Squat Shoes

[Lukas Buschkuehl]

I've seen in your videos that both of you are using squat shoes. Is there a point in wearing them if I have very good ankle mobility?
I have been squatting barefoot or in socks for the last 4 years and I've competed four times that way (PR is 225kg at 105kg bodyweight). Since I squat lowbar and have good ankle mobility I never had any problems reaching depth, lower back rounding, "buttwink" or anything like that. Would I potentially benefit from using squat shoes and if so, why?
Thank you in advance!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Lukas,

Thanks for the message. To answer your questions, yes we would recommend using a squat shoe because it has a solid, non collapsible or squishy base to push from, a metatarsal strap to make sure your arch doesn't collapse, etc. It doesn't increase ankle ROM, so- that wouldn't be a reason we recommend them.

[Lukas Buschkuehl]

I see. Thank you for your reply! I'm not sure I entirely understand the purpose of the elevated heel yet. If its purpose is not to support a lifter with limited ankle mobility, does it improve leverage in the squat?

[Acamp76144]

Bump above

If you are already squatting in a ‘minimal’ shoes with a solid base and don’t have any mobility issues is there any reason to use Olympic lifting shoes?

[Austin Baraki]

There really aren't any "minimal" shoes that have a solid base comparable to that of a true weightlifting shoe, or with the metatarsal strap support either. With that said, people have squatted extremely heavy weights without wearing weightlifting shoes, so you are welcome to experiment and see what you think. Our general recommendation continues to be that people should use weightlifting shoes.