Hello Wellness Warriors! I’ve got a bit of lighthearted fun coming your way today. I don’t talk much about specialized workout equipment around here because I believe you truly don’t need much to get a useful workout. Sneakers, though, are a non-negotiable. Unless, of course, your routine is comprised of only yoga and swimming, but not my point here.
Sneakers are probably the most important thing you can put on your body workout wise. And stay tuned for a post all about picking the right footwear for your needs. But just as important as picking the proper footwear, is also replacing said sneakers when you need.
As someone who exercises most days of the week for myself and works by teaching others to exercise in one capacity or another, you can probably guess that I tear through sneakers faster than the styles change. That means I have a pretty decent collection cluttering up my entryway. But, sneakers are also tough from a production, recycling, and sustainability standpoint. And since we are friends of the environment in our house, I have developed a system. A sneaker hierarchy if you will.
My newest pair of sneakers are the pair I wear for my workouts. When I am working out for myself, that’s when I am going big. I need the best support for my tootsies. So that goes to the youngest pair: the pair that has taken the least amount of abuse. This ensures that the cushioning and support structures of the shoe are still intact and functioning. If you are exercising with shoes that are more than a year or so old (depending on how much you have worn them), you can expect to have sore knees, ankles, backs… You get the idea. One of my favorite days to workout is a day when I have a brand new pair of kicks fresh out of the box.
My second youngest pair of sneaks are the pair I usually use to teach or train others. This pair is typically 6 months to a year old and in good enough structural condition to give me the support I need to for these tasks. When I am teaching and training clients, I need to be able to demo proper form and have a good base from which to spot, but I am not doing a full workout myself, so I can get away with shoes that have been loved a bit. I try to wear other types of shoes for errands, but I also hate needing to change shoes just to run to the store for milk, so on occasion, these are my errand shoes, too.
My oldest pair of sneakers are reserved for manual labor. Painting, DIYing, yard work, you know, all that stuff that you need closed toed shoes for, but you also know are going to get completely destroyed. If I need to, I can slip some gel orthotics inside these to amp up the support. By the time I am ready to cycle these out, I am usually worried about holes in the treads.
I do a lot of different types of exercise, but mostly on a general level. What I mean by that, is that I am not currently training for anything (i.e. a 10K). Since my exercise is more general, I typically don’t have multiple pairs of shoes just for those activities. Although, I know plenty of individuals (and have worked with many, too) who keep different sneakers for different parts of their training routines. Obviously, their hierarchy would look different than mine. Shoes that are being worn to run (especially lots of miles) will wear out much quicker than shoes being used for strength work.
But, I like my system. It works for me and it keeps me wearing shoes that, let’s face it, are still plenty useful even though I they may not be ideal for work outs anymore.
Do you have a sneaker hierarchy? Tell us about it in the comments!
