Shape-Ups Debunked

Yup... big surprise... they don't work... or at least according to this article. Sketchers claim that their Shape-Up sneakers help you to burn more calories, tone muscles, and reduce joint stress simply by wearing them. Like us, the American Council on Exercise was a bit skeptical of this and other sneakers with an "unstable sole design" (such as Masai Barefoot Technology and Reebok EasyTone). So, they put the sneakers to the test. Two studies were conduced with two different groups of "physically active" 19-27 year-old females. In one study, the women did 12 5min "workouts" where they walked on a treadmill set to different grades wearing each kind of exercise sneaker, as well as one "normal" pair of regular running sneakers. Oxygen consumption, heart rate, perceived exertion, and calorie burn were measured. A similar study was conduced except activity in 6 different back and lower-body muscle groups was measured. ACE found that the toning shoes did not produce any statistically significant improvement in any of these metrics, although the sneaker companies disagree (and point to a bunch of studies that they have conducted).

My favorite quote of the article has to be "just because the shoes may initially produce sore muscles doesn’t mean they work". Basically, the soreness comes from the weird rocking platform - the sneakers just work different muscles than traditional sneakers. However, some people find them more comfortable, and they have encouraged others to exercise, so all is not lost.