Does it make sense to buy weightlifting shoes when I train for health? I’m doing General Strength & Conditioning II.
If so, how do I choose the best weightlifting shoes for me?
We’re often asked whether training with weightlifting shoes leads to a better training outcome, and which weightlifting shoes we recommend. Our professional opinion is that what’s on your feet doesn’t matter much compared to factors like programming, nutrition, sleep, and your individual response to exercise.
Footwear during exercise is mostly personal preference, though specialized activities may benefit from task-specific shoes, e.g. running and cycling. Squats and the Olympic lifts are probably the best use cases for a true weightlifting shoe. You definitely don’t need the shoes to get maximum results from training, but many people prefer them like we do.
There are many solid options to choose from. I do not like the Reebok Legacy Lifter 3 (with the pumps) or the Nike Romaleos 4’s. Instead, my personal recommendation would be the TYR shoes, Nike Romaleos II’s, Reebok Legacy Lifter II’s, or Adidas Adipower 3’s.
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Great answer as always, thanks a lot!
For which exercises do you not use weightlifting shoes? And which shoes do you wear?
I think weightlifting shoes are best used on the following lifts:
- squats and squat-type movements
- Olympic lifts and variants
- Overhead press (personal preference)
- bench press if a competitive powerlifter in a federation that requires flat feet in competition
I think they are poor choices to wear for deadlifts (outside of Olympic weightlifting) or for exercises wear the foot has to do a lot of bending, e.g. lunges, split squats, and similar.
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Which shoes would you recommend for deadlift, lunges, bent over row, box step ups etc.?
Maybe some zero drop barefoot shoes?
I think some regular crosstrainers would be fine for this application. I believe you said you came from a CrossFit background. Shoes in that space are pretty good in my opinion. I personally use/like the Nano X, but there are other options of course.
I do not think barefoot shoes are good for training. I think their best use case is for deadlifts in people who prefer the feel of a barefoot deadlift.
out of curiosity, what do you dislike about the Reebok Legacy Lifter III and what do you prefer about the others? I ask because I’ve always had problems finding weightlifting shoes with a wide enough toe box for my neanderthal feet. I recently got a pair of legacy lifter IIIs, and don’t love them but I heard they have a relatively wide toe box compared to some others.
@BatmanDK
I recently got the UA tribase reign 6 for general gym use including deadlifts. I like them, very solid imo. They are officially a CrossFit shoe. They have 2mm drop. When you remove the insoles they have zero drop.
out of curiosity, what do you dislike about the Reebok Legacy Lifter III and what do you prefer about the others? I ask because I’ve always had problems finding weightlifting shoes with a wide enough toe box for my neanderthal feet. I recently got a pair of legacy lifter IIIs, and don’t love them but I heard they have a relatively wide toe box compared to some others.
Mostly the pumps. The TYR has an even wider toe box as far as I can tell than the Reebok Legacy II’s. I loved the II’s, save for the durability of the metatarsal straps.
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