Graced Health Podcast
Host: Amy Connell
Hello, everyone. I'm glad you're here.
If you clicked on this episode, then you likely know that the topic is about shoes. I was trying to explore some ways to get into why this even makes sense, and why you should bother listening to an episode on shoes. I recognize this isn't the most exciting topic, but I wanted to give this analogy.
I'm a member of a couple different Facebook groups with other people in my neighborhood. Some of them are women in my age group, some are just regular neighborhood groups, and you'll often see someone say, "Hey, I'm looking to go on a date night with my spouse. Where do you recommend?" Or, "I'm looking for great Mexican food" or something specific like "I want a really great steak, where should I go?"
Someone will put this question out there, and of course people will respond with "Oh, I love this place" or "I love this place." Shout out to all my local people—Brennan's is a huge favorite among people in my neighborhood, including my husband and me, and these are wonderful places to recommend. "Hey, I love these restaurants. I love Brennan's, I think you will too. Go check them out."
Now what does this have to do with footwear and shoes? Well, when we're in need of shoes, specifically exercise shoes, I don't think this is a great strategy. Of course it makes sense when we need something and we want to know what people like and what they recommend. However, what I want to offer you in this episode is just some other considerations on approaching your shoe buying experience—which makes it sound like such a big deal, and it doesn't have to be—but approaching shoes unique to your unique foot.
If you've been with me for any amount of time, you know that I'm a big believer that our bodies were all uniquely made by God. That goes down to our shoes and our footwear. I want to talk today about how you know if it's time for new shoes, figuring out exactly what you need, finding the right fit. We'll talk a little bit about being barefoot and how to strategically shop that you're not paying an arm and a leg for shoes. My goodness, they are expensive right now.
Let's jump into finding your perfect fit.
How Do You Know When It's Time for New Shoes?
The very best thing I can tell you to do is take the shoes that you're currently walking in, running in, lifting in, or wearing to group fitness classes, turn them over, and look to see how the soles are wearing.
It's just like when we go on a road trip—we check our tires, make sure that the tread is nice and thick, that it's not wearing down, and that in general the tire looks ready for the miles ahead. How do the bottoms of your shoes look?
If you turn them over, you may notice that various sides or places of your shoes will start to wear. You may see that your heel starts to wear down, maybe the inside of your shoe, maybe the outside of your shoe. We'll talk about what this can mean in just a second. Or maybe it's just that midsole, right where the balls of your feet hit. These are great visual guides on how your shoes are wearing.
I know for me, when I was running a lot, I would often get—this was weird—a hole on my left foot where my big toe would come up. I guess I would strike the ground really weird or something like that, and my left toe would come up. I don't keep long toenails at all, but there was something about that that would just wear it down. I could start to see where my shoes were wearing down. I also notice this on the side of my left foot because I believe that my right heel will kind of come in and just scrape by, almost right under my ankle where there's a little bit more cushioning, and that will start to fray and I'll start to see the cushioning come out.
Any of those are great indicators that it's time to get new shoes. This is particularly true for those of us who primarily walk, because when we walk, we're not hitting the ground as hard. That slow decline may not be as evident as when we're running and landing a little harder—that's just the physics of running—and you may notice more of the cushioning start to wear down.
If you're running or even if you're walking, you may notice that it just doesn't feel as cushioned as it used to. It may not feel as stable as it used to, or you may start to get some discomfort in areas of your foot, your knee, or your hip that you didn't have when your shoes were new. These are all signs that it's time to get new shoes.
Or if you cannot remember the last time you purchased athletic shoes and you are an active person, it's time to get new shoes. There's another little litmus test for you.
Just as a side note, when you look at the bottom of your shoes, this might be an indicator of particular muscles that would be good for you to strengthen. If you turn your shoes over and notice that there's more tread gone on the soles of your shoes on the inside—that would be under your big toe, maybe your middle toe—then that might be an indicator that you are over-pronating, which means when you land, your ankles are rolling in, maybe your knees are rolling in or pressing in just a little bit.
