Hit the track in style
Get the right pair of shoes for your workout
Working out can be fun if you have good company, decent music and enough motivation. But the one thing that can spoil it is a wrong pair of shoes. According to a recent survey conducted by Reebok, close to 60% of Indians wear running shoes for training or working out in the gym. It’s just shoes, right?
Well, as it turns out, each type of workout requires a specific kind of shoe. The sole, the way the shoe moves, the kind of support it provides can all make your workout easier or harder. Here are three for different kinds of workouts.
Reebok HIIT TR
High Intensity Interval Training has gained popularity of late. This can include functional movements, outdoor workouts or boot camps, CrossFit and more. As the name suggests, these are intense, so there are a lot of jumps, short sprints, turns and more involved.
Reebok’s new HIIT TR is a good choice for this. Though it has a larger fit (try going for a size smaller), it has enough cushioning to help you land softly after jumps. The outsole has two high-performance rubbers. HIIT workouts involve forward (like running), sideways, backward, up and down movements. The shoe’s pivot pro made sure I did not slip and fall while changing directions mid-workout. The cushioning, though not too much, ensured that I landed softly and yet was close enough to the ground.
The Reebok HIIT TR is available in stores for ₹8,999.
Puma Zone XT
Let’s say you do go to the gym but you also like to mix up your classes: sometimes HIIT, sometimes a run on the treadmill, sometimes Zumba. You cannot carry three kinds of shoes in your gym bag. Therefore the Puma Zone XT.
Extremely comfortable, these shoes have a minimal look, with only a neon-heart rate inspired design on one side. This makes it a great everyday wear as well. The Zone XT also uses Puma’s two innovative technologies. The Ignite Foam provides enough cushioning to make any kind of jumping or dancing movement extremely comfortable, without any impact on the ankles or knees. The NRGY Beads, on the other hand, are meant for high energy return, so you can get the most out of your shoe during fast workouts. It has a nice rubber outsole which offers enough grip for the constantly varied movements in a workout like Zumba, though it might not have the stability needed for heavy weight training. It does not have a stiff base and is quite flexible, so taking it out for a mid-workout run is easy too.
The Puma Zone XT is available for ₹6,999.
Under Armour HOVR Apex
I like doing weighted squats but I have also always been scared of my foot being unstable at the bottom position of the squat, fearing that I will lose my balance and fall. Fortunately, the HOVR Apex Training shoes are built for lifting weights.
The 8mm heel-to-toe drop in a training shoe took a little getting used to, especially since the usual Nike MetconI use has only half of that drop height. But the HOVR Apex design, with layered support, gives extra stability to the heel while keeping the forefoot free to move. It continues to use the Tri-Base design of the midfoot delta plate and has good grip even on a somewhat wet training floor (I wore the shoes to the gym after unseasonal rains, and it did not slip even for a second).
It is a chunky shoe though and looks bigger than most lifestyle or even running shoes. It is comfortable and has a snug fit, but maybe because of the size of the shoe itself, it does not seem the perfect one for movements like running or high/ box jumps. But for basic training, and weightlifting in particular, these seem the best in the batch right now.
The Under Armour HOVR Apex is available for ₹13,999.
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First Published:22 Mar 2020, 05:43 PM IST
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