How Your Shoes Can Make or Break Your Fitness Goals

Ever wondered why your feet are super sore after a run? Or why your knee is doing that weird thing again? Or why you’re not hitting the fitness goals you set for yourself because of injury setbacks?

Your shoes could hold the answer to all these questions.

Just like there are different types of clothes for different occasions, there are a range of shoes that are the best (and worst) fit for the type of exercise you’re undertaking.

The ranges of running shoes have everything from extra cushioning and shock absorption, to types that are designed to feel like you’re barefoot. Then you have hiking shoes for uneven surfaces, walking shoes that provide extra support in the arch, and cross trainers to take you from exercise A to exercise B.

Put simply, there are a lot of different shoes for a lot of different exercise types, and for good reason!

Are your shoes offering enough stability?

Lots of exercises call for varying levels of stability. If you play a sport that involves a lot of jumping and landing, sharp pivoting or sudden changes in direction, then high stability and ankle support is an essential for your shoes.

On the flipside, running shoes tend to preference extra cushioning and shock absorption over high levels of stability.

Wearing your running shoes to your sports game could mean the difference between landing that shot or spraining an ankle!

Are your shoes the right size?

Ill-fitting shoes can be the cause of many injuries and discomforts that affect your performance during exercise. If your shoes are too small, you will bunch your toes up which can cause grazing, bruising, and over long periods, a condition called ‘Hammer Toe’ where your large toe curls downward instead of straight forward.

If your shoes are too large, your feet will lose stability and muscles and tendons will become overworked and overstretched, leading to pain during and after exercise, and in more serious cases, stress fractures and plantar fasciitis.

Are your shoes too worn?

A lot of us have a favourite pair of exercise shoes that we’ve worn for years and have probably smelt better. The problem with using those old reliable shoes is that after a certain amount of mileage, they become ineffective and can cause more harm than good.

Worn out shoes lose a lot of their cushioning, grip, and general integrity over long term use which can mean a complete imbalance of your weight shifting while you exercise, and no adequate support for your feet.

Look at replacing your shoes every 6-12 months depending on your level of activity.

The best way to ensure you’re wearing the right shoes for the right exercises is to speak to a professional who can match your shoes to your foot type, exercise type, and overall support needs tailored to your feet to get the best out of your body.

Jane & Terry

How Strength Training Helps an Ageing Body

Getting older is a natural part of life that a lot of people actively try to avoid, because ageing is often associated with frailty, dependence, and health problems.

While it’s true that our bodies naturally start losing muscle mass once we hit the 30-year mark (generally at a rate of 5% per decade), this isn’t a concrete jail sentence for our health.

Lifting weights:

You don’t have to lift Olympic-sized weights and become a professional body builder to keep up your muscle mass as you age (Although, you absolutely can if you like!)

Having a set of dumbbells, a kettle bell, or any other weight-based equipment around the house is an easy way to encourage you to lift weight on a regular basis.

Lifting weights and other strength training exercises works by triggering micro tears in the targeted muscles, that then rebuild and increase in size. By regularly doing strength exercises, you can actively combat the rate of muscle degeneration and reduce the risk of frailty or related injuries and illnesses as you get older.

Increasing energy & fitness levels:

Ageing doesn’t mean we stop doing our day-to-day activities and chores such as carrying shopping, cleaning, or even maintaining a physical job.

Strength training helps to increase your fitness levels as well as build your muscle capabilities, allowing you to keep up with life regardless of age. The better your fitness levels, the more energy you’ll have to do all the things you want and need to do.

Burning fat and keeping weight-related illness away:

Strength training burns fat at an impressive rate, helping to keep those creeping calories from affecting an ageing waistline and risk of weight-related illnesses such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

As we age, it can become a lot more difficult to keep our bodies lean and even lose weight. This can be caused by a lot of factors, some including the decrease in lean muscle mass making it harder for the body to burn higher amounts of calories, as well as lowering your metabolism.

Improving your self esteem:

As you start to see results from strength training and feel more energised to face the day, you may find your self esteem has been elevated. Higher self-esteem can help to combat mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, as well as reducing your cortisol levels (the stress hormone) linked to weight gain, mental health disorders, and high blood pressure.

The best perk about strength training, is that it’s never too late to start!

Jane & Terry x