I currently do my o-lifts in boots. Timberlands that had a former life as my “nice” shoes for going out at night. My question is, other than the raised heel and the hard sole (which my boots offer,) is there any other benefit to o-lifting shoes?
I dont have any plans to compete in olympic lifting, I do the lifts a) to help with my strongman training and b) because they’re fun, but if theres any practical advantage to specific olympic weightlifting shoes as opposed to another hard-soled, raised-heel shoe, I’d probably drop the $$ for em. I guess I’d probably get em from vsathletics.com, or I think glenn pendlay sells reconditioned shoes…
I too have questions about olympic lifting shoes. Do the make olympic style squats safer on your knees etc.?? Also I think converse shoes are for powerlifting style squats.
If you get a better pair of OL like the adidas, they have the straps instead of laces and offer better side to side stability (from what I have heard). YOu definitely don’t want to OL in converse shoes, those don’t have the heel needed…but I have heard that they are great for powerlifting. You don’t have to spend a lot for decent OL shoes. Mine are regular lace-ups with a solid heel, very basic, and cost about $65.
[quote]Finalyear wrote:
I’ve heard that converse all stars make great lifting shoes.[/quote]
Those are flat soled shoes for sitting down and back onto the heels in a powerlifting style squat. In a oly squat your sitting down between your knees, and you want to explode onto your toes in triple extension.
I dont mean to be a jerk, but I’m really looking for responses from people who, if not competitive oly lifters, at least practice the lifts wiht competitors and/or coaches and can say “yeah I have oly shoes and boots are the same thing/complete opposite”
I have Adidas shoes and I really can’t come up with any advantage to them other than the hard soles and the taper, which you already mentioned.
As Kroll mentioned, the velcro straps are nice, and there is a lot of contact with the floor and the bottom of the shoes because of the way they are designed.
I guess the disadvantage I can see relative to a boot is that the boots may hinder movement at the ankle whereas an Oly shoe would not.
No doubt the Adidas are expensive. If you can find Russian or Polish Oly shoes, they are typically @ $50.
It is not just the high heel that give O-shoes an advantage, but the very thin soles – gets you closer to the ground than do boots. Also, you need more ankle flexibility than boots will give you.
I have found that the raised heel does place less stress on my knees (although it might also be that the Olympic style back, front and overhead squats put less stress on them since I am using less weight than when powerlifting), but also creates greater hip flexibility, which makes it easier to sink all the way down.
Without question oly-specific lifting shoes are better for doing olympic lifts than boots. I have Adidas Ironwerk II lifting shoes (the red, black, and silver ones) and they are a dream to lift in.
Consider this: The raised heel on the shoes means that you are going to lose some pulling power off the platform. This drawback is off-set by the increased stability in the hole when racking under a weight. However, boots most likely have a raised heel but also some considerable thickness under the toe box. This means that you are losing even MORE pulling power as you are now even further off the platform.
Proper weightlifting shoes have a very thin sole under the toe box. In addition to minimizing the drawback of the raised heel from a pulling perspective, this also allows you to get up on the balls of your feet more easily when exploding with a weight or dropping under a weight as in a split jerk/clean/snatch.
They are also amazingly comfortable. Since they use fine leather, the shoes are soft and conform to your feet when warm. Although a hefty initial investment, they will likely last forever if you don’t abuse them. Well worth the money in my book.
[quote]Krollmonster wrote:
If you get a better pair of OL like the adidas, they have the straps instead of laces and offer better side to side stability (from what I have heard). YOu definitely don’t want to OL in converse shoes, those don’t have the heel needed…but I have heard that they are great for powerlifting. You don’t have to spend a lot for decent OL shoes. Mine are regular lace-ups with a solid heel, very basic, and cost about $65.[/quote]
The adidas have both straps and laces. I use mine for powerlifting and love them. I did have the heel taken down a few boards as they did tend to put my on my toes a bit. The adidas are expensive shoes, but worth the money
[quote]Krollmonster wrote:
If you get a better pair of OL like the adidas, they have the straps instead of laces and offer better side to side stability (from what I have heard). YOu definitely don’t want to OL in converse shoes, those don’t have the heel needed…but I have heard that they are great for powerlifting. You don’t have to spend a lot for decent OL shoes. Mine are regular lace-ups with a solid heel, very basic, and cost about $65.[/quote]
The adidas have both straps and laces. I use mine for powerlifting and love them. I did have the heel taken down a few boards as they did tend to put my on my toes a bit. The adidas are expensive shoes, but worth the money
I have some very old Adidas Adistars (I think) that cost an arm and a leg when I got them. They’re still in good shape and I use them occasionally. The other day I tried out the Do-Win shoes (Chinese I think) and they seemed like they had really good quality. They were also cheaper according to the guy that bought them.
For a short time a couple of years ago I had to lift in my workboots while I waited for my new shoes to come in, and I won’t do it again. I tweaked my lower back while trying to balance myself in a squatclean, and that did it for me.
I strongly recommend a pair for serious, heavy O-lifting.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate all teh responses, both the personal experiences and the explanations. I think it’s pretty clear that o-lifting shoes will be added to my list of goodies to buy.
So what ate the cheaper alternatives to the adidas?
Also, I am reluctant to buy a new kind of shoe off the internet w/out trying on - are there places that sell these shoes so one could try these shoes on first so you know what size you need?
[quote]ledfist wrote:
So what ate the cheaper alternatives to the adidas?
Also, I am reluctant to buy a new kind of shoe off the internet w/out trying on - are there places that sell these shoes so one could try these shoes on first so you know what size you need?[/quote]
[quote]jim_ohio wrote:
ledfist wrote:
So what ate the cheaper alternatives to the adidas?
Also, I am reluctant to buy a new kind of shoe off the internet w/out trying on - are there places that sell these shoes so one could try these shoes on first so you know what size you need?