Running shoes are designed for running and weightlifting shoes are designed for…well you can finish the sentence. Then why do so many people lift at the gym with running shoes?
Here is what a power clean looks like in slo-mo wearing spongy, cushy running shoes.
Now here is what a power clean looks like wearing a pair of weightlifting shoes.
For contrast, go back and look at the squishy running shoes again.
If you were a runner, you wouldn’t think twice about going out and getting a pair of running shoes, in fact several throughout the course of a year, would you? Well, if weightlifting is your thing, what is holding you back from getting proper footwear for your sport?
MarkFu’s Blue Suede Do-Wins
You can get a nice comparison of the most popular weightlifting shoes and decide for yourself and read Mark Rippetoe’s comments about the advantages of weightlifting shoes in general.
Adidas has long been the pre-eminent weightlifting shoe around the world and for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing but this year Nike has a shoe in the competition, the Nike Romaleos and you will see Team USA, Team China and Team Ukraine wearing them. At the moment, they are unavailable to the rest of us.
