Neil_B

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/he...well.html?_r=1

"Can you give your muscles a better workout simply by changing your shoes? The athletic shoe giant Reebok claims you can. The new EasyTone walking shoe, a provocative new marketing campaign says, leaves leg and buttock muscles better toned than regular walking shoes. "

Hmm, gimmick or gold? I'm undecided. Perhaps the benefit is that this product will get people walking.

longbeachgary

Reminds me of the original earth shoe.

Condorita

Red-headed stepchild of Earth shoes and platforms.

bretgross

It seems to me that the most important thing (other than a good fit) is what you do while you're wearing them!

MikeWinVA

Sounds like a shoe you are more likely to turn an ankle in.

exile

I think it's one of those products that will work to a certain point. It probably does engage stabilizing muscles (especially weak ones), but once they reach a certain level of strength no additional benefit will be gained. So after your muscles stregthen (after so many uses) they become just another pair of shoes.

StephenH

Just need the right shoes. I'd suggest these:
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/o...boots_side.jpg

damnable

"wearers are discouraged from running, jumping and engaging in other athletic activities while wearing them"

Bleh.

flip18436572

I think it is for helping to use different muscles, but after a while I would think they would lose there usefullness. I wouldn't use them personally, but I am sure there are people that will go nuts over them.

bautieri

You can get an excellent work out just by walking around wearing any kind of shoe. Of course you have to carry around my patented sack full of bricks, but you will get one heck of a work out.

That will be $19.99 please.

Neil_B

Sorry, I'd rather invest in a "goatee saver."

bautieri

This is your lucky day, we got those too! So to run the tally:

Feed bag full of bricks: 19.99
Goatee saver (surgical mask with a pie-hole in it): 3.99
PA 6% sales tax: $1.44
Total: $25.42

I suggest local pick up because a feed bag stuffed with bricks will be mighty expensive to ship.

CliftonGK1

This is where you need a keen marketing department and a lot of legalese fine print:
Bauteri's Bag 'o Bricksİ fitness system includes Feed Bag, additional stabilizer belt and heavy duty Feed Bag Liner. Bricks not included. Bauteri's Bricks Fitness, Inc. is not liable for brick related injuries while using Brick Fitness equipment, including but not limited to: Bag 'o Bricksİ, BlockHedİ CrainoCervical Strength Helmet or Cement Shoozİ Leg Speed Trainers.

billyymc

"Jimmy wears them."

I do like the TV ads though...

Neil_B

Any thoughts on these ugly things? These are also being marketed as a way to get a workout simply from wearing them:

https://www.crunchgear.com/2009/08/10...ngers-classic/

Mr. Beanz

Jimmy jumps high!......Just go ride your bike up a hill, samething!

cod.peace

The Five Fingers is different from the instability shoes, it's more along the idea of the Nike Free. That is, remove all the padding and other stuff that gets between your foot's natural movement and the ground. There's a whole movement towards barefoot running. The FF shoe is an attempt to give you the benefits of barefoot running without the drawbacks. If I ever take up running again I'll try a pair.

Griffin2020

The Reebok shoes are similar to the MBT shoes, except that MBT (https://us.mbt.com/) has a larger rocker area, and focuses more on balance and stability. New Balance is supposed to be working on some as well.
The Reebok and New Balance are only for women, though.

I think that there are some core building and maintenance benefits to this.

spthealien

I own the MBTs and know that after a day, I can't wait to rip them off my feet. It certainly does work me out, the legs feel sore and my posture gets just a bit straighter. They feel good early in the day, but as the day progresses, my body just gets sore. A trip to Coscto and Home Depot makes me yearn for a chair. They're not uncomfortable (far from it), but they just make me feel like I'm putting more than twice the effort into doing the same thing that I would wearing any other type of footwear.

bautieri

+1 interweb you magnificent turbo wookiee!

evblazer

I read a few reviews where people said the stability balls pop if you walk on things like tacks, nails, sharp metal and glass fragments. So I guess they should add do not use outside of a enclosed track environment to the list. Reebok denied replacing the shoes. allegedly.

Condorita

Believe it or not: Tatiana Ovechkina, mother of hockey player Alex Ovechkin, was hit by a car in Moscow when she was about 9 or 10 years old, spent a year in the hospital, and when she finally got home with her horribly atrophied legs, used bricks to help her build her leg muscles back up again. Two-time Olympic gold medalist. He wears #8 in her honor.