"Wearing the proper shoes for your style of lifting and training will not only increase the efficiency, form and comfort while training, but will also increase your safety and prevent possible injury."
~ WLShoes.com
CrossFit: Constantly-varied, functional movements performed at a high intensity.
Part of this widely-varied library of movements is power weightlifting and olympic weightlifting. These lifts not only build strength, but their degree of technical difficulty also trains for accuracy, coordination, and body awareness.
A useful tool in weightlifting is weightlifting shoes. While you technically don't need weightlifting shoes to do these lifts, there are definitely some that you can get an edge on with some good weightlifting shoes - most notably, anything involving a squat.
A while ago, I was lucky enough to score a free pair of weightlifting shoes from AgainFaster.com in a sweepstakes. Super awesome, because these shoes normally cost $119. These are technically men's shoes, but I like the color of these way better than the "women's colors" (pink, purple, yellow - belch) - I was stoked they had these ones in my size.
Today's WOD was:
105 pound Squat Clean and Jerk, 30 reps
The barbell goes from ground to overhead, passing through a front squat in which the crease of the hip passes below the height of the kneecap. The finish position is with the arms, hips and knees fully extended, arms overhead, with at least a portion of the ear visible in front of the arm.
According to this definition, thrusters of this weight are also allowed, and if you could do those, that would greatly reduce your time. The elite athletes did this workout in around 3 minutes.
Here's a video of my first 10 lifts (it's about 3 minutes long. Ha ha ha!):
Lifting in these shoes, especially when doing explosive movements into squats, is awesome. The firm, compressed heel gives you the stability needed to allow you to really "stick the landing" on these lifts. I'm really glad I got these shoes - I know I'll be hitting PRs in them.
Related Links:
Pendlay Men's 2011 Pendlay WL Gray
CrossFit.com
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