naman hehe
Unfortunately, oras lang tinagal daw hehe
Well, yun nga kung quality sa quality subok talaga ng panahon at oo panalo sa labahan haha lagyan ng sabon, lagyan ng baking soda at vinegar i washing machine tapos i hanger sa araw.. 100% bagong bago ulet
Similar to my fivefinger is my New Balance Minimus Zero Trail, kaso mejo sira na sa bandang mesh.
Gamit ko Rebook Oly Lifter Plus for my squat. Medyo bothersome lang yung strap na may "Crossfit", gusto ko nga lagyan ng tape para mawala e. Hehe
@rtravino29 sa Reebok mismo. Compared sa price sa Gearbox, grabe OA. Nakuha ko sha 4.2k lang, pabor! May balak ka bumili?
sa presyong 4.2k, pag iisipan ko, hehe! just bought sketchers go bionic 2 for the same price bro, siguro palipasin ko muna nang mga 2 - 3 months hanggang sa makalimutan ni misis na bumili ako bagong sapatos. mahirap na.:P
sketchers go bionic 2 - light weight, breathable and very flexible na flat shoes sya IMO. which is pang squat, deadlift etc. talaga yung quality niya. di ko lang alam kung matibay, LOL!
laspagin ko muna nang husto yung merrel tapos ttry ko na ung go bionic.
Based on the video you posted on your journal.
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You're squatting under a high bar type of back squat.
From majority's preferences, flat shoes are better used on low bar back squatting.
But as far as one concerned, it's still based on one's preference whether the shoe will work or not.
sabi rin ni Jonnie Candito , flat shoes daw pag power / hybrid squat. :P
Right @Core, that's why I have plates on my heels to help me get my desired depth. :lol
I just recently got my squat shoes and now working on proper foot stance and getting used to it.
cheers
Jonnie squatting on his romaleos in hybrid now, after deciding to stick with it instead of olympic squats :P wish I had the same flexibility though.
sorry for the misinformation. one of his videos shows that he is using a flat shoes while doing the hybrid, tapos pag basa ko sa comment "I was wrong about using flat shoes for the hybrid squat, watch this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jgBM..." , sa phone ko kase pinapanood, LOL!
Agree on both thoughts! Pero worth it naman, kaya I decided to post/edit(polish) it here. The broad discussion on the transition of the today's heeled/low cut shoe from the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.