This may not be something that you notice, but it may be the consistent patterns that your body is doing, and that may be an indicator of weak glute muscles. I'm not talking about the big gluteus maximus. I'm talking about the many smaller muscles that I have discussed often: your gluteus medius, your gluteus minimus, maybe even your piriformis. Strengthening those muscles will help with you striking the ground better because your kinetic chain—basically how everything is connected in your body—is going to be more aligned.
If you're not really sure what to do about this and you're thinking, "Okay, Amy, how do I do that?" then go check out my Be Complete program. It's just $20 and it's an online class that you can take whenever you want. It's prerecorded and it will strengthen your mini muscles in addition to some other things. I won't get too much into the weeds on that, but if you're wondering how to strengthen your mini muscles, that's a great place to start.
The final thing to consider if you're wondering if it's time for shoes is how many miles have you put on the shoes? Some of us will track our mileage on Strava or something like that. I used to, but I don't now that I'm just really walking. If you think about it this way: if you walk three miles a day, five times a week—which may feel like a lot to you or it may not feel like much at all—but if you walk about that much, then probably after about six months, you are ready for new shoes. That's just assuming three miles a day, five times a week, which is 15 miles per week.
Running shoes will last between 300 and 500 miles. For me, it's about 400 miles. Walking shoes will last between six and nine months. You can typically get a little bit more wear out of your walking shoes simply because we're not as hard on them—we're not striking the ground as hard.
Now, if you're wearing cross trainers, which are more like your gym shoes or things that you might wear in a typical group fitness class, then that'll be more like 80 to 100 hours of activity. I have no idea how much you're doing something, but just for simplicity's sake, say that you are exercising in the gym for about an hour three times a week. That's three hours a week, and let's just say it's 90 hours that you're going to get out of those shoes. That is 30 weeks, which is about seven and a half months.
Again, anywhere between six and eight months for most of your shoes, you're probably going to want to replace them. If you're like me, you probably don't realize that six months has passed, because that was not long ago. If you got new shoes for Christmas, guess what? That was six months ago, and it's time to get some new ones. Then you can get some new ones or ask for some new ones for Christmas as well. There's a little pro tip: ask for new running shoes, walking shoes, or exercise shoes for Christmas, and then just get them every Christmas and June if you're using them a lot.
Different Kinds of Shoes
Let's talk about the different kinds of shoes. This is something I think is important to do before you even think about what you should get. I would say there are three primary kinds of activities: walking, running, and cross training. We can kind of loop walking and running together. I mentioned I don't run much anymore, but I do walk and I will get running shoes just because I like how they protect my feet. I like running shoes with cushioning and stability—not that my feet aren't having to do the work, but for me, I don't love the barefoot type shoes.
I will say though, that I got one of my sons some barefoot shoes about a year ago, and he loved them. He said, "I'm a better runner for it. I have less pain," but you've got to work into that. This episode is not going to get into that very much, but that is certainly one of your options as well—getting one of those barefoot type shoes. If you want to do it, go for it. I would just highly recommend that you slowly and gradually work up to it, because that is asking totally new things of your feet.
Your walking and running shoes are going to have more cushioning on your heel because if you think about how it is when we run, how it is particularly when we walk, we land on our heel. Ideally, if we are great runners—and I am not a great runner—then we would land more on our midfoot. You want to have good cushioning there as well, but particularly if you are a big walker, make sure that you have cushioning on your heel. Any of your walking or running shoes will have cushioning in both of those areas.
If you have turned your shoes over—remember we just talked about over-pronation—if you look at your shoes and you're like, "Oh wow, I've got a lot of wear on the insides of my soles," then that means that you over-pronate and you may want to have a stability shoe, which will provide a little bit more support on the inside of your shoes, and therefore will keep your ankle more stable and everything else going up. This is helpful. It is not ideal, and again, this is what I walk in because I have just found that it seems to work really well for my body.
If you feel like you land really nicely, if your tread is pretty much evenly distributed, then I would say you are going to want to find a neutral fit. You do not need any kind of stability shoes. You just need something that's more neutral.
