The Importance of Good Trainers
Whether your workout involves running, walking, sports or gym equipment, a decent sport shoe is a must!
Injury caused by inappropriate shoes can needlessly derail your fitness or weight loss attempt. Investing in a quality shoe can help you to prevent foot and ankle damage, and make your workout a more pleasant and comfortable experience.
Types of Shoe
A variety of sport shoes are on the market for every type of exercise.
Running shoes that have inbuilt shock absorbers are available for joggers, and lightweight walking shoes are available for walkers.
Aerobic shoes are lightweight and shock absorbing to prevent foot fatigue and to cushion the ball of the foot, which is put under pressure from aerobic exercise.
Tennis shoes have flexible soles to protect your feet from the quick side-to-side movements of tennis.
Thick-soled, high top basketball shoes provide extra protection against ankle and foot injuries caused by jumping.
Cross-training shoes are also available. These are suitable if you perform a number of sport or exercise types in your workout.
Choosing a Shoe
It is recommended if you perform a certain type of exercise three times a week or more, choose a corresponding sport shoe.
- Try on shoes in the afternoon or evening, or after your workout, as your feet are largest at these times.
- Try the shoes on with sports socks to ensure a good fit and stand up when trying the shoes to make sure they fit.
- Leave a half inch between your big toe and the tip of the shoe and make sure you can easily wiggle your toes.
- Bend the shoe to make sure it is not overly flexible as this can indicate a lack of support.
Benefits of a Proper Shoe Choosing a proper shoe can help to protect you against common injuries associated with your type of workout. Good shoes can lessen the impact of your step and cushion the foot from heavy landings. In addition, sport or exercise specific shoes can improve your performance, enabling, for example, quick direction changes.
Foot Injuries and Shoes
Improper workout footwear can cause a number of injuries. Besides the more obvious injuries, including ankle strains and fractures, bunions and corns, some other lesser known injuries are common. Metatarsalgia, a condition which presents as pain in the ball of the foot, can be worsened by poorly fitting footwear.
Replacing Your Shoes
Worn out sport shoes do not provide your feet with adequate protection during your workout. Running shoes should be replaced after every 350 to 500 miles. If you run 20 miles a week, this means you should replace your shoes every 20 to 25 weeks.
Do not judge the wear of your shoes from the treads on the bottom. Instead, check the mid-sole of the shoe that will show damage sooner.
5 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing Workout Shoes
1. Grabbing Whatever’s Handy!
The biggest mistake people make when they start running, jogging, or some other exercise program is just reaching into the cupboard and pulling out an old pair of trainers. An old pair of shoes may no longer have the support you need. And even more problematic, that pair of shoes might be inappropriate for the activity you choose.
2. Choosing the Right Shoe -- for the Wrong Workout
You need to choose the right type of shoe for the kind of workout you’ll be doing.A shoe made for running is very different from a shoe made for basketball or tennis.Running shoes have no lateral stability built into them because you don’t move your feet laterally when you run. You’re only going forward. A running shoe is built to give you support and stability as you move your foot through the running gait cycle.
Basketball and tennis shoes both need to be stabilized laterally, because you move your feet side to side a lot when playing these sports. You can’t build a running shoe that has lateral stability.
Even walking shoes differ from running shoes.
Runners land more on their forefoot, while walkers have a heavier heel strike.
So for running, you want a shoe that has more cushioning on the forefoot, while walking shoes should have stiffer rubber to support the heel.
Can’t you just get a good cross-trainer and use it for everything?
There’s no specificity to them - you can’t do any one thing well and most of them are not very good shoes for any particular activity.
Then again, some people aren’t heavily into running, hiking, tennis, or any one sport. They go to the gym occasionally, maybe play tennis with a work buddy once in a while, or shoot a few baskets with the kids. For them, a cross-trainer might be the best choice.
To choose a good cross-trainer look for:
- A firm heel
- Good support (you shouldn’t be able to bend the shoe too easily)
- Light weight (you don’t want to add a lot of pounds to your feet)
if you’re going to participate in a particular sport two to three times a week or more, you should choose a sport-specific shoe.
3. Loving Them Too Much
Your workout shoes should be your workout shoes and not your running-around-town shoes.You’ll break down a pair of shoes standing in them or wearing them to the shop and running errands much faster than when you’re running or exercising.
So, buy yourself a pair of casual trainers for running around town, and stow your good workout shoes in the closet as soon as you get home from your run or your tennis game.
4. Loving Them Too Long
Another big mistake many people make with sports shoes is not replacing them often enough. They think they should replace their workout shoes when they start looking bad. But shoes start to break down while they’re still looking good. The support -the reason you buy the shoe in the first place - is gone, and you’ll start feeling strange aches and pains in your knees, hip, and back. If you’re exercising on a casual basis, you can make your shoes last a year, but if you’re working out every day, 6 months is pretty much your limit. You should also have your shoe size rechecked every year, Foot size doesn’t stay the same; our feet tend to grow bigger as we age.
The staff there will do a real fitting, evaluate your foot, and take a history of your athletic activities and what shoes may have worked for you before
They’ll take three measurements - not just one - on the metal plate known as a Brannock Device that we’ve all seen in shoe stores.
You need to know not just length but also width and arch length.
All three of those numbers together determine what size you should wear and each shoe can be cut a little differently, and good staff will help you make the correct choice.