Deadlifts & Squats: Why Your Gym Shoes are Killing Your Gains

The biggest athletes in the world - the likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Lebron James are not seen wearing barefoot shoes inside their gyms for training.

Why? The idea is simple. Only muscles that you train get stronger. And all power is generated from your foot up.

When you wear thick cushioned “running” shoes, especially inside the gym
1. You don’t feel the ground, which means your nervous system is not sure of the surface you are on and it is always in a state of panic
2. Being in super cushioned shoes means that your ankles and knees are at a disadvantage because every small movement will be amplified that they will have to compensate for
3. In cushioned shoes, your arch muscles, fascia, toes are locked which means they don’t get trained at all and when you really need power, they don’t function properly

When you perform movements like deadlifts and squats, especially weighted, what you need is complete confidence and stability.
Cushioned shoes put you at a major disadvantage here and increase the chances of injury multifold.

If you wish to get better at movements in the gym, being barefoot is the lowest hanging fruit, the simplest way you can truly see a good difference in your performance.

Now we do understand that being barefoot is not particularly the safest or the most hygienic thing to do in a gym, barefoot shoes come in handy here perfectly.

Try Zen Barefoot. Our shoes are flat, thin, flexible and wide in the toe box to allow you to use your feet like they were designed to be.