Shoes... Do They Really Matter

Let's be crystal clear here. Shoes that are proven to work for specific sports like football cleats, track spikes, throwing shoes. These shoes do matter for the sport specific athlete. However for the purposes of this article we are going to go over a strength athlete mainly powerlifting, but also strongman.

There are so many to choose from. Heeled, flat soled, toe shoes, deadlift slippers, hiking boots, skate shoes and the list goes on and on. However does it really matter? As a powerlifter I spent most of my career squatting in a flat soled shoe and have lifted in a heeled shoe as well. I have had success in both shoes and have not had and negative effects from either.

Now you're probably expecting me to simply say try both and use which one feels best. And well its true. Try different shoes out, find which ones your comfortable in and stick with them.

There are only a few guidelines to follow when choosing a shoe for powerlifting.

1.Is the sole solid? It is important to have a solid sole, we do not need any loss of power because a your bouncing off of a soft soled shoe like a running show or something of the sort.

Is there enough support on the heel? Does the heel have a nice and tight feel to it? this is important for squatting. We do not need our heels rocking back and forth in the bottom or throughout the squat.

2.If you choose a heel, make sure that the heel is absolutely no more that 1" in height! I would recommend 3/4" heel only because if the heel is to high you are putting an extremely unnecessary amount of stress on the patella and the surrounding tendon.

3.Grippy sole. We do not want to have a sole that slips and slides on and type of surface. Make sure the there is no way in which any kind of slipping can occur, this could lead to some unfortunate situations such as injury.

4.If you decide to go flat soled. especially in the deadlift make sure the sole is as shallow as possible. We do not need to be a full extra inch off the floor because the sole of our shoes is to thick.

Again choosing between a flat sole, a heel, a toe shoe is a completely personal decision and only coaches can make suggestions as to what may or may not improves the athletes quality of lifting.

Now strongman is a totally different animal. There are so many different events and different shoes athletes wear. Lets break it down into types of events and what shoes can possibly work.

Loading

Flat sole

Best for a taller athlete so it may give some advantage on the picking up of the object since the platform height shouldn't be an issue.

Hiking boots

Hiking boots may add a few inches to a shorter lifting to help with the loading of the object onto the platform

Pressing

Heeled shoe

During pressing events a heel can help the athlete lean back and have a more staple base to press from.

Flat shoe

Flat shoes can help make a staple base to press from.

Carry

Running shoe

Since there is alot of moving in a carry even it may benefit to use a running or walking shoe

Pulling events

Flat sole

Having a flat sole during a deadlift as well as the arm over arm pull

Rock climbing shoe

During a dragging style event it is important to have an extreme amount grip on the surface.

conclusion

These are just suggestions and ideas to some of the event categories and there are many different types of shoe any one can use. The style and type of shoe in both strongman and powerlifting are extremely personal and it is the job of the athlete to experiment with different styles and different brands. Did this answer the question to if shoes really matter? Probably not, however that's the point. Shoes do matter however the type and style do not, it only matters to the athlete!