Make sure you find the right pair of weight lifting shoes

Choosing the right footwear is probably the most crucial decision you will make with regards to your gym attire. In the areas of safety, stability and comfort the shoes you wear will have the greatest impact on your time at the gym.

Other than covering up your naked butt the rest of your attire doesn’t play all too critical or functional of a purpose but the shoes you wear will play a very critical and functional role.

Let’s start with why good gym shoes are important.

The primary reason is safety.

I had a terrible experience at the in house gym where I work.

The SMITH Machine I was doing squats on was not bolted to the ground!

With 6 45 lb plates on a 50 lb bar resting on my shoulders and about half way down for my first squat the entire rack tipped forward towards me, lifting the back of the SMITH machine about 4 or 5 inches off the ground throwing me completely off balance.

Fortunately, because of fast reflexes, not being tired yet because it was my first rep and because I was wearing my very supportive work boots I was able to regain my balance and push the SMITH machine back to balance as well. I walked away with a slightly pulled groin muscle but obviously it could have been violently worse.

I know that my foot wear was not the only factor in recovering my balance but I believe that it helped a lot.

The primary reason choosing proper footwear for the gym is that it makes up part of a safety net of proper support to help prevent injury. You will not meet your physical goals in the gym if you are at home injured.

Proper footwear will help to prevent injury by providing the proper support you need while training.

Now, no doubt just like any other product or industry in the world there are high quality products that live up to the claims and advertising of the company and there are useless products that only prove their companies advertising and claims to be bull crap.

We want to give you some basic tips for finding the right pair of weight training shoes.

Just like every other sport or exercise in the world (eg. soccer, baseball, football, golf, rugby, tennis, sprinting, running etc.) there are shoes specifically designed for weight training in the gym.

Our first recommendation is using the right shoe for the job.

A weight lifting shoe should fit snugly on your whole foot and ankle. Most will lace from above the ankle right down to the toe to create a snug fit throughout the entire ankle and foot for all foot widths.

There should be an added adjustable strap at both the ankle and metatarsal area of the foot for added ankle support and lateral support. The sole should be non-compressible as you can’t achieve perfect balance on an imperfect spongy foundation.

The tread should be made of neoprene or crepe to provide maximum grip on the surface of the floor of the gym.

Personal comfort will be important too. Be sure to shop around and find something that works for you.

We would strongly recommend that you make fashion your very last priority when shopping for a lifting shoe.

Fact is, proper support is essential to proper form and proper form is essential to effective training and effective training is essential to maximizing benefit.

Proper support and proper form are the primary ways injury is prevented. Injury is obviously a major hindrance to achieving maximum benefits.

The logic is inescapable. Get yourself some weight training shoes and start lifting like a pro.

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