Toning shoes are the latest development in exercise footwear - and they are becoming very popular. Which is hardly surprising really – after all, who wouldn’t want to be able to tone their legs and trim their butt just by pulling on a different pair of shoes? There’s a wide choice of different brands available. Most of them operate on the principle of introducing a small amount of instability whilst walking in them.
It sounds like a crazy idea – but the theory is that the wearer’s muscles will naturally respond to the instability by trying to regain balance, and thereby doing doing work. The additional work carried out by the muscles in the lower body has the effect of trimming your butt and toning your legs more efficiently than normal walking. What you get in effect is a workout for your lower body, with no need to visit the gym and without any expensive gym membership fees.
MBT shoes – Masai Barefoot Technology – were the first to appear. Strictly speaking they weren’t originally classed as toning shoes. They were targeted at people who wanted to relieve lower back pain, reduce stress on joints and improve posture. They have a specially designed sole which produces a gentle rolling motion when your foot lands on the ground. This is intended to simulate the motion of walking barefoot on soft sand. The sole is pretty thick and quite chunky and not everyone will find it aesthetically pleasing. They certainly aren’t cheap - but if they helped to ease your back pain or toned up your lower body, you may well think that it was money well spent.
Skechers Shape Ups shoes also make use of a thick, curved sole – which makes use of a special kinetic foam insert – to reproduce the sensation of walking barefoot on soft sand. These are also pretty chunky in appearance, but they look much more like conventional fitness footwear than the MBT range.
Fit Flops sandals, clogs and shoes were originally developed in the UK and are now available worldwide. They look nothing like a standard exercise shoe but they deliver all of the benefits as other toning shoes – again by using a specially designed sole which is thicker than a conventional flip flop sole and which introduces a very slight instability whilst walking. They cost quite a bit less than the other shoes and – important for many – there’s a wide selection of different colors and styles to choose from. They originally started life as a range of sandals - but slippers, clogs and boots were added to the range based upon customer feedback.
Reebok recently launched its own range of toning shoes – Reebok Easy Tones. This is slightly different from the other toning shoes insofar as it uses air pods built into the sole of the shoe to create instability rather than a specially shaped sole.
All of the manufacturers previously mentioned have independent test results which back up their assertions that their shoes can give you a lower body workout just by walking around as normal. Neither is there any shortage of very positive customer testimonials. It goes without saying that there are sceptics as well.
It does seem like a dream come true – pull on a different pair of shoes in the morning and get a free lower body workout just by walking around. But is it maybe just too good to be true? Maybe it isn’t actually that important. Some of these shoes are about the same price as normal training shoes – some are actually a little bit cheaper. You could just wait until you need a new pair of shoes anyway and then try them. If the chief improvement derived from toning shoes is to encourage the wearer to walk further, then that’s a worthwhile benefit in itself.
