Workout shoes are one of the most overlooked things in many activities. While people may know the importance of workout shoes for jogging and walking, many don’t consider how it can affect weightlifting and other activities. You can see people wearing the right leggings, shorts, and other suitable clothing while wearing the wrong shoes for the workout. The wrong shoes can cause a lot of unseen damage that can later creep up on you and turn into an injury or even long-term harm. Shoes are highly customized and can be designed specifically for certain activities. This is why it’s important to consider some important factors before you buy shoes for your workout.
Running and walking
It may seem that running and walking are two similar activities in terms of the dynamic. But this is where you may be wrong. Walking shoes are designed to be stiffer to provide extra support. Running shoes, on the other hand, is more flexible as it needs to provide extra impact-resistant layers to prevent fatigue and injury to the feet. Some are designed to be suitable shoes for runners who overpronate to decrease the risk of fatigue and injury. Arch support and motion control are kept in mind to prevent the foot from overpronation.
Weight lifting
Weight lifting shoes are quite different from running or walking shoes as they have a flat sole that provides maximum stability by keeping a strong grip on the ground. As weightlifting requires your form to be perfect, using shoes that put you in an unstable stance is quite unsafe and makes heavy weight lifting potentially dangerous.
High-intensity interval workouts
High-intensity interval workouts include various activities that can’t be supported by running or flat shoes alone. As multi-directional movements, jumps, squats, and impact-based training requires both stability and agility, cross trainers are recommended for their lateral support, shock-absorbency, stability, and lightness.
Dancing
Dancing can be a real tough workout, so you’d want to be sure that you’re well-equipped to handle anything thrown at you. Dance-based exercises require your legs to be light and agile while being steady. Dance-specific shoes are known for their great heel support to protect your feet from constant shocks while making sure it’s also supported. Some experienced dancers switch to less-supportive as they can be lighter yet do not provide the same cushioning as standard ones.
Hiking
Hiking is an intense workout as you could be walking on curved mountain trails or going uphill. Hiking shoes are designed to provide extra ankle stability; they’re also quite rugged yet very flexible. What may take some time to get used to is their weight as they are significantly heavier than running shoes. You can opt to hike with running shoes, but if you’re doing it daily and for long distances then you’ll need hiking shoes.
Any workout has different elements and conditions that have to be met for it to be beneficial and safe. Your clothing matters, but your shoes can make or break your workout. Once you start using specific shoes, every distinct activity, or workout you do, you’ll notice a huge difference.
