Lifting Shoes experience/opinions

[Adam Gottstein]

Lifting shoes and the solid, stable platform they provide are a huge benefit to your lifts, and so they're strongly recommended. I'd go so far as to say mandatory, but squatting 170 at 76, you can do whatever you want. I hope I can say the same at that age.

[stef]

Aren't the special shoes just for really heavy weights??

Absolutely not.

Solid-soled shoes - ones that don't squish down or bend side to side - are very important for giving you a stable base of support that enables productive training. They make things far more efficient because they prevent wasting force, enable better balance, and allow each rep to be more precise. It's like bare feet to wearing flippers while swimming.


Your question gets things inverted: it's at low weights relative to a person's strength and facility with a movement pattern where shoes are less important. New lifters, lifters with any kind of balance/coordination deficits, lifters who are training - and thus pushing in to their abilities - are among those who benefit most. IOW, it's the strong guy with plenty of experience who cruises right along with light-medium work while wearing running shoes and no belt during the quick workout he gets in while traveling with his family.

Don't handicap your training with poor equipment.

[muellerd]

Lifting shoes and the solid, stable platform they provide are a huge benefit to your lifts, and so they're strongly recommended. I'd go so far as to say mandatory, but squatting 170 at 76, you can do whatever you want. I hope I can say the same at that age.

Thanks, you're too kind. I'll stay with my fairly stable sneaks for a bit. But the wl shoes are available at a pretty good price.

[neilc1]

buy the shoes,
you don't realize how much you think about your feet until you stop having to think about your feet because you bought and wear WL shoes.
instant stability.

[Skeg]

Thanks, you're too kind. I'll stay with my fairly stable sneaks for a bit. But the wl shoes are available at a pretty good price.

Muellard, don't know if you bought those shoes yet, but I just bought mine. I'm 65. In June when you were posting I was just hitting 160's in my squat, and over 200 in the dead. I was having a bit of discomfort in the arch of my left foot and I bought some Adidas Powerlift 4's. It makes a difference. Now I'm still a young man next to you, but old enough to say that us "adult" aged folks should treat our bodies well. The difference lifting in a lifting shoe is tangible.

[Mr. Bingley]

I've had a pair of inov8 fastlifts for 4 or 5 years. they make a huge difference on the squat, very stable. they're about 150 on amazon and worth every penny

[Adam Gottstein]

I ended up getting the Reebok Lifter PR on Amazon for about $150. I'm liking them so far, though don't like the plasticy material of the straps. Coming from leather straps, I can feel the day they tear off instead of tighten. That's the only complaint, so nothing really.

Thanks everyone for your opinions and experience. Hopefully someone else will find it helpful as well.

[k_kws]

Day one with my new pair of shoes was today: https://www.roguefitness.com/do-win-...c-lifter-black

These feel great. The two straps feel more secure than my last pair. And a non-EVA foam heel at under $130, which is what OP mentioned they were looking for. The stacked leather is solid, and I like how it looks which is a bonus. I can already tell these will last me a long time.
If anyone's looking into these, my Adidas Powerlift 3.1 size was 12. I ordered these at 11.5 and it fits perfect.

[Robert Santana]

I experimented with so many shoes my first 3 years of training and settled on the Asics 727 Tigers. Other than not liking the price tag and the gap between the heel and the sole I have yet to wear a better shoe from the standpoint of being able to effectively feel the middle of the foot. The slope on these newer commercially available shoes is awful and I found that I am either on my heels or on my toes in them, with the Nike Romaleos (2 and 3) being the worst of them. I'm looking forward to trying out the WL boot that White's has coming out because I anticipate those may in fact be better with the wedge vs the divided heel. Again, big price tag but when I factor in cost per use (these things last years even the Asics that I currently have) it's more than justified.

[LimieJosh]

Day one with my new pair of shoes was today: https://www.roguefitness.com/do-win-...c-lifter-black

These feel great. The two straps feel more secure than my last pair. And a non-EVA foam heel at under $130, which is what OP mentioned they were looking for. The stacked leather is solid, and I like how it looks which is a bonus. I can already tell these will last me a long time.
If anyone's looking into these, my Adidas Powerlift 3.1 size was 12. I ordered these at 11.5 and it fits perfect.

I liked them, but mine fell apart quite quickly. I had problems fairly quickly, and with minimil use, with the lace holes and the sole. It took a long time though until they degenerated enough that it altered their performance, but for a $100 shoe you use in such limited fashion I dont think that sort of damage should happen. Just be careful with them.