If you're still squatting and pulling in running shoes, punch yourself in the face.
Excellent squatting/lifting shoes, in ascending price order:
Chucks:
cheapest, most available, flat/hard sole, battle-proven and popular.
VS Athletics Weightlifting Shoe 1:
$45, on sale
VS Athletics Weightlifting Shoe 2:
$71
EDIT:
Inzer Pillar:
Just so you know it exists.
Some ludicrously expensive shoes from Titan
I know Metal makes a lifting shoe, but they're apparently sold out.
6 comments:
The Chucks and the weightlifing shoes are two completely different beasts. We should make the distinction.
The Chucks are a flat-soled shoe. This is similar to what METAL and Inzer make for their squatting shoes. This type of shoe is intended for wide-stance squatting, because ankle flexibility is not the constraining factor for depth in a wide-stance squat (hip mobility generally is).
Weightlifting shoes are intended, well, for weightlifting. They are made with a raised heel that is good for hitting depth in a narrow- to moderate-stance squat. (Even the most flexible weightlifters want this because they need to get as low as possible.) They work by effectively increasing ankle dorsiflexion, with the consequence of bringing the knees forward and making a more quad-dominant squat.
What you need to know is: heeled shoes are horrible for wide-stance squatting! They totally screw with your balance. Also, there's some data from Eric Talmant that showed he had more power when squatting without the heel (data from a tendo unit, with the same weight and stance). So if you have no problem with your form hitting depth in your current stance, there isn't much reason to go with the weightlifting shoes. But if you can try them for cheap, give it a shot! You might like them...I'm liking mine so far. (I have the VS 2 shoes.)
And obviously, this post is only discussing squatting shoes.
For bench, wear whatever the hell you want.
For deadlifting, wear the thinnest sole you can find (ballet slippers/wrestling shoes).
Inzer's shoe has a 1" heel on it, so it is not flat soled as Nathans suggests.
Yeah, the VS 1 shoes are roughly the same price as new chucks, so I'll probably pick up a pair and see how they feel for front squats and pulls.
@ Dave: Yeah, you're right. There was some other shoe in PLUSA that I thought was Inzer, I guess it was some other company.
@ Phil: Seems these would be bad pulling shoes, you'd basically be standing on a 1'' platform to deadlift. Also, Adidas and several other companies make oly shoes that are over $200.
Meh! Rippetoe always pulled better with a slight heel. Maybe it will work for me as well. Welcome to the joys of experimentation. At $45, I'm not going to cry if all I end up with are some decent medium-stance squat shoes.
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