By Christine Frietchen on September 23, 2011 in
Curious about toning shoes like Skechers Shape Ups and Reebok EasyTone? These types of walking shoes are supposed to tone your legs and backside as you walk. But what does the research say? Several studies published in the last year say these shoes really don't work as advertised. Here's a research rundown:
Toning shoes have little firming benefit
An article published in The New York Times this summer quotes a study conducted by Dr. John Mercer, biomechanics professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Mercer enlists fit women to try toning shoes (Skechers Shape Ups) and regular walking shoes on a treadmill, measuring muscle response and calorie consumption.
"But as it turned out, according to results presented in June at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, muscle activation and oxygen consumption were almost identical whether the women wore walking shoes or Shape-ups."
Another study published last year by the American Council on Exercise reports similar findings:
"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."
They might help improve your balance, though
Other studies show that wearing the shoes does seem to provide some benefit to strengthening muscles in the feet, and improving balance. Following a Canadian study conducted at the University of Calgary (which was funded by Masai Barefoot Technologies, which manufactures MBT toning shoes), Dr. Benno M. Nigg of the university's Human Performance Laboratory reported findings to The Wall Street Journal:
"Dr. Nigg says he has found that wearing MBTs works small muscles around the ankles, improving the wearer's balance over time. He also found people wearing MBTs consumed 3% more oxygen -- roughly equivalent to calorie burn -- compared with individuals wearing a control shoe."
However, Dr. Nigg goes on to say that he doesn't attribute the extra calorie burn to the rocker design of the shoe, but rather to the heavy weight of the MBT shoes (nearly two pounds each) compared to regular running shoes.
Bottom line?
It doesn't look like toning shoes will have much effect on your bottom line. But if you enjoy wearing them and they encourage you to walk more, there's notthing wrong with that, and they might help improve your balance a bit.