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Which Oly / wieghtlifting shoes to go for?

D

danielebbett

New member
Which olympic / weightlifting shoes to go for?

Hey guys im looking at investing in a pair of oly shoes, just wanting to get peoples advise / experience with which shoes i should go for.

Im a low bar squatter with a medium with stance. The main reason im looking at investing in some shoes is my heals tend to slightly lift of the ground due what i think is ankle flexability. I tired putting 1.25kg plates under my heals last training sesh and felt i got far better drive through the heals. Ive been told a pair of oly shoes would help me alot.

Im looking at the shoes offered by both undergound elitle and OWA ($75 and $85) which is an awesome price, however they have a 1inch heal, im woundering if thats too high??

should be looking at speding more and getting a set of do-wins ($140) which have the 3/4 heal??

Any adive/ thoughts / reccomendations experience would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Daniel
 
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I havent tried any of those shoes youve mentioned but i have a pair of Adidas Power Perfect II's and i would never use anything else.
Also, use the search function as i think theres a couple of threads about weightlifting shoes already ;)
 
If your heels are coming of the ground you either have terrible ankle flexibility or you are leaning to far forward. The issue should be addressed before using an aid such as shoes to rectify the problem, otherwise the issue with surface somewhere else.
 
I squat low bar with a slightly wider than shoulder width stance. Have no flexibility problem though. You'll do better with the 3/4 inch heels. With the higher heels (I have a pair of Risto which is just over 1"), I feel like it's very easy to get tipped over.
 
leachy is on to something.

If you are coming off your heels because you are leaning forward in the ascent, then heels will make it worse not better. It might feel good to start with, but as you get used to them the problem may come back. I definitely find it harder to stay on my heels with a heeled shoe with heavier weights. That said, I use a heeled shoe because I prefer the solid platform and the lateral support of the strap.

You shouldn't need much ankle flexibilty to squat to depth with a medium stance and low bar, because you're knees shouldn't really be much more forward than about 1" in front of your toes. If they're further forward than this you're not sitting back enough when you squat. This is a technique issue, not a flexiblity issue. It's a very quad dominant way of squatting and heels will actually encourage you to do this more, not less.

The narrowing the stance and more forward the bar is weighted (ie front squat), the more your knees have to be forward to stay balanced, so its more the high bar back squat and front squat that ankle flexibility is an issue.
 
I just saw that there's the Rippetoe Weightlifting Shoes with 0.5" heels, designed for low bar medium stance squat. It's on the Rogue Fitness US website, but not on the Australian store.
 
strong enough? said:
leachy is on to something.

If you are coming off your heels because you are leaning forward in the ascent, then heels will make it worse not better. It might feel good to start with, but as you get used to them the problem may come back. I definitely find it harder to stay on my heels with a heeled shoe with heavier weights. That said, I use a heeled shoe because I prefer the solid platform and the lateral support of the strap.

You shouldn't need much ankle flexibilty to squat to depth with a medium stance and low bar, because you're knees shouldn't really be much more forward than about 1" in front of your toes. If they're further forward than this you're not sitting back enough when you squat. This is a technique issue, not a flexiblity issue. It's a very quad dominant way of squatting and heels will actually encourage you to do this more, not less.

The narrowing the stance and more forward the bar is weighted (ie front squat), the more your knees have to be forward to stay balanced, so its more the high bar back squat and front squat that ankle flexibility is an issue.
Click to expand...


My heals arnt coming up alot on the squat, i had a powerlifting coach watch my form and he noticed only verrrrry slightly my heals would lift up when push up out of the hole, hence his recommendations for the shoes..i feel if i try and sit back any futher i will loose my balance fall backwards..
 
Buy a good quality pair, its the sort of thing that if you get a good pair they'll last forever.
 
Not all Oly shoes are made the same, mate.

The Risto have thicker heels than the rest. I have a size 9 pair and the heels are 1.25". Heels get thicker as the size increases too.

That pair is great for high bar squatting (I used to do that), front squat and other Oly stuff, but pretty bad for low bar squatting (which is what I do now).

The thicker heels are good for benching though. :p

There are plenty of ppl squatting in Oly shoes at my PL club, but they have the Do-Wins or Rogue Fitness ones, with 0.75" heels.
 
Dancelot said:
Not all Oly shoes are made the same, mate.

The Risto have thicker heels than the rest. I have a size 9 pair and the heels are 1.25". Heels get thicker as the size increases too.

That pair is great for high bar squatting (I used to do that), front squat and other Oly stuff, but pretty bad for low bar squatting (which is what I do now).

The thicker heels are good for benching though. :p

There are plenty of ppl squatting in Oly shoes at my PL club, but they have the Do-Wins or Rogue Fitness ones, with 0.75" heels.
Click to expand...

Which ones do you have? I think the new revised ones are supposed to be 1inch for a size 11. 1.25 is massive.

I was thinking of getting the risto's as my next shoe if they were about 1inch, but 1.25 sounds bit much

btw it really depends on your dorsiflexion, if your ankle dorsiflexion is bad the 1inch wont cause you to lean forward on a low bar squat. I squat medium bar and a narrower stance, my shins are almost vertical with do-wins, if I had better dorsiflexion then I'd have more of a forward lean.
 
My dorsiflexion is pretty good (Asian genes :p ). I have no problem squatting to depth with flat shoes, but the Oly shoes feel more stable. I'm currently squatting in a pair of Adidas Superstar, with very slight heels. Might borrow someone's Do-Win and give them a try.
 
Dancelot said:
My dorsiflexion is pretty good (Asian genes :p ). I have no problem squatting to depth with flat shoes, but the Oly shoes feel more stable. I'm currently squatting in a pair of Adidas Superstar, with very slight heels. Might borrow someone's Do-Win and give them a try.
Click to expand...

ah i see, I can only get below parallel when squatting wide due to bad dorsiflexion.
 
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