There’s no doubt that they can be an expensive item of equipment, but exercise shoes are one of the most important pieces of fitness equipment that you will have. It doesn’t matter what sport you play or what your fitness program is, you need a good pair of shoes in order to get the maximum enjoyment and health benefits from it. If your shoes are badly designed, or if they don’t fit you properly, then you could get blisters, fail to enjoy your activity and even increase the risk of sprains and other injuries.

Some sports do require very specialized types of shoes, but the large majority of people will be happy enough with tennis shoes or cross trainers for general exercise – such as walking and jogging for example. At the moment, new designs of exercise shoes are appearing on the market. These are primarily aimed at people who either already walk for exercise or who would like to walk for exercise but struggle to find time to fit it in. They seem to have sprung up from nowhere, but they’re now becoming so widespread that a new term has been coined for them – “toning shoes”.

The idea is that these shoes are designed in such a way as to increase the amount of work done by the muscles in the lower body whilst walking normally. There are a number of different manufacturers with their own offerings these days, and designs vary, but this is generally achieved by using a specially designed sole.

Many brands – such as Fit flops sandals, Skechers Shape Ups and Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) include a curved sole. This is intended to encourage a gentle rolling motion whenever the foot contacts the ground. This reduces any impact shock and is intended to reproduce the effect of walking barefoot on a soft, yielding surface such as sand or thick, lush grass.

The Easy Tones from Reebok are the latest offering available on the market and also use a specially designed sole. However, instead of using a curved sole, Easy Tones have air pods included which produce a small amount of imbalance. The idea is that the lower body muscle will try to compensate for this and regain balance. This means that extra work is being carried out and your lower body gets toned. Fitflops also use this principle as well as the curved sole, in the shape of something they have dubbed “microwobbleboard” technology.

Of the brands on the market Fitflops and MBTs look least like fitness footwear. This will be an attractive proposition for many people as the shoes are claimed to be capable of providing you with a “workout while you walk”. The suggestion is clearly that you will be able to tone your lower body by wearing the shoes whilst you go about your daily business. To be fair, MBTs are aimed more at people who might want to improve posture or reduce back and joint pain than those who wish to tone up and trim down.

The Skechers Shape Ups range does include some shoes which don’t look like fitness footwear. They have Mary Janes for example. The Reebok Easy Tones range is much more focused on the mainstream fitness and exercise market and look very much like what they are – high tech fitness footwear.

So, can you really get a “workout while you walk” just by wearing these new wonder shoes? Can you really tone and trim your lower body just by pulling on a different pair of shoes in the morning? It’s a very attractive prospect. There will be a lot of people who would dearly love to take more exercise but who find it hard to make the time for this in their daily schedule.

Opinions are divided at the moment. Needless to say, all of the manufacturers are keen to cite the results of independent scientific testing which validates the effectiveness of their products. There is certainly a lot of very positive feedback from satisfied users of this type of shoe. By the same token, a number of health specialists and doctors have expressed doubts over many of the claims being made.

These shoes sell for prices which are comparable with those of normal exercise shoes. The range of styles and colors available are extensive – so there should be something that is to your taste. Perhaps the next time you need a new pair of shoes anyway, you might want to consider trying a pair of toning shoes and finding out if they work for you.

 

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