Buy New Shoes!! Who doesn’t love that piece of advice? I want to share with you some tips and some things to consider about when it comes to your workout shoes.
Workout shoes are so important. If you can’t remember the last time you swapped out your fitness shoes, it’s been too long.
The type of workout that you do will depend on the type of shoe that you wear. If you’re primarily a runner, you will wear a different type of shoe than someone who, for example, is a walker or someone who is lifting weights, or someone who’s doing a lot of cardio kickboxing, or body pump type of workouts in the gym.
Another thing to consider is fit. It’s important that you leave about a half an inch gap from the toe of your foot to the end of the shoe. I made a big mistake when I was training for a marathon a couple years ago and I bought the same size workout shoes of shoes that I normally wear, which is a nine, so I bought workout shoes in a nine. I trained for a marathon in a size nine and wondered why my feet were killing me. It turns out I should have had a size nine and a half.
Regarding fit, when you go buy your try to avoid buying on line—especially if you haven’t bought shoes in awhile. Go to a store, go to a running store, a workout, a Dick’s Sporting Goods, wherever you buy athletic gear. Try them on, walk around in them. Most stores will have treadmills there that you can run on them to test them out. You can ask the sales people to watch you and watch your gait, and watch what you’re doing, and they’ll provide suggestions as well.
Don’t assume that your shoe size, stays the same year after year. Every couple of years or so, go and get your feet sized—just to be sure.
How often should you replace your shoes? Depending on your activity, if you’re running every day, you’ll need to replace your shoes a lot more frequently than someone who is primarily a weight lifter, for example.
A general rule of thumb is every four to 600 miles, generally about every four to six months is when you should be replacing your shoes. If you don’t remember, you can trust that your body will tell you it’s time for new shoes. For me, I felt it in my shins, in my feet, the bottom of my feet. When you buy your new shoes, get a sharpie and mark the date in the tongue of your shoe so you can look at it and you’ll know it’s time to get a new pair of shoes.
Another thing to consider if you struggle with knee pain or hip pain is the fact that a workout shoe on its own may not be enough for you. You may need to get insoles as well to give yourself that added cushion. Take care of your feet. They carry our body weight. They do a lot for us. Investing in good workout shoes is so important.
Go buy yourself some new shoes if you can’t remember the last time. It’s motivating too, to get new workout shoes—and who doesn’t love a new pair of shoes? Treat your body, yourself, right.
