Strength Shoes Workout: A Simple Definition

Posted by Willis on April 1st, 2021

The idea behind the style, according to the maker, is to "trigger the calf muscles to support 100% of the body weight. The maker also makes the unsupported and untrue claim that "the Strength Shoe has actually been clinically recorded to be the most reliable way to increase vertical jump and speed".

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A study of the impacts of training with the shoe has actually been reported just recently (Porcari et al., 1996). I summarize that study here, and offer briefly with an earlier research study.

In the current research study, 72 college-age guys not previously associated with athletics or fitness training were arbitrarily assigned to 3 groups of 24: a control group who did no training, a control group who trained in routine shoes, and a group who trained in Strength Shoes. The training groups trained three times a week for 10 weeks. They followed identical programs recommended by the maker. All topics were pre- and post-tested for 40-yard sprint, vertical jump, standing long jump, and right and left calf girth.

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There were 2 dropouts in the no-training group, eight in the regular-shoe group, and 10 in the Strength-Shoe group. Seven of the Strength-Shoe dropouts and one of the regular-shoe dropouts were due to injury that could be credited to the training.

The modifications in efficiency and calf girth are summed up in the table. Both training groups showed a propensity to enhance their sprinting and jumping by 0.5-1.6%. The Strength-Shoe group tended to do better than the regular-shoe group in the sprint and vertical jump, while the trend was reversed for the broad jump. There was likewise a propensity for the Strength-Shoe group to establish larger calf muscles. None of the differences between any of the 3 groups was statistically considerable, so we can't say whether any of the observed distinctions are most likely to be real for professional athletes in general.

In their marketing literature, Strength Footwear Inc. claim that approximately 0.2 seconds can be removed the 40-yard time (about 4%), nine inches can be added to the vertical jump (about 40%), and calf girth can be increased by two inches (about 15%). These claims were plainly not supported in this research study. Any small gain that might be possible with Strength Shoes would appear to be more than offset by the higher risk of injury.

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Among the problems with this study is that the topics were not trained professional athletes. It's possible that professional athletes with well-conditioned muscles and joints would not starting strength shoes get hurt with Strength Shoes.

It's possible that some preparative weight training must have been included in the program. A much better balance of strength and volume might have increased the gains in both training groups and increased the gains in the Strength-Shoe group relative to the regular-shoe group.

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A last issue is that the study did not have enough power to identify the little gains that are important to athletes. The distinctions in between the groups in some of the tests was around 1%-- frequently a winning margin-- yet these were not statistically significant. (In fairness to the authors, there were more subjects in their study than is usual in studies of performance enhancement.).

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Cook et al. (1993) randomized 12 intercollegiate track and field participants to a normal-shoe group and a strength-shoe group. After 8 weeks of a training program provided by the maker, the normal-shoe group revealed a tendency to enhance more than the Strength-Shoe group on all performance measures: 40-yard dash (8.3% vs 6.9%), vertical jump (9.2% vs 3.3%), strength (torque) at slow speed (16% vs 10%), and strength at fast speed (13% vs -5%). Just calf area tended to get larger in the Strength-Shoe group (2.3% vs 0.2% in the typical group).