Socks, Shoes and MBT's & Me! Fitness/ Exercise / Health Blog Socks, Shoes and MBT’s and Me! Every woman’s friend is her shoes. Women love shoes. My Mother advised me to always buy good shoes. As a fitness professional, I spend a lot of time in my sneakers which I still prefer to call tennis shoes even though I haven’t played tennis in years! But what we take for granted both as exercise professionals and in our daily lives is the importance of a great sock to accompany our sneakers. Fitness socks are imperative to your health. Make sure your sock is padded for maximum comfort. The goal is blister free comfort for all of your fitness activities – both for your avocation and your vocation. Socks add value to your athletic shoes by adding in padding thus improving your gait and protecting the sensitive muscles within your feet. I love my MBT’s (Masai Barefoot Technology shoe. My friends challenge that I will work or volunteer anywhere I can wear these extreme athletic shoes. I love my MBT’s not just because they were a gift from my best friend but also because of the added padding in the extreme rubberized sole. Yes, I walked funny for the first two weeks, but after that I wouldn’t trade my MBT’s for any other sneaker. Yes, the MBT’s make my group fitness clients nervous as I wobble on one foot demonstrations poolside but I always know the lifeguard is there – and because I live for the water exercise – falling in would simply embarrass my pride! As fitness professionals, we are called upon to teach our clients to distribute their weight evenly across the entire foot. That is exactly what the MBT does! The full distribution of my weight across my entire foot is the “plantar pressure”. This change in the pressure serves to protect both the balls of feet and my heels. More over, the added rubberized sole is the support that I need when I am on feet on hard cement sometimes in excess of 12 hours per day. Gait is the term utilized to describe the manner of walking or moving the foot, a sequence of foot movements including the rate. We can assist our gait by providing both comfort and safety. Blisters are caused by friction. By providing more padding with our socks, we are providing safety for our feet by preventing blisters from friction. So next time you are shoe shopping, remember to invest in your health, invest also in a great pair of padded socks.
