Look what arrived on my front porch minutes before Mal and I were about to leave for CrossFit last night! New lifting shoes! Yay!

Check out these beauties! They’re the New Balance WT20’s, which are part of the Minimus Trail collection. They’re basically a cross between barefoot running shoes and traditional, more cushioned trail running shoes. (FYI: They’re on sale right now at Zappos.com!)

Naturally, I needed to test them out immediately. Derp.

So, what’s the deal with my new kicks? Apparently, running sneakers (like I’ve been wearing to CrossFit for the past month) are the wrong type of shoes to wear for lifting weights. Here’s why (from CrossFit 781):

Wrong Shoes: Running Shoes. The air & gel filling is great for reducing impact shock from running (if you were running correctly in the first place you wouldn’t even need that!), but really bad for lifting. Running shoes will limit your strength and prevent good lifting technique.

• Unstable. Soles are squishy so you can’t predict their behavior on each rep. This makes it harder to control your technique and lift properly.
• Power Loss. The soles absorb the force generated against the floor instead of directing it towards moving the weight. You lose strength.
• Dangerous. Higher risk of injury, especially with heavier weights, since the soles make it hard to balance yourself and are less stable.

So, what should you be wearing? CrossFit 781 suggests Chuck Taylors, ballet slippers (for real), and going barefoot. Other options: New Balance Minimus collection, Vibrams, Inov-8 Lites, and Reebok.

Good lifting shoes fit snuggly and have sturdy, hard and slim soles that are not slippery. Basically, you want your feet as close to the floor as possible for optimum control and stability when lifting. Lifting shoes give you better traction and balance than regular sneakers because your heels better sense the pressure of the weight. Additionally, good lifting shoes can even fix technique issues since you’ll better sit (back) into your squats and your heels will remain on the floor. This, of course, reduces the risk of injury. Proper form also gives you more power! ROAR!

Workout

Last night, Mal and I headed to CrossFit a little earlier than usual, so I could work on the goal that I set for myself last month to do two unassisted pull-ups by February 1st. I’m trying to learn how to do kipping pull-ups as a way to make these unassisted pull-ups happen. Kipping gives you some momentum to do a pull-up, so it might seem like cheating, but it’s actually pretty difficult and requires some practice. The movement is taken from gymnastics, and it uses multiple muscle groups from head to toe. Here’s a kipping video if you want to see what it’s all about.

I wasn’t able to do a kipping pull-up last night, but I’ve made some serious progress in the past few week. I couldn’t even hang from the pull-up bar when I first started CrossFit, but now I can kip pretty well—I just need to do that pull-up! Maybe it’ll happen next week?

WOD:

“Nancy”

5 rounds for time of:

400 meter run

15 Overhead Squats (95, 65)

Another fun WOD! We did 5 rounds of 400m runs followed by 15 Overhead Squats. I used 35 pounds on the Overhead Squats for the first 4 rounds, but when I returned from my final 400m, there were no free 35-pound bars, so I grabbed a 45-pound one instead. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that difficult. I was a little wobbly on my last two reps, but I think I probably could have handled 40 pounds for the entire workout. Next time, Nancy!

Dinner

I’m out-of-town until Friday, so I made a huge salad for dinner to use up some of the veggies in our refrigerator. I topped my salad with a can of tuna, Avocado Salsa, truffle oil, and balsamic vinegar. It might not look like it, but this salad was really massive. I actually wasn’t sure if I could finish it. But, of course, I did.

After dinner, I enjoyed a small handful of M & M’s.

Question of the Day

Do you change up your footwear for different workouts or just stick to the same pair of sneakers?

In the past, I always wore running shoes for my workouts, including Body Pump, Step Aerobics, Spin, etc., but now I’m realizing how important it is to wear the proper footwear.