The weight of a shoe or boot isn’t generally a consideration when choosing footwear but should be. Someone even had the idea of combining ankle weight with the shoe to give the benefit of increased resistance during every step of exercise. However, ankle weights should not be used in that way and neither should heavy shoes.

The problem with heavy shoes comes with when and how you use them. Strength training and aerobic training are very different but a heavy shoe combines both. Strength training puts a lot of strain on your body which is why you limit repetitions. Would you do 3000 ankle lifts? Of course not but when you walk in heavy shoes that’s what’s happening. The body is not designed for the additional stress and can easily develop repetitive strain injuries as a result. To make matters worse, heavy shoes localize the weight near the bottom of your foot. That puts the weight on the end of the longest lever of the body, meaning you have to exert even more force. More force equals more strain.

Lastly, how many of us end the day with lots of energy? Not many, most likely. As you get fatigued you start dragging your feet which means you are not completely controlling your joints from your hips to your ankles with your muscles. Without your muscles controlling the motion at your joints, that extra weight is free to pull and hyper-extend your tendons and ligaments, causing even more trauma to your body.

So when you’re out shopping for your winter boots and exercise footwear, keep in mind how far you’ll be walking, running, jogging or hiking in them before you take them home.

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