If your activity involves a lot of gym work where you are doing higher intensity activities where you're on your toes or you're bouncing around, then a cross trainer is going to be a better bet for you. Those cross trainers will have more cushioning on the balls of your feet, that way when you jump and when you land, it's going to be a little more protective.
And of course, as I mentioned, some of those barefoot trainers. Vivobarefoot is one that I'm familiar with—I got my son Vivos and he really liked them—but I know that there are more brands than that, and I don't really have any affiliation with any of them. Those barefoot trainers are a great option as well.
The Benefits of Being Barefoot
Having said all this about shoes, I will tell you that in my Strong and Vibrant at Home program, since we are doing things at home, I encourage my participants to work out barefoot while they are strength training and while they are doing all of our workouts, because I want to strengthen the small muscles in the feet. I want to strengthen the small muscles in the ankles. I think that there's a lot of value in exercising, particularly strength training and doing balance work and core work and stretch work barefoot.
However, that may not be safe for you. In general, unless you have a gym where they're like, "everybody leave your shoes in the cubbies at the door and get your clean feet and then come in," then it's probably not safe because it's probably icky and dirty. I'm not recommending that you go into your gym barefoot. They probably won't like that very much. But if you're working out at home and you are doing some things, I highly encourage you to at least start doing some things barefoot because that will help your feet develop naturally and the way that they're designed to. There is a time and a place to not be wearing shoes, but I think that place is in a safe place, and probably your best bet is if you are working out at home.
Finding the Right Fit
Keep in mind when we talk about the fit of your shoe, that your foot shape absolutely is going to change with age. My foot has gone up about half a size since having babies—it never really went back down. Your arch may be changing, your foot may be kind of flattening out, make sure that you have a proper fit.
If you have not measured your foot in several years, it's worth going to a big box store like Academy or Dick's Sporting Goods and having your foot measured. Those places also may have a great tool where they have one of those heat sensor pads, you can stand on the pads and see how your foot is. You can see if you have a really high arch, you can see if you have a very flat foot, if you are over-pronating, and that's a good guide for what kind of shoes to get as well.
You want to make sure that the width is not too narrow, as this can cause bunions or even numbness, and that wider toe boxes are honestly going to let your feet and your toes move around and kind of mimic more of a natural movement than if your toes are all squished together in a really cute and sleek shoe. Maybe that's not what's best for exercising—save those for when you're running up to the grocery store or something.
If you are walking far distances or running, then keep in mind your foot will expand. You may want to consider getting a half size bigger than what you typically get because your foot will expand.
This is where I will also plug the benefit and the investment of time that is worth going to a specialty footwear store, especially like a running store, and having them assess your shoes. They are knowledgeable. They've had specific training and what they'll do oftentimes—I've done this several times in several different places—they'll bring out two different shoes and you'll try them on and you'll say, "Well, this one feels better." Then they'll leave that one on and then they'll give you something else and you can try that one on. It's just like an A/B comparison several times. They're going to look and see how you are striking. They're going to really help get you in the best shoes for your foot.
My experience is they are not pushing the most expensive shoes. They are pushing the shoes that will fit you the best. I actually took one of my loved ones there and she was way overdue for new shoes. I was like, "Okay, I'm going to walk you through this." They ended up putting her in their store brand, which was significantly cheaper than any of the other ones. I say they put her in it—she chose it. She really liked it. That's a nice option as well, especially if you're on a budget, to go to some of these specialty stores like Fleet Feet. I know that's one that's real big. Locally, I think it's a nationwide brand, but you can go and see if they have their own brand and it might be a little less expensive when you do that.
Be sure to bring the socks that you typically wear when you walk or run or do whatever. Maybe even consider going in the afternoon when your feet are a little larger from walking around all day. Going in-store is a really great experience. Sometimes it can be kind of intimidating because they're all wearing these running tech shirts from races that they have done, or they just look like they could be a little intimidating, but they're the nicest people and they're only there to help you. They are there because they love moving and they love helping other people move their bodies as well.
