5 signs your workout shoes need replacing
Recently I was having my own frustrations with my workout shoes and realized that it's time for me to trade them out for new training shoes. This topic was inspired after I had finished a workout and is a question comes up with a lot of the clients when we first start to work together.
How did I figure that out when to replace my shoes?
I am guilty of not tracking how old a pair of shoes are or how much mileage I put on my running shoes. Because of this, sometimes I run into issue with my foot. Specifically the leg that I had my hip surgery on will sometimes start to get some pain in the inner arch. Since I don't want to get plantar fasciitis, I take that as a sign from my body telling me “hey it's time to change something up”. The change up could be either in my fitness routine, my running gear or could even be related to my running gait.
Regardless, my body is trying to communicate with me that’s it’s not happy about something in the routine. Since it cannot communicate with words it uses pain as a signal. What’s the signal? There's something happening that the body does not like, maybe there is an alignment issue, maybe it’s signs of overuse, or in this case my “equipment” (shoes) needed replacing.
That specific pain in my arch always comes back to my shoes. I’m familiar with it because it shows up in the same way in the same place each and every time I go too long without replacing my shoe. You’d think I’d learn by now to start tracking my total mileage but maybe one day that’ll change.
I started to feel it a little bit in my plyometric workout last week and so this week I was playing around with the training shoes that I wear for that specific plyometric workout.
For my plyometric work I like to wear On Running shoes. These are not the shoes that I prefer to run in. I use a different pair of shoes for when I run, when I weight train and when I do plyometrics or HIIT training because I need different type of support with the different modality of training that I do. (if you’d like to know a little more of the why behind that let me know in the comments)
At First Glance
Just from looking at my pair of On Running shoes they look like they're in pretty good condition. They're pretty clean since I’ve kept them as an indoor only shoe. As I'm looking at the heel I take a look at the amount of distance that there is between the floor of where my foot would sit and where the bottom of the physical shoe is. I don't see that there's a discrepancy in height from when I originally purchased the shoes. When I look at the underside of the shoe there isn’t any excessive wear patterns. When I look at the toe box, there isn’t any damage there either (mine sometimes gets a hole poked in it if I pronate too much). I mean from the outside the aesthetic of the shoe looks like it's a new-ish shoe.
After an external investigation I turn to the inside of the shoe. I have had these shoes for some time (less than a year but a little more than 6 months) and when I was wearing it in my last plyometric workout it was giving me issues in my arch. So my next step is to take a look at the inserts. Some shoes, like my adidas ultraboost, don’t allow you to take the insert out but most do. I was able to remove mine and when I was looking at the insert it was pretty compacted. When you held it up you could tell over the time that I've used the shoe it had decreased some of the cushioning. It was basically flat with no support on my arch, it was kind of just there and existing at the bottom of my shoe.
Sometimes I can be stubborn.
Because the shoes looked like new I didn’t want to get a new pair so I ended up trying out a different orthotic insert into the shoe. Don't tell On Running because I'm pretty sure that they're gonna be like, don't use a different insert in our shoe, it messes up [insert reason of their trademark design or whatever]. Anyways, I took out the orthotic insert that I use in my walking shoes and put it into my On Running shoes.
Once I had the insert in that was supportive for my arch contour I noticed that there was a spot just below the toe box that the fabric was stretched out. The way the material had stretched over time was no longer holding my shoe in its squared position. This was causing my foot to sit inside the shoe at an angle so that it was leaning more towards my pinky side and my foot was no longer supported in that arch. So, like I was saying at the beginning, the outside of the shoe from its aesthetic point, looks like it's a pretty good shoe. However, as we start investigating and looking at the insert I noticed it was flat and worn down over time. When I replaced the insert, I noticed that my pronation had stretched the fabric out over time and it wasn’t holding me in a supportive position for my plyometric work.
That small change that starts in my shoe is not just affecting what's happening in my foot. The force that I’m absorbing and exerting is then channeled through my leg and could affect things in my knee, hip, and/or back. So that's one of the reasons why we always want to check our shoes as soon as we start to feel some of that discomfort in our body. It might not just be coming from our workout alignment, it could be coming from what we're using to support us in those workouts.
What are some other things to look for in a shoe?
One of the other things that I look at is how flexible the shoe is. Some people like a flexible shoe and the On running is actually a pretty flexible shoe in comparison to a lot of the other things that I wear like Brooks or Asics. That was one of the reasons why I liked it for my Plyometrics, but not so much for my distance running. The amount flexibility over long periods of time is irritating to my foot strike. I have a stiff 1st metatarsal (big toe) joint and my body likes to compensate for its lack of mobility by overusing my arch so I like a little bit more support there.
I can't quite remember how flexible this specific shoe was when I originally bought it but as I bend it in half it can fold in half really easily. I personally need a little more rigidity there so that it can help prevent my mid foot area from compensating. This is yet another sign that I need to replace the shell of my shoe despite how it looks.
So those are some things that I look for in my shoes once I start to feel something in my feet. They are also some of the key points that I try to mention to my clients as well when they're thinking about replacing their shoes or knowing if their shoes are even a good fit for them.
What does the bottom of the shoe look like? Are there any patches where it is excessively worn down?
Looking at the outer brim are there any areas where the shoe has lost some height?
Looking at the toe box are there any holes (could be sign of supinating or pronating) or any stretched materia
Is the shoe too flexible?
What do the inserts look like?
Run through those points at about the 3 month mark of having them. It could be that the shoe is still holding up well. Check back again in a couple months. Time flies by faster that we thing and sometimes the aesthetic of the shoe might look good (especially if you wash them) and cause be a little investigative with the points mentioned above.
As a general rule of thumb if you are running, you do want to try to track how much mileage you're putting on your shoes. I've heard of people replacing their shoe from anywhere between 300 miles to around 500 miles. If it's been about six months and you haven't replaced your shoes, going through that checklist above is a must. Your shoes are going to make a huge difference in your running, in your weight training, and also in how you're feeling in your lower body. I tend to run in a wide range of shoes. I wouldn't say that I'm particular to a specific brand since I look for different traits depending on what I am doing. I like lighter shoes for when I'm sprinting. I like a little bit more cushion, and support in my shoes for when I'm doing distance running which does mean that my distance running shoes are a little bit heavier. I like lighter and flatter shoes for when I am weight training but I’ll also sometimes lift barefoot.
I hope you found this to be helpful! If you have any questions that I didn't touch on go ahead drop it down in the comments below. I’d also love to know what’s your favorite shoe to run in or train in right now! Tell me in the comments below.
PS: If you are looking for exercises to strengthen your feet for your runs fill out the form below for my FREE guide “Stronger Feet with Pilates”
