Types of CrossFit Shoes to Use When Working Out

One piece of fitness gear that is probably the most important equipment gear you can wear are your shoes, of course if you're running you probably need some sort of jogging shoe, if you're playing basketball then a basketball shoes is the obvious choice, playing tennis or some kind of court based game and you got it, court shoes! Football, Soccer, Baseball, Golfing and yet again they have shoes named exactly for their given sport.

So what exactly do you wear for CrossFit which takes many aspect from several sports, some running, some gymnastics, some weight lifting, and a bunch of a whole lot of other things...

To be honest there is no one shoe that is perfect for everything so in CrossFit we tend to come prepared with at least two pair of different styled shoes. One pair that's kind of good for basic lateral movements and one pair for heavy weight lifting. If a lot of running is involved it's a good idea to dawn some jogging shoes but usually our running session are basically sprints and so it's best to stick with the jack of all trade standard CrossFit shoe.

Yes there are now shoes made specifically for CrossFit, although they may not always be names "CrossFit Shoes". Basically a CrossFit specific shoe is fairly flat with little to no incline and very little cushion, the idea is to have a lot of flex from side to side, front to back and have the feeling of being almost barefoot but with just enough sole to absorb some of the impact. Why is this so important? Like a performance car, they have low profile tires so that the car will not lean to much from side to side in a corner, this gives the car better traction and the driver more feel of the road so more control and better performance.

The downside to CrossFit shoes is that they are not the best for any extended running or super high impact movements. They are also not ideal for heavy weight lifting although they are much better than a shoe with a thick cushion styled sole. I do use my CrossFit Shoes for deadlifts since barefoot is almost best when doing deadlifts and my CrossFit shoes have a very thin sole with no incline from front to back.

What you want for many power lifting styled exercises are Olympic weight lifting shoes. These shoes have a sole that is almost rigged with very little toe flex and almost zero cushion. Olympic power lifting shoes are low in the front and rise up in the back which gives exercises like squats and other floor to shoulder and overhead movements the correct foot angle for the most power and drive. The downside is that these shoes are pretty much useless for just about everything else ;)

I hope that helps you out a bit, I would recommend starting out with a good low profile and low or no-rise CrossFit shoe, when you start to get into the heavier weight lifting then you can "step up" to some Olympic weight lifting shoes to add to your CrossFit workout arsenal.