Wearing a new pair of kicks (sneakers/ trainers) has almost always brought me happiness until they get scuffed up. You can’t buy a new pair and have them mashup within days, not cool. Most of us have those everyday trainers; your go-to daily run around kicks, those beat down comfy as anything trainers. But when it comes to getting your exercise in, with specific goals in mind you may want to trade those slides in for some real workout ready lace-ups.
Wearing trainers in accordance to your training goals will help you to reach your goals in a more comfortable fashion since wearing the wrong thing can increase your chance of injury. So what should you be wearing? Well, name brands are all sweat – I mean sweet – but they will not make you run all that much faster; if you’re fast you’re fast, and if you catch an extra second of air due to your trainers then good for you but in reality, the work is all you.
Trainers are first and foremost a form of protection for your feet from the elements so with that being said you should pick your exercise gear/trainers well; for protection, comfort, grip, durability and so on, before style. In this post I’m going to talk about the kind of thing I rock in the gym and on the road although I don’t run much – that’s about to change though. So let’s start with flats as my wife calls them.
Flats would be those close to the pavement, feel the road when you walk kicks and I’d say Converse Allstars are the prime example. These are ideal for Leg Day in the gym, doing squats, deadlifts and leg presses because your foot is fully and all the way connected to the ground, heels and balls of your feet. Some people will decide to take their kicks off on squats which gives them an even greater connection to the ground but you’ll be missing some grip and foot protection if you should so, unfortunately, mash yourself up.
Running shoes come in so many forms and a lot of ‘running shoes’ are just for show, designed for street wear rather than 5/10k running. Asics Tiger Gel-Kayano 25X are what I’d call running shoes and the bright colours they come in will help you in being seen on the road on a dark January morning session. Running shoes need to be sturdy so you don’t worry about your heels and ankles but they also need a good level of flexibility just below your laces for flexing the foot. The best thing you can do is try a couple of boxes in a shop that has good knowledge of running like Runners Need.
In reality, these are the only kinds of trainers you will ever really need when you’re exercising, style it up however you like. You can buy weight-lifting shoes which are along the same line as wearing flat trainers but you’d be unlikely to sport squat specific trainers to the supermarket. Running trainers or flat base trainers can also be worn while doing fast ballistic type movements, box jumps in a pair of stan smiths shouldn’t be an issue.
If money is an issue to your exercise you can rock plimsolls in the gym, I don’t care, just get the work in and give your body its due right to care and exercise.
Criterion Fit 