Thanks, Frank. It's not carpet, and there are no mats inside the rack. I'm having a hard time describing the flooring. Kind of a bumpy, thick, linoleum. The Chucks worked fine if I wiped them off with a damp rag. I'm a little worried that I might forget to wipe them off. I'll probably just keep squatting in the Do-Wins. There's actually a big Converse outlet near my house, and I might look to see if the sole is different on regular Chucks.
have seen yet another brand of lifting shoes, which seem to be originally German. Stupidly enough, I've forgotten to write down the actual name.. seemed to be Allianz. Quite a bit cheaper than the Adistar shoes and more importantly, with a softer upper sole... and a higher heel.
I've been looking into having the heel raised of the adistar shoe I'm having but don't know how much extra heel is needed.
Anyone who's done it and knows what is recommended?
I'm thinking to raise it by about half the height of a 1.25kg disk (for narrow cuffs) that seems to be about 2cm .. so that'd be a 1 cm (or 10mm or 0.4 inch) raise. Does that sound right?
Thought today's t-nation was relevant to this discussion. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...o_get_stronger
But I'm completely biased since I've already been doing vibrams for the last 4-5 months. Contrary to what they say, I found lunges and step-ups to be easier with vibrams than normal shoes because I'm able to 'grip' the ground and gain better balance.
I've been reading and googling, and I'm leaning toward Risto shoes for myself... does anyone have these, and if so, what do you think of them, and how does the sizing run?
My new weightlifting shoes from Pallini (China , same as Do-Win)
It's got a higher heel than my current Adidas (German) lifting shoes, so ATF squats should be easier this way.
Silly noob question, but for someone who is NOT doing olympic or PL lifts, but just doing "general fitness" deadlifts and squats, is the raised heel of a shoe still preferable?
It would depend on your flexibility. If you are patient enough to work at flexibility when you are already having a hard time going to a parallel squat, nevermind an ATF (or ass-to-grass) squat, then you have to do mobility/flexibility drills to get there. It is possible to speed up things by placing a small disks under the heels (for static exercises where you don't 'jump' around) or buy a shoe with a higher heel.
For Olympic lifting there's the requirement to go really low and many just lack the flexibility to get there, no matter how much they practice on it.
The shoes really do have additional benefits, but considering how hard it is to even find them (I had to drive close to 100 miles to pick up a pair, which is pretty unusual in the densely populated area where I live, NLs), you're just as well off with regular good gym shoes.
There are disadvantages to the Oly shoes as well.. in them being stiffer, which means I have to think about carrying another pair if I want to do cardio afterwards (treadmill, elliptical) which requires a shoe w a more flexible sole.
Silly noob question, but for someone who is NOT doing olympic or PL lifts, but just doing "general fitness" deadlifts and squats, is the raised heel of a shoe still preferable?
The raised heel is good for squats if you have problems getting to a proper depth as the Espi noted. A lot of people have ankle flexibility problems, which makes them raise their heel off the floor or round their back at the bottom. Even if you have good flexibility (I can do an ATG squat with bare feet, for example, as long as I'm not using too much weight), the raised heel still makes it more comfortable at the bottom.
I find that they are less good for deadlifting since the heel makes you shift your weight forward and onto your quadas when you really should be using your posterior chain to pull. Some respected trainers endorse it, though, so your mileage may vary. I usually deadlift in socks only, which may skew my view a bit.
The raised heel is good for squats if you have problems getting to a proper depth as the Espi noted.
Okay, after my first couple noobish attempts at squats, flexibility isn't an issue, just strength and technique. We'll find out about deadlifts in a few hours.
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