What you wear on your feet affect your training!

As most of you know I have mentioned training in a flat shoe.
Training in a flat shoe is going to allow you to become aware of your feet and where the weight is placed upon them while you are lifting/working out.
Shoes with a lot of padding in them, which are most Nikes, asics, new balance, adidas---pretty much any "running" shoe are going to make squatting, deadlifting, KB swings....pretty much everything much more difficult.
WHY?
Because of the padding you are basically unaware of your foot. If you pay close attention while you are working out you will notice your foot/ankle doing A LOT of stabilization work. I can even SEE your feet/ankles doing this.
Think of standing on a mattress and walking around. In fact, go hop up on your bed and try walking. That is basically your foot in a padded shoe! Now hop back down on the ground (barefoot), you feel much more stable right?!
Exactly!
And this is why a flat shoe is BEST for training. Your feet will stay flat, your heels will stay on the ground while you squat, deadlift, lunge, ext. You can ask Sarah, I made her take her shoes off to squat and her feet stayed nice and flat on the ground!
But what about running?
The same goes for running. Because the padding makes you unaware of your foot placement 99% of you will heal strike while you run which is BAD BAD BAD! Heal striking causes hip, knee and ankle pains in runners! Now if you have on a flat shoe, like vibrams (which is what you see me wearing) you will become quickly aware that heal striking hurts like hell! Naturally you will stop!

You have seen me wearing them, and now Ruby and Christina have a pair! So if you train with them you will see their silly toes too ;)
Here is the link to the Vibrams
You can also find them locally at Wild River Outfitters and Blue Mountain Sports (Hill Top)

Another great flat lifting shoe is converse! Those you can find pretty much anywhere! Now if you have a wide foot those would probably be uncomfortable to you.

These inov-8 are great training for crossfit as well! They are racing flats and very light. These are my favorite training shoes, ever! You can find them a few places online, however they are in high demand and seem to always be sold out so check back often. I got mine from zappos.com.