These MBT Rocker Bottoms, Skecher shape-ups & Reebok Easy Toner shoes are all the rave with fitness fanatics and people are paying big bucks to adorn this latest be fit fashion, but are these high priced, miracle shoes really worth the extra money? Shoe manufacturers like Skecher, MBT and Reebok are claiming that these shoes with the rounded bottoms will force you to improve your posture and balance while toning your calves, butt and abs just by walking in them. Shoe makers would like you to believe that the better posture, thick cushion and curved sole will help relieve pain in the knees, legs and back, while toning muscles and help you to lose weight, but can one creatively designed shoe really do all that?
The American Council of Exercise (ACE) wanted to know the same thing so they did some testing with everyday running shoes against 3 different types of rocker bottom shoes. ACE wanted to make the study fair so they used physically fit people and they gave them the different shoes at random to wear for five minute intervals on a treadmill. The researchers monitored heart rate, oxygen consumption, ratings of perceived exertion, and caloric expenditure. Then they did another study to measure muscle activation using different types of machines, again each woman was testing the different shoes at random and they walked on the treadmill at 3.0 mph. The study showed that there was no significant difference in the amount of calories burned or the muscle activation to support any of the claims of rocker bottom shoes shaping your legs, butt and abs. The results were pretty much the same as with regular running shoes. They even have a lot of cool looking graphs to back up their claim that these shoes really do not work any different than regular running shoes; it was the physical act of exercising that burns the calories and tones up the muscles not the shoes.
Of course, if you read the article on rocker bottom shoes by My Fox Detroit.com you may get a different opinion of these rounded bottom shoes. The article claims that the shoe forces you into the correct posture by aligning your body the correct way. A Beaumont Hospital Exercise Physiologist by the name of Tom Spring decided to do a similar treadmill test as ACE and again the only difference is the shoe. He chose a regular pair of running shoes and a $250.00 pair of Chung Shi’s rocker bottom shoes and according to his study he found that he burned one extra calorie per minute. What was really amazing was that if you scrolled down to the bottom of the article where people can leave comments, some people were bragging about how great they were and how much they loved these shoes.
Could it be mind over matter, meaning that the people wearing these MBT Rocker Bottoms, Skecher Shape-Ups or Reebok Easy Toner shoes think they are suppose to work magic so they do when really the people are just walking more which is really what’s toning those muscles and helping them to lose weight? Did Dr. Spring wear the expensive rocker bottom shoes first or second, if it was second maybe he was tired and had to work slightly harder which could explain the one extra calorie burn per minute.
Could it be that the MBT Rocker Bottoms, Skecher Shape-Ups or Reebok Easy Toners are just so comfortable that you want to walk more when wearing them, causing the weight loss and toner muscles?
However, with all the compelling comments at the bottom of the My Fox Detroit article praising these MBT Rocker Bottoms, Skecher Shape-Ups and Reebok Easy Toner shoes really do work to tone muscles and heIp you to lose weight I decided to give it one more look-up. I looked up rocker bottom shoes at Wikipedia.com and they were quite informative, they gave me the history, which I had no idea these shoes had been around since the late 1990’s and that they were designed by a Swiss company and the MBT stands for Masai Barefoot Technology. But more importantly they stated that despite what shoe manufacturers are trying to make you believe that these shoes don’t cause your muscles to tone up and that in some cases they may actually hurt you, especially if you slip and fall trying to keep your balance on the rounded soles. Also, orthopedic surgeon Thomas Lee disapproved of people with knee, hip or back problems wearing them. Wikipedia states at the bottom of their definition of the rocker bottom shoes that it is not the shoe that is causing people to shape-up, tone muscles and lose weight but the act of exercising itself and that the claims are baseless.
So if you really want to tone up your muscles; have better looking legs, butt, abs and lose weight you don’t have to buy expensive MBT Rocker Bottoms, Skecher Shape-Ups or Reebok Easy Toner shoes just start exercising more. Combine increased activity with a well balance healthy diet and you will be looking super fine in no time.
