Will toning shoes really give you a better body? NO.

And now there is science to prove it.

Toning shoes = PLACEBO

the true value of toning shoes (according to SCIENCE)

Let me preface by saying that any product that gets people off the couch and moving around is a good thing. Physical fitness, which has been proven over and over again to lead to a longer, happier, more healthy life, is worth almost any cost.

However.

Some products lead to more physical fitness than others. A working bicycle, a pair of running shoes that fits correctly, a gym membership *that gets used*–these products are well worth the money.

And now, as it turns out, one product that may not be worth the money are “toning shoes.” These are the shoes that we’ve all seen out on the streets recently, with the soles that are rounded and built up in the middle.

Some popular brands of these types of shoes include the MBT Masai, Skechers Shape-Ups and Reebok EasyTone.

These shoes supposedly firm your muscles and “give you more of a workout” (whatever that means) by altering your normal walking gait. The built-up soles reduce stability when walking, forcing you to recruit more muscles (and thus working harder) to achieve the same walking speed.

Many of these shoe companies, not surprisingly, cite studies that “prove” that their shoes work. However, even less surprisingly, these studies are not peer-reviewed (one of the most critical elements of a trustworthy scientific study) and many are of questionable design.

So, a team of scientists designed a pair of (peer-reviewed) studies to test the effectiveness of these shoes and evaluate their claims.

Their results can be viewed here.

The bottom line: the scientists found no statistically significant increase in either exercise response or muscle activation during any of the trials. The shoes did not provide any noticeable increase in fitness over traditional running shoes.

I encourage you to read the results of this study. The only flaws I can find with the study are the small sample size and the fact that they only used physically active women as their subjects. An ideal study would have used a much larger sample size, and controlled for the fitness levels of the subjects as well.

Again, any product that gets people moving is fundamentally a good thing. However, for the $ that these shoes cost, I believe that most people would be better served making an investment in some other product.

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25 comments to Will toning shoes really give you a better body? NO.

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