Do Fitness Shoes Actually Work?
Imagine the perfect legs. Tight, curvaceous, symmetrical things of beauty–able to look fantastic in tight jeans or shorts, yet also able to leap, jump, and step with grace and ease. Now, imagine a funky looking piece of footwear with an awkward bump along the bottom. This footwear is called a fitness shoe and it promises to give you those very legs. In addition to bestowing up on the wearer the calves and butt of Greek gods and goddesses, fitness shoes also promise to enhance balance and posture. But do fitness shoes actually work?
Do Fitness Shoes Work?
Fitness shoes go by many different names, including wellness shoes, toning shoes, and shaping shoes. A relatively new phenomenon over the past five years or so, fitness shoes are referred to in the shoe industry as rocker-style shoes, because they have a curved bottom and a heel that is lower than the toe, resulting in a rocking motion from the heel to the toe during the gait motion.
How Do Fitness Shoes Work?
The premise of fitness shoes is that because of the instability they cause, along with a shift of your weight from the back of your feet to the front of your feet, your body will be forced to use different muscles while walking–specifically the buttocks, thighs and calves. In addition, because your weight is shifted forward, you may be less likely to slouch and you might even learn better balance because of the instability of the shoe.
Let’s examine whether these claims are true.
Fitness Shoe Research
Although shoe companies have sponsored and conducted in-house research on their particular brand of fitness shoes, only one independent study exists that examines whether fitness shoes actually work.
This study, conducted by the American Council on Exercise, enlisted a group of female treadmill walkers, and measured the metabolic rate and muscle activity of the calves, quads, hamstrings, buttocks, back and abs while the walkers a variety of the fitness shoes out on the market. The researchers also measured muscle activity in these same individuals performing the same activity while wearing a regular pair of sneakers.
All the fitness shoes showed no significant increase in metabolism or muscle use, and no enhanced fitness benefit over the average running shoe.
Other Uses of Fitness Shoes
But before you throw out your fitness shoes, it is important to realize that there may be benefits that go beyond muscle activity and metabolism. For example, because the heel is lower than the toes, fitness shoes may help to improve flexibility in heel tissues, which could theoretically help relieve pain from Achilles tendonitis or plantar fasciitis. These shoes might also strengthen weak muscles in the foot.
Fitness shoes may also help motivate you to exercise, based on the simple fact that if you have a pair of shoes devoted to walking, you may be more likely to walk when you put on that special pair.
So if wearing fitness shoes makes you feel more motivated to walk, helps reduce discomfort you may experience in your feet during physical activity, or simply fits into your fitness fashion, then by all means–wear fitness shoes!
Get the Benefits Promised by Fitness Shoes without Fitness Shoes
Think about the claims made about fitness shoes: nicer calves, a better butt, tight and toned thighs, and improved posture. Are there ways to achieve these benefits less expensively You bet! Here are some quick and dirty tips to help you with those specific goals:
Quick and dirty tip for nicer calves: Every morning when you take a shower, attempt to perform 50 to 100 calf raises. For added difficulty, do them on a stair, and try 4 sets of 25, with each set separated by 25 light hops on your toes.
Quick and dirty tip for a better butt: Be sure to check out my previous newsletter tip “What Are the Best Exercises to Tone My Butt?”, in which I tell you how to get a better butt and show you a video of a butt-toning workout that works.
Quick and dirty tip for tight and toned thighs: If you caught any of the Tour de France on TV, you may have noticed that cyclists have some of the most impressive legs in the business, particularly in their thighs. So if you’re going for that impressive, spandex-worthy upper leg musculature, include 2-3 bike rides or spin classes in your weekly fitness routine, with a focus on hill climbs and interval training.
Quick and dirty tip for improved posture: Right now, roll your shoulders back, suck in your stomach, raise your chin, and tighten your butt. You suddenly have perfect posture, don’t you? Now, try a Farmer’s Walk exercise, in which you do all those same postural modifications, but you walk with a relatively heavy set of dumbbells or weights in either hand. Try 3 sets of 25 yards of Farmer’s Walks.
Ultimately, long-term research may eventually find that fitness shoes do offer benefits that we don’t yet know about, or perhaps shoe manufacturers will invent a new way to make fitness shoes more beneficial. But for now, there’s no need to worry that you’re not getting the most out of your walk simply because you aren’t rocking a pair of rockers!
Girl Running image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.
