When it comes to getting the best performance and avoiding injury when lifting heavy weights, you should put as much thought into your weightlifting shoes as does a professional athlete.

Tennis shoes feel comfortable when walking, running or playing basketball. However, weightlifting in tennis shoes is like trying to lift weights while standing on a mattress. Your body will tilt and sway under the load, throwing off your technique and possibly causing a muscle strain or even a tumble. It’s not a good thing when pressing 300+ pounds over your head!

Using sneakers for weightlifting creates an unsecure foundation between you and the floor. Any seasoned weightlifter knows that success comes from a precise, fluent technique of movement from the set through completion of the lift. Small wavers in fluidity can throw off your lift and prevent you from hitting your maximum.

Also, tennis shoes work to compress your body’s weight so when you use them for weightlifting workouts, you lose a great deal of power through absorption. This relatively small loss of power creates inefficiency in your lift, taking away strength that you could be applying to the weight.

Proper Weightlifting Shoes

On the days you plan on tackling your weightlifting program, you should wear shoes that are appropriate for the task. You want a shoe that is stable and has a thin, non-compressible sole that is flat. Some weightlifters even prefer to execute their lifts barefoot. Others find that army combat boots or wrestling shoes work well. Of course, choices of this nature are dependent upon personal preference.

When you’re training for heavy lifts such as deadlifts and low bar squats, you want shoes that do not have compressible soles. For this type of weightlifting training, try:

• Converse Chuck Taylor’s All Stars

• Adidas Sambas

• Adidas Superstars

When you’re training for Olympic lifting then you want a shoe with a slight wedge on the heel to better complete lifts like overhead squats, power cleans, high bar Olympic squats, snatches and front squats. For this type of weightlifting training, try:

• Do-Win

• VS Athletics Weight Lifting Shoes

• Adidas Adistar or Ironwork