Shoes

[Christine]

Not sure if anyone else is looking at new shoes since we are outta the blue room, but I am. Got a little caught off guard by my search for shoes when I found all these articles about POSE running. Oh dear! I just wanted to buy a good pair of shoes to cover the broad range of exercises that crossfitters do.

I haven't totally decided yet, but this one blog post seemed very helpful

http://foundationfitness.blogspot.com/2008/10/shoes.html

Curious what others are doing, if anything...

[Gar]

I asked Jerry this question. His answer was Nike Free. He then pointed out that Mike had them on. Today Keturah had them and Karen had just got some.

[Blain Rethmeier]

Great post Christine. I'm going to City Sports on my lunch break to see what they have in stock. But, for most of the first week and the new facility, I sported my socks and it wasn't too bad.

[Christine]

I hear you Blain. I keep kicking off my shoes, although today was pretty good wearing a pair of old cross trainers.

I'm going to check out Pacers and Potomac River Running. Both my kids have had good luck at these stores.

I have a wide toe box and have never found a Nike shoe that I could stay friends with for more than 10 minutes. Not sure if the Frees will be much better. Saucony has been good to me, but I don't know that their Grid Trainers are going to be minimalist enough.

One other place I may look is Art Stone... a dance supply company in Fairfax off Nutley. They have a very broad range of shoes to cover the jazz, hip-hop and modern genres and might have something that might cover some of the stability issues while allowing more "feel of the earth".

[Stuart Roy]

Glad you posted this. I need new CrossFit shoes as well. Additionally, if you are interested in weightlifting shoes for strength days especially squats, sq cleans, snatches, etc. here are two links for those. I just bought a pair of the adiStar weightlifting shoes and can't wait till they get here!

http://www.pendlaybarbell.com/shoes.html

http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/products/shoesFR.html

The do-wins seem to be pretty popular with the CrossFitters on the message board.

Thanks.

Sr

[Christine]

I think I may stay a two pair girl too Stuart. Definitely something for those days that are run free and then maybe something else. I did see a pair of Salomon trail running shoes that had a speed lace type tie to them that I thought I could even live with to transition on those lift and run days. Changing shoes does kill the time, but I've only got one set of knees. Alot of this may go away for me down the road, but I still have about 25lbs I would like to shed and the female frame that drives all that toward the knees.

[Harold]

I was thinking about o-lifting shoes, but wonder if others are going to buy them? The problem with those is that on days we are doing met-con that involves an o-lift and say, running, the transition could be tough.

[Stuart Roy]

I agree, Harold. I'm thinking they will come in handy on pure strength days or when the met con is sq cleans, front sq matched with pull ups or dips rather than a run day.

Plus they just look cool or at least make it look like you know what you're doing. Kinda like golf.

Sr

[Blain Rethmeier]

For those of you who work downtown, Citysports has some great sales right now. Three of the shoes marked down are different Nike free versions ... I just got a pair for $42. I'll be sporting them during Sunday's Gracie challenge if you want to check them out. They are the Nike Free Dynamic TR Men's Training Shoe if you feel like doing a little google.

Hope it helps ... but it never worked for golf.

[Jerry Hill]

Chuck Taylors are cheap lifting shoes if you are unsure about O-shoes.
The don't have a heel like O-shoes do though...
The do have a hard sole!

[Mike Snyder]

I got a pair of chucks for lifting days as well as a pair of vans skateboarding shoes. brian mackenzie from the pose vids recommends skateboarding shoes for pose and weights transition days.

[Adam]

I'm trying out a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, not sure how good they'll work as a lifting shoe, but they are fantastic for working your calves and arch muscles. They also force you to work your toes for balance, really get a good feel for the ground.

[Adam]

How do they fit through the toe box? Heel? Arch?

Obviously, the VFF's are unlike anything else, the toe pockets are very comfortable for my feet, but they say if your toe next to your big toe is longer than your big toe they won't fit.
There is absolutely NO heel cushion or arch support, which is what makes them so great. This forces you to really engage all of your feet/toe/ankle muscles. Landing off the pull up bars can hurt the heel if you don't land on your midfoot or the balls of you feet. Running on the pavement can also be tough in the beginning, but when you run on the section between the sidewalk and road, or in the park, it's awesome. Definitely start slow with these, as the transition can be really tough if you bite off more than you can chew.

...These also garner a lot of attention, lots of stares. Guess some people just can't handle Italian fashion. :)

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/