Drs Baraki and Feigenbaum,
I was wondering if you could, sometime, address the topic of lifting shoes during one of your Q&A podcasts; that is, in a way that gets into the details of shoe design and how they work bio-mechnically with the human body? In my little circle of local lifting friends it has been a hot topic with some, to say the least, interesting statements I’ve looked at the SS Forums, read what has been said in SSBBT and the articles on the site, but those tend to address the topic very generally; maybe that’s all that can be said, but I think there is more to it than that. I’m still fairly new to weight training and most certainly not a scientist , coach, or a trained medical professional, and therefore I defer to the accumulated knowledge and subsequent recommendations of those who know more, and thus I do wear olympic lifting shoes. However, I think that a lot of the reason people don’t buy (metaphorically and literally) the argument is that it does seem to come across as more anecdotal than factual (which is the actual basis for their arguments, but they fail to acknowledge that).
So below are my questions or statements based off the arguments I’ve heard from others as well as questions I’ve had myself.
Regarding what type of shoe to use in general:
- "Why should we wear shoes for powerlifting and strength training that are designated as olympic lifting shoes? Aren’t they designed for the olympic movements and therefore not necessary for the stationary movements that powerlifters perform, so why spend the money on them? Won’t any shoe do when lifting? -or- “All the best lifters don’t use Oly style shoes, rather they use Chucks (or similar shoe) or bare feet. So shouldn’t we do the same?”
- “Oly shoes have a raised heel and put you too far on your toes.”
- “If you deadlift in Oly shoes, it’s really a deficit deadlift.”
- “Performance increase in lifting shoes is all in the head. They actually make no difference in reality.”
- “It’s not a big deal, what’s the worse that can happen?” Questions regarding shoes in detail when you accept the Olympic Shoe argument:
- How do you determine which heel height is the best for an individual lifter? How do you know you purchased the wrong shoe?
- How should the shoe fit? Is it different than an “everyday” shoe?
- I notice that you both pull in what appear to be wrestling shoes (I may be wrong), but SSBBT seems to advocate lifting shoes for all the lifts, at least for the NLP. Is that a correct statement? If so when should you transition to flats or bare feet and what is an appropriate flat for pulling?
- What should you be looking for in a shoe? What are the necessary design features?
- What should people who have orthotics do? Are they necessary to use in a shoe that has no or very little compressibility?
I am sure that this needs to be refined and that there are arguments and questions missing. Maybe I’ve worded the question(s) poorly and they need to be reframed (you’ll let me know!). Again, I own a couple of good pairs of lifting shoes, but I want to win the argument with overwhelming evidence, or at least shut people up so they stop giving bad advice to new and ignorant lifters. Or, perhaps, I’m just getting my panties in a bunch for nothing at all, but I hate being wrong.