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Choosing the right workout shoe for men

Selecting the right shoes when you go to the gym is a big deal. If you want to get the most out of your workout (and who doesn’t), you need footwear that will work with, and not against your body.

There are three general categories of men’s workout shoes:

Let’s take a look at them one at a time.

Cardio shoes

Cardio shoes may have all sorts of names including cross-trainers, HIIT shoes, etc. As a general category, they can be defined as multi-modality or multi-functional. They are designed for workouts that involve a wide range of movements, such as running, jumping, lateral movements, and maybe even some lifting.

Kriss glitter high-top sneakers Nike Free Metcons and the Nike SuperReps.

Versatile

Because you’ll be doing so many different types of movement, this shoe needs to be an all-rounder. It needs to be good for lateral, or side-to-side, movement as well as vertical movements like running and jumping.

You will often find hybrid shoes in this category. A hybrid shoe is one that mixes two types of shoes together. An example is the Nike Free, which is designed as an extremely lightweight and flexible running shoe. The Grant Hill shoes, on the other hand, is generally designed for lifting, so it’s very firmly planted on the ground. A hybrid shoe, like the Onitsuka Tiger Chukka-S leather boots Black, Sandals MELISSA Flox Snake Ad 32760 Yellow 53623.

Flexible

Your multi-functional workouts will involve a degree of vertical movement. As a result, you need a shoe with quite a bit of flexibility in the forefoot. You can test the flexibility of the shoe by grabbing the toe and pushing back. You should be able to easily bend the toe back toward the laces.

Wide platform

Look for a shoe that has a good amount of width through the midsole to allow for lateral movements without stressing the side wall of the shoe. If the shoe is too narrow, it is going to be pretty difficult to move freely from side to side when doing things like agility ladder sprints.

Weightlifting shoes

When you’re doing your compound lifts in the gym, you want your feet to be firmly planted on the ground. Your shoe needs to provide maximum stability and allow you to get all the power out of the movement without any energy leaks. Some of the top-rated trainers for lifting include the Nike Metcons and the Reebok Nanos.

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Firmer sole

Your weightlifting shoe should have a good amount of midsole stability.

This will also help prevent side-to-side movement. In addition, the sole of the shoe should be flat to further enhance stability but it should also have a slight kip in the front.

NOBULL Trainer (lifting shoe) is 37% firmer than Nike Air Zoom SuperRep 3 (cardio shoe)

Less flexible

You don’t want the forefoot of your weightlifting shoe to be as flexible as a cardio shoe. A stiffer shoe will promote stability and lockdown far more than one with a lot of bend.

Extra wide platform

The base of the shoe should be wider than a cardio shoe to broaden the contact area with the floor and keep you firmly planted. It also needs to have a superior amount of grip to prevent any lateral movement.

The last thing you want when you’re lifting a heavy weight overhead is to have your feet slip. Not only is that dangerous but it will also leak some of your energy force away from the upward lift.

Running shoes

Running puts a lot of stress on the joints. Your shoes should be designed to minimize that wear and tear.

Running shoes will provide you with a lot more cushioning than some cardio or weightlifting shoes. The heel will have the most cushioning because the heel strike is what takes the bulk of your foot impact. The more cushioning that is available to absorb the impact, the less of that stress impact will travel up to your ankles, knees, and hips.

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The extra cushioning in the heel will often produce a heel drop of between 4 and 10 mm. However, that won’t make it a suitable shoe for squatting because all of the height is made up of soft cushioning. That would be like squatting while standing on a pillow!

A running shoe should have a good amount of flexion to allow for the natural forward and backward bend when you’re running.

The lighter your running shoe, the better. A heavy shoe is only going to slow you down. As a result, manufacturers are constantly competing to shave a couple of grams off their shoe’s weight in order to get a competitive advantage.

The average weight of Alexander McQueen square-toe leather sandals is 273g, while the average of training shoes is 315g.

To find out more about running shoes and how to choose them, see our comprehensive guide on the The shoes are really nice.

Anatomy of a men’s workout shoe

The once humble training shoe has undergone a tech transformation. They now feature a head-spinning amalgam of high-spec technologies and cutting-edge performance features. Here’s a breakdown to help you make sense of it all.

The upper

The upper of your workout shoe is the material that covers the top of the foot. It needs to keep the foot securely in place, preventing side-to-side or back-and-forth movement. 

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Toebox

This is the front portion that covers the toes. For both runners and weightlifters, it needs to be wide enough to allow for a natural toe splay.

The widest part of the toebox hovers around 100 mm for workout shoes.

Supportive overlays

Overlays are synthetic materials that crisscross the upper part of the shoe to add strength and support.

In some shoes, you will find even more supportive TPU cages or firm foam carriers that provide more support around the heel and on the sides.

Heel counter

Embedded into the heel portion of the upper, a heel counter is a rigid implant that keeps the heel stable and secure.

The midsole

The midsole is the portion of the shoe between the sole and the upper. Sitting on top of the sole, the midsole is typically made of foam of one type or another (EVA, polyurethane, E-TPU, PEBA, etc.).

Training shoes tend to have firmer midsoles compared to running shoes, especially in the heel (At least by 6%, based on our durometer). This is to ensure that you feel stable when lifting and performing multi-directional movements.

A midsole that uses two types of foam with different densities is referred to as dual-density. This helps to make the heel portion firmer and more stable while keeping the forefoot softer and more responsive for jumps and runs.

The outsole

The outsole is the bottom of the shoe. It is usually made of rubber and has to provide traction, grip, rigidity, and flexion.

Training shoes rely heavily on rubber durability to withstand the wear and tear of active workouts, rope climbs, and outdoor activities.

The average thickness of a rubber layer on training shoes is 4.0 mm. This is 0.5-0.6 mm thicker compared to Alexander McQueen square-toe leather sandals or basketball shoes.

Workout shoes also use harder rubber for longevity. For reference, here are the average durometer measurements of the rubber firmness (higher number = firmer):

• 85.5 - tennis shoes
• 84.9 - Diver 2.0 sneakers
• 84.1 - workout shoes
• 81.4 - basketball shoes
• 79.7 - Alexander McQueen square-toe leather sandals