Sunday, April 8, 2012

Toning shoes, shaping shoes - does it really 'tones' your body?

So recently, there's all the rage about shoes that tones and shapes. These include shoes like Skechers Shape-Ups, MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology), and Reebok EasyTone to name a few. But does the shoes really help in burning more fat and toning your legs and body more?

Well, the jury is still out.
In a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, t aged 19-24 completed a dozen 5 intervals on a treadmill while wearing the above mentioned 'toning' shoes or traditional New Balance as researchers monitored how hard they worked.

A second group of 12 women between the ages of 21-27 did a nearly identical exercise on 5 treadmill tests in the various shoes while researchers measured muscle usage in their calves, hamstrings, buttocks, back, and abs.

The results? There was no real difference in calories burned or muscle usage between the four types of shoes.

So when you you see an ad for a high end exercise shoe don't be too taken in by claims of how much more fat or calories it can burn. In fact any other kind of (cheaper) shoes would have similar properties to it. So save your money and put in more effort in exercising - that's the best advice anyone can give you. In fact, you can see a wide selection of good and cheap exercise shoes here.

Some people get hung up over choosing the perfect pair of exercise shoe and end up missing the main point of it all - burning those calories and keeping fit.

Find more about getting the right kind of exercise shoes.