Thoughts on Olympic lifting shoes for rowing

[Sully]

Hi,

I currently row in a pair of reebok nano's, but see that a lot of people row in Olympic weightlifting shoes. I'm competing at the EIRC at the beginning of February so am contemplating a change of footwear, any thoughts on the suitability of these type of shoes?....

Cheers

Sully

[G-dub]

I like my adidas ones. Not sure if it helped performance or not but having more contact with foot plate feels powerful anyway.

[jackarabit]

I like my SABO (Gym model) lifter/Girevoy shoes. Leather uppers, b&w or silver & red, hard molded soles, low (typically 5/8") effective heel hgt. Best deal in CONUS @ Maxbarbell.com. Available UK, OZ I believe. Big improvement on shock-damping spongy trainers for IR.

[sekitori]

When it comes to rowing shoes, I believe that less is more. I use a light weight running shoe with minimal cushioning--in other words, a racing flat.

I've worn the Nike Zoom Streak 2 for over three years. It provides firm contact with the foot plates without the mushy feeling of a heavier shoe. And at under 6 ounces, it's very light yet it still protects my feet as well as a heavier shoe. I use these shoes for erging and nothing else. The soles look brand new and since the uppers still appear to be in good shape, these shoes could last for a very long time.

[nsgymd]

I use Adidas Samba shoes for rowing:

http://www.adidas.com/us/samba-shoes/G17100.html

[aussieluke]

I have Reebok lifters and really wanted them to work on the erg but they just don't for me.

Felt like I had a little stronger heel drive, but also caused knee pain pretty quickly which I just don't get with flat shoes.

They are also leather so make my feet hot.

I was just wearing sock for a long time, but have had better results recently wearing my Inov8 195s (very thin, flexible sole) and they flexfoot set much lower (only one hole showing at the top). They are also extremely light and the upper is entirely mesh so they are very breathable too.

[Oarsome Fitness]

I've seen a number of people using a plimsole / converse style shoe for erging, to remove all compression padding etc.

If you have weightlifting shoes that you use for that, maybe it isn't a bad idea, but if you don't then you might find it is an expensive investment for what it will achieve.

[Boris1956]

I currently row in a pair of Asics hyperthrow throwing shoes. They have a nice flat sole and no padding. They were also very cheap in US size 15 from Amazon. I have also rowed in cycling shoes such as Specialized Taho MTB shoes, they had a rigid trainer type sole and minimal padding. I try to avoid trainers with soft soles as I found they caused me problems particularly if the heel was flared as my big feet wouldn't fit in the foot rest with them on. My youngest son rows in Adidas weights shoes as well and they seem to suit him very well.

[jackarabit]

I'm approaching 10MM meters in 2-1/2 yrs of IR. In that time, I wore out a pair of New Balance generic walking the dog sneaks (the 45$ bag of foot variety) and a pair of boat shoes with a dense, low squish quotient sole very similar to the Adidas Samba soccer model but with vented leather uppers. The boat shoes were the better choice for power transference but the absence of anything remotely resembling a stiff longitudinal shank moved the forefoot bending moment too far aft and oroduced chronic soreness at the heads of both long metatarsals. For me. a longitudinally-stiff as well as incompressible sole apears desirable and I understand the appeal of mtnbike shoes despite the difficulty of getting mine to grip the heelcups of the flexfeet when--what else but?--flexing the feet. The Russky SABOs which I've used for the past 6 months have put an end to the metatarsal soreness. They also have ample toe box volume and forefoot width and relatively snug, narrow heels--an optimum fit for me personally. I gave 49USD with free shipping on clearance. Currently 59-65$ depending on color choice.