Should You Wear "Toning Shoes"?

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Here is the latest Get Fit email from Dr. Jacobs.

Should you buy Skechers Shape-Ups or Reebok EasyTone or other “fitness shoes”?

According to the research – no:

The Results
Across the board, none of the toning shoes showed statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation during any of the treadmill trials. There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone.

However,

“These shoes may be encouraging a fair number of people who probably wouldn’t put on a normal pair of walking shoes and go out and walk, to do so because they think they’re getting some super toning effect,” says Bryant. “So if you want to look at a positive, it’s probably serving as a bit of a motivator to get a group of inactive individuals to
at least get up and get moving.”

If you want to read the whole report, click here. Please don’t let the research stop you from exercising. If you have some of these shoes, keep using them if they are helping you to get fit. More importantly, keep walking/jogging/exercising!