Australian Podiatry Association member, Joe Brooks, a podiatrist from Southern Tasmania who is dedicated to keeping people happy, healthy and smiling; speaks on the importance of wearing the right footwear for your workout.

While we are all self-isolating and staying at home, it is important you stay active to get the many benefits it can do for your overall health. While physical activity has several benefits, footwear is an important aspect of any workout whether it is walking, running or bodyweight exercises. 

The most important factor of any footwear choice is to think closely about what the purpose of the footwear is; and how we can best exploit the footwear characteristics to enable you the safest and most comfortable home workout. 

Generally, the sole aim of footwear is to protect you from the outside environment. While this should not be a concern at home, it is still important to remember to wear shoes while outside in your backyard to help protect you from bugs, sharp rocks or just provide some shock absorption from concrete. 

My general advice for home exercise programs – this can include anything from bodyweight gym sessions, High intensity interval sessions (HIIT) or kettlebell training and a lot of other activities – is to wear a cross trainer shoe. There are three key reasons cross trainer shoes are best for your home workouts are:

1. Provides a stable base for jumping activities – A cross trainer will provide you with a strong stable base as well as being slightly firmer foam which can mean it will handle any weights you may add to make the home workout harder.
2. Extends the life of your walking shoes – Wearing cross trainers will extend the life of your walking or running shoes, meaning you can save them for the activity that that are designed for, which is walking or running in a straight line.
3. Strong tread and grip – A cross trainer shoe generally provide strong tread and grip which is ideal for at home workouts where you may be making short and sharp movements. Remember that your netball shoes are a variation of a cross trainer with some slightly different tread or grip characteristics. These will be fine for your home workout routine until you can get back on the court.

Yours in looking after your feet and keeping you active. 

Joe Brooks

Podiatrist

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