Training Shoes

My husband and I got rid of cable over two years ago.

It's amazing that it's been that long!

I realized how much I DO NOT miss broadcast TV...

...or should I say broadcast commercials with program interruptions.

Back when we still watched TV, the ads were for the latest cars, cell phones, and those toning shoes.  EVERY brand seemed to have one.  I remember the women at work all rushing out to buy these butt toning shoes.

They bought Sketchers.

They bought Reebox.

All of them wore them to the office and talked animatedly about how they could "feel" their butts toning.

Now, all of these women were at least 200 lbs.  The idea that their butts would magically get toned from doing nothing more than walk from their desks to the snack counter at work...well, I had a VERY healthy degree of skepticism.

Around this same time, my exercise shoes of the day wore out.

Ever notice how exercise shoes kind of slowly and quietly go to their grave?  Like a TS Eliot poem.

Anyway, I had to go and find new shoes.  It always upsets me when I have to look for a new brand and model of shoe- why can't they just leave the old standards?  Just a few?

Well, when I got to the store, the ONLY training shoes available were those ridiculous light-up shoes and are HUMONGOUS - not really great for aerobics- and all models of the toning shoe.  Since I really needed new shoes, I tried on several of the toning shoes and I finally found one by Avia that had good arch support, but was shockingly light weight.

But I was still skeptical.  Let's face it.  I'm not exactly what you'd call a klutz, but sometimes I am thinking about where I'm moving before the body actually catches up.  The idea of balancing on an uneven shoe kind of made me nervous.

Evidently, I wasn't the only one.  Inside the box, there were INSTRUCTIONS for how to learn to walk in the shoes.  The instructions were items like, "Don't wear these shoes all day", "Not recommended wearing for every day wear", and "Practice wearing these shoes no more than 20 minutes at a time", and "Not recommended for activities other than walking"

It was the first time I'd ever seen instructions on my shoes before.

Well, I decided to get them.

And I loved them.

It was a challenge at first, but I gradually got used to the fact that my normal stance was slightly pronating (like your arches of the feet trying to touch the floor), but I wasn't surprised, since ballet has a tendency to teach legs and feet to pronate.

Did they tone my butt?  No, but I think that aligning my legs correctly makes the exercise more efficient...and visible.

well, it's time to replace those shoes now.  They're still in great condition on the outside, but the lining has holes- you know, that kind of thing.

But when I went to shop for more, I couldn't find any!

I couldn't find any online, either.

What I did find was a series of lawsuits against Sketchers and Reebox for false advertising and strained ankles.  What really pissed me off was the description of how these women sprained their ankles: wearing the shoes all day or standing up incorrectly after sitting all day.  I'm just guessing but I'm going to bet that there was a little brochure with their shoes, too, that they didn't read.

But evidently, the class action law suits for false advertising won and, thus, I can't find the toning shoes any more.

It's a real shame, too, because the articles about the lawsuits clearly say that the real power of the shoes was correcting mild pronation...sigh.

The stupid people ruin everything.