You have probably seen the commercials for fitness shoes that claim to help you get into shape by using them. The purpose of these shoes is to engage muscles in your legs, thus burning more calories, and helping to sculpt muscles. Rocker bottom shoes have been prescribed by podiatrists for years to help with foot and ankle issues. However, these trendy fitness shoes are probably more full of hype than what they claim to do for users.
But while podiatric physicians have used rocker bottom shoes for decades to help with pain in the ball of the foot, the ankle and heel arthritis, there’s little-if any—credible scientific evidence that these new fitness shoes provide a higher level of muscle engagement.
Moreover, “because these shoes have an unstable base, they also are inappropriate for people with balance problems, said Dr. Megan Leahy of the Illinois Podiatric Medical Association. In addition, “all flip flops can exacerbate foot problems due to contractures of foot and toe muscles during gait in a subconscious attempt to keep the shoe on.”
Source: Chicago Tribune
What do you think? Have you bought a pair of fitness shoes?
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
As with so many fitness products, fitness shoes have gone and exaggerated the benefits beyond all recognition. MBTs clearly have some level of biomechanical benefit, but to then go and claim it helps you burn more calories… utter rubbish. 1) Getting your heart rate up, 2) training harder, 3) exercising for longer – these things help you burn more calories. If fitness shoes can help you achieve these three things then their claims are true, but I doubt they can.
I tend to lean more towards hype. At beast it may force some muscles to work a little harder, but I just do not see them doing enough to make any difference.
That’s just the marketing hype that me media puts out their about a shoes performance. Not all shoes are the same, but the differences are not that great either. Because ounce you put on those shoes you still have to get out their and do something in them. The shoes are not going to pump the weights for you.
Or run that very last mile when you get tired! It’s just the hype, I look pass that any way. Just give me a good pair of sneeks that are not worn and I’m good to go.
I agree with Liam. Some shoes may be better in certain ways, but overall the shoe companies are exaggerating how good some of these shoes can be. I train on an elliptical and find that way better than running nowadays. If you want to invest money into something, I say get a bike or elliptical instead of an expensive pair of shoes.
That’s why its good to just not by into the hype. You do better by just buying a couple different pair of shoes and just switching them out. Don’t believe the hype.
I never thought a pair of shoes can do that. But anyway I might try it to see if it really does that.
Pretty soon they will come out with a shoe that will do the workout for you. LOL
My mom has one of these!
As a personal trainer for 8+ years i was skeptical about what a shoe can do and i criticized my mom for buying a pair of shoes for 130$.
Boy i was wrong. first few days my mom complained about soreness all over her body. so i visited her. I’ve noticed two things different about her. one, better posture, two, she didnt complained “this is too much walking”.
on my way home, i stopped by the shoe store and got my self a pair.
ive immediately noticed posture improvements. the round bottom forces you to keep a proper posture for even weight distribution, any slouching will make you fall forward.
as soon as i started walking, there were more Glute/quad/calf activation compared to reg. walking.
my thoughts, something that you can incorporate with daily life style with out changing a thing other than your shoes… Thumbs up to the inventor
I’m always really cautious about doctor claims today unless they have significant research done on the matter.
Sadly even with research sometimes the results are not that conclusive anyways so it takes doing some extra research I’ve found to really find out the truth. These magical boots are a waste of money, and the docs probably charge ridic amounts of $$$.
While I haven’t actually purchased any of the shoes that you’re talking about, I have to admit that the marketing power of these products has me curious. My mother purchased a pair of sketchers that claim to work the legs while you walk. She says they’re comfortable, but she hasn’t mentioned anything about a significant increase in walking resistance.
These shoes may prove to be a good supplement to proper eating and exercise. Unfortunately, I think people are going to use these shoes as a short cut to getting healthier. You can’t eat a bucket of fried chicken, wear these shoes and expect to get in shape. It just doesn’t work like that.
Cliff, I have to agree with you on that one!
I’ve wondered whether these things work… I feel like I could wear uncomfortable wedges and achieve a similar result, lol. When paired with a healthy diet and exercise program, I do feel like they could provide good results though.
Jennifer Gardener
http://www.metabolismrush.com
Proven Weight Loss
Hype! That’s definitely that marketing strategy.
I going to have to go with Todd’s earlier reply. As a personal trainer myself I’m going to have to go with HYPE more than anything else. Yes, the shoes may stress a few more muscles in the lower extremities, but as for really making you lose weight, i don’t know about that…….You could not be burning that many more calories wearing these shoes than just a regular pair of walking or running shoes…… But hey, if it works for you, or at least you think it does, then stick with them…The whole fitness, weight loss thing is about 90% mental anyway…
I agree, advertising really has a lot of crap. Just to make more money, they tend to disillusion the public by getting down to health benefits and using that as key to selling the product, even if it’s not beneficial to the body at all.(Sigh!)