Shoes matter
I’m going to totally shift gears today and cover a topic that I always talk about, and have had a number of discussions on recently with clients - it’s one of those subtle things I teach my guys to pick up on.
TRAINING SHOES
Believe it or not, your training shoes are the most important piece of exercise equipment you could ever buy. I can take you through an amazing workout that requires no other equipment - all bodyweight only exercises, but the shoes you wear will be a big difference maker in your performance.
Think about this...
● You wear running shoes to run.
● You wear basketball shoes to play basketball.
● You wear football boots to play football.
● You wear training shoes to train.
I see this all the time. New clients come in to train with us, and they’re wearing a pair of old beat up shoes they have has forever! Or, on the flip side, they’ve gone out and bought their new kicks to start working out in - except they’re thick soled cushy running trainers, or fashion trainers….
Then, they when the workout starts they struggle with balance, have difficulty with good form, and/or get sore feet, backs, etc.
Perhaps I need to do a better job of educating clients BEFORE they get started with us.
It’s something that’s easily forgotten about, and I suppose I worry about sending a person out to the store to drop £100 - £150 on a new pair of shoes when they just made an investment in their training program.
The fact is, a good pair of training shoes will make their workout experience (and results) better…
Now, I’m no shoe expert, but I’ve been training for almost 3 decades, and I’ve tried just about everything out there...And, now that training is more mainstream there’s much more focus on proper gear and there are more options than ever before.
Of course, to pick the right shoe you need to determine the type of training you’re going to do. Yes, it’s that specific and the options are now available…
So, for the sake of this newsletter, I’m just going to share what I’ve found to be the best for the type of training we do at Tribe…
Right now, my favorite training shoe is the Nike Metcon. This is kind of ironic because I’ve never really liked the way Nikes feel, but these shoes are tremendous.
The downside to the Metcons is the price. Yes, you do get what you pay for, but you’re also paying for the name…
Look for Metcons on sale - you can almost always find an unpopular color for a lower price. You can save £’s - by not caring about the color!
For my more budget conscious friends I recommend Innov8 F-lite 250s. These are actually the shoes I trained in for a while (and still do at times) before I discovered the Metcons.
Now, there are other brands and models you could try as well. If you’re a Reebok fan you can go with one of the CrossFit models. I also happen to like some of the New Balance Minimus models, however I’ve found that a “zero drop” isn’t ideal for most of my clients.
One thing to realise when you try on your first pair of training shoes…
They don’t feel good when you just walk around in them!
For example, Nike Free shoes feel like slippers when you walk in them. However, they’re way too soft and cushy for training with weights. Nike Metcons function awesome in a workout, but not so much for walking the dog.
They’re not meant for walking!!
Walking shoes are meant for walking…
So, only wear your workout shoes when you workout. That will also make them last a LOT longer - potentially YEARS! :-)
Bottom Line: If you’re serious about your training program and making a long-term commitment to building a strong, healthy body then you need to get serious about the training shoes you wear.