That is a great place if you have a specialty running store, and if you are particularly looking for something for walking or running, that's a great one to go to.
I did mention a second ago about the benefits of being barefoot, and I do stand by that. It can really help with your proprioception, which is kind of the awareness of the space that you're in. That declines as we get older. It can help with your foot strength, which will help with our balance, which again declines as we get older. This is not meant to be depressing—that's just how it is. Let's do these small little things that can help when we are doing some of the bigger things as well.
I will say again, make sure that you transition into that. Don't go all in all at once. Just start slowly and be barefoot maybe for one workout a week or for 10 minutes, and then put some shoes on. You're going to have to explore and see how your body feels. Also, if you have medical conditions that preclude you from doing this, and your doctor has said, "Don't walk around without shoes," then listen to your doctor, not to me. Use caution and be wise, be discerning when it comes to any particular medical conditions you may have.
Where to Get Shoes
Now, where do you get shoes? This is what I hear from women a lot: "Well, I needed new shoes and I went up to Academy. I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and I picked these out because I thought they were really cute."
Now we've gone through this and we know that we're not just going to get shoes because they're cute. There's nothing wrong with cute shoes, but first, get shoes that fit you right. If you have a specialty store that meets the needs of whatever it is that you do, then go utilize them. What I like to recommend is find a shoe that you like and you can get it there. Then for your next pair of shoes, you know what you need and you can utilize some of the more budget-friendly options that are out there online.
For example, there is a site called 6pm.com. They will often have shoes, particularly last year's models, on discount. There's also a place called Running Warehouse online. The other place I have found I like buying my shoes is REI.com. REI is a co-op and I think you pay like $40 once, like for a lifetime. But what they'll do is they will do a 10% dividend. Basically however much you spend, you get 10% of that back for you to apply to future purchases. Actually I learned about this from my friend Marni when she was on back in January of 2022. She came on, we talked—it was a little bonus episode while we were camping. We recorded the episode. It was just a really fun one. It was called "Laughs, Pro Tips and Cackling by the Campfire."
But REI is a really great one too, because they also will take your purchases back, no questions asked, indefinitely. If you wear these shoes for a month and then you're like, "This is not fitting me well," they will take it back. They have the most generous return policy of any store I know. REI—and you can order online. You don't have to have one in your area. I have really enjoyed doing that, and then I typically will use my 10% for my next purchase.
The other thing you can do is figure out when the brand that you like debuts their next model. Typically they will have new models every year, and if you can hit them right as they are putting out their new model, then guess what they're going to do. They're going to discount those previous ones. REI will actually have older models as well and they have an outlet. Definitely check REI out. Again, no affiliation. It's just a company that I enjoy supporting and I think that you might find some good deals on there as well.
Your Homework
Your homework for today's episode is: take the shoes that you exercise in, turn them over and see what the tread is like. Is it time for new shoes? If it is, use these tips to figure out what the right shoe is for you instead of asking on social media. You can do that if you want, but just make sure that whatever they say is aligned with how your foot is and what your needs are. Make sure that you are getting the shoes that work well for you.
If you walk a lot, if you run a lot, then get yourself on a nice, easy rotation that's easy to remember. Maybe get some for Christmas, get some new ones in June, and then you don't ever have to think about it. But if it's been a while, turn them over, see if it's time, and just kind of notice how your feet and how your body is feeling in your shoes whenever you are doing what you're doing.
Now, I want to hear from you. I want to know what kind of shoes you all enjoy the most. You can do that by clicking on the very top portion of the episode description or the show notes, if that's what you want to call them. It says, "Have a question. Click here." You don't have to have a question. Just click on there. It's anonymous. If you want to tell me who you are, you can, but I'm just curious what kind of shoes you enjoy. I think that would be really interesting to see what kind of shoes we're all working out in. Are we running, are we walking, are we doing cross trainers? Let me know. This will just be my own little unofficial survey and I would love to hear from you.
That is all for today. Go out there and have a graced day.