Part 1 - How do we pick the right exercise shoe?
The truth about three common athletic shoe myths—and what makes a good running or workout shoe.
The roller coaster of exercise shoe trends
Athletic shoes get caught up in trends. The good part of these trends is that they allow us to experiment and find what does or doesn’t work for us. The bad part: injury is how we often find what doesn’t work for us.
Shoes emerged at least 150,000 years ago. For most of time, they were basic foot wraps made of leather or bark. Shoes have evolved slowly. Even just ~70 years ago, Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile in shoes that resembled loafers with spikes on the bottom.
‘The jogging (shoe) boom’
In the 1970’s, jogging became the fad. Nike and other brands began creating shoes with more support and cushion between the runner and the road. Tons of new runners joined the trend. The shoes worked great for many of those people, while others seemed to get injured.
Injured runners and popular publications started blaming running injuries on running shoes and their cushioning. But the running injuries probably had less to do with the shoes and more to do with the running itself.
Benno Nigg— a top biomechanist who has studied athletic shoes and sports injuries since the late 1970s—estimates that 80 percent of running injuries are due to bad training. The main culprit: Too many miles too soon.
‘The minimalist shoe boom’
So, the running community began making an argument that people were born to run barefoot or in thin leather moccasins or sandals. Cushioning and support wasn’t natural, and was causing injuries. In turn, the shoe industry over-corrected. More people began running in minimalist shoes. These shoes had flat soles and mimicked wearing no shoes at all.
Once again, the shoes worked great for many people while others got injured…probably not due to the shoes.
‘The maximalist shoe boom’
The industry overcorrected again and we got “maximalist” shoes. These put a thick layer of foam between the runner and the road or trail.
The brand Hoka, for example, was a pioneer in the maximalist shoe trend. They were founded in 2009 and now brings in $1.4 billion in revenue. The maximalist shoes work great for some and not others.
Let’s not forget about training shoes - shoes you’d use for a weights-based gym or circuit workouts. Until the late 1980s, many lifters wore whatever they had in the closet—Keds, Vans, Chuck Taylors, or just socks. The first cross-training shoe dropped in the late 1980s. Like running shoes, these shoes morphed in line with running-shoe trends—going from something in the middle to minimalist.
Trends: The good and bad
The upside of trends is that we can experiment and learn what works for us as we get swept up in them.
The downside of trends, especially fitness trends, is that we also learn what doesn’t work for us - and a lot of times that learning process can come through pain and injury.
Let’s assume the “too much too soon” phenomenon is correct and that Breno Nigg’s assessment that 80 percent of injuries are due to bad training.
This means:
We can likely avoid 80 percent of injuries if we ease into exercise.
We have another 20 percent we can control by picking smart shoes.
