Chasing big goals? Then you shouldn’t be wearing just any old pair of shoes. Fact is, the wrong gym shoes can impact both the quality and safety of your workouts. So choosing the right ones should get a little more attention. Killer gym playlist. The perfect shoes. Pre-workout flavor. In that order.
"But, I already have shoes". Yeah, we know. Unfortunately, basketball shoes like Nike® Air Force and running shoes like the Hoka® Bondi aren’t good options for weight lifting. They're not ideal for high-intensity interval training (HIIT) classes or cross-training either.
To find the right training shoes, be sure to consider your training goals, injury history, and foot type. Let's get into it.
Key Takeaways
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Choose gym shoes with a low drop. Under 8mm. Lower = more stability = better lifts.
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Make sure your toes can splay naturally in the toe box.
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Choose your size according to how your feet measure at the end of the day.
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Experts recommend the NOBULL Outwork and other minimalist brands.
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If you have flat feet, choose a shoe with good arch support (or add supports).
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If you have high arches, a knit upper can help hold your foot in place.
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Barefoot running doesn’t reduce risk of injury. Barefoot lifting may strengthen your feet.
Training Shoes Vs. Running Shoes
Let’s start by defining what a gym or training shoe is. It'll become pretty clear why a running shoe doesn't thrive in the weight room. First, training shoes should be fairly flat, allowing your feet to grip the floor, stabilize your body, and generate the most force. You don’t want a shoe with a big drop.
A shoe’s heel-to-toe drop refers to the difference between the thickness of the soles at the shoe’s heel and its forefoot. Shoes with a high drop are akin to wearing high heels—your heel is higher off the ground than your toes. Running shoes generally offer a significant drop—10–12mm. That’s useful for protecting your heel when you run, since most runners strike the ground with their heel first. But for heavy lifts, explosive exercises, and lateral movement? All that drop becomes unused padding, that only dampens force and creates instability.
The exception is Olympic-style weightlifting, where you actually DO want a high-drop shoe, though the elevation doesn’t come from padding. (We’ve got a shoe for that too, see our Canvas Lifter.)
Extra cushioning in the sole makes the shoe compressible. When a shoe compresses, it causes the force your feet are exerting to be partly absorbed. You wouldn’t try to lift weights standing on a squishy waterbed, so don’t do it in squishy shoes. Not only will it cost you strength, but it robs you of stability, and can put you at risk of rolling your ankle. Wearing the wrong shoes can also inflame the connective tissue on the bottom of your feet (plantar fasciitis) and cause heel pain.
Emily Splichal, DPM, a podiatrist and movement specialist in Chandler, AZ, recommends training shoes that provide little to no drop and very little cushion overall. “You should be able to feel the ground as much as possible during lifts, box jumps, and multi-direction movements,” she says. This is the closest a shoe can get to letting you go totally barefoot. Plus, it allows your feet to develop their dexterity and move with their greatest range of motion. If your feet can handle it, a drop of zero up to around four millimeters is ideal, but Splichal says more people will be comfortable with a four to eight-millimeter drop.
“If you’ve been using running shoes in the gym, a transitional shoe [of 4–8mm] is a good start,” says Splichal. “A mild heel-to-toe drop takes a little bit of tension off the Achilles tendon and allows for more ease of ankle movement in people with limitations, or flat feet.” (See more below in “What Shoe Is Right for My Foot Type?")
“A transitional shoe gets most people moving as optimally as possible,” says Splichal, “while pushing them in the direction of a natural foot position.”
The NOBULL Bottom Line
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Most running shoes have too high of a drop for gym workouts.
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A 4–8mm drop can help you transition to low or zero-drop shoes.
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Your shoe’s sole should be thin so your feet can stabilize your body.
What Shoes Should I Wear To The Gym? Expert Orthopaedic Advice
The best gym shoes should be stable, offer traction, and leave your feet some room. In addition to having a low drop, your shoes need to support the extra load your feet bear when you lift weights.
The shoe’s shank (a.k.a. the material between the insole and outsole) supports the arch of your foot. When you’re trying out a shoe, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) suggests this test: see if you can fold it in half along the arch. If you can, it’s not strong enough to be your gym shoe, especially if you have weak or flat feet. You shouldn’t be able to twist the shoe either.
[Editor’s note: Some minimalist gym shoes, don’t have shanks, and will bend and twist easily. If your feet are strong enough to train in very minimalist footwear, go ahead. For those who need some support (which is most people transitioning from running shoes and popular street shoes), bendy footwear is not the move.]
“Notice how the shoe is constructed,” says Wil Fleming, a world-champion weightlifter and sports performance coach (check out his programs at 1kilo.shop). “You need rubber traction on the bottom, and it should come up around the side of the shoe.” This holds especially if you like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) classes, cone drills, sled pushes, or other activities that require extra grip. A strong upper (the material on the top of the shoe) can help prevent blowouts when making quick side-to-side movements. Soft uppers can add comfort and breathability to a shoe, but usually at the expense of durability.
Toe box
The shoe should bend freely at the toe box, which indicates that it will let your toes push off the floor like they’ll need to during activity. That toe box should also be roomy enough to let your toes spread, which improves traction, balance, and your ability to transfer force into the floor. Shoes that force your forefoot into a point have applications for serious runners, but no place in the gym. Be particularly wary of this in women’s shoes.
“Women’s shoes tend to taper on the outside where the pinky toe sits,” says Splichal. That curve narrows the shoe for aesthetic reasons (yes, it makes the foot look thinner), but it can cause a tailor’s bunion. Make sure that whatever style of shoe you choose leaves some room. “Your foot shouldn’t feel crunched when you’re splaying your toes,” says Splichal.
According to the AAOS, your toe box should be big enough so that there’s a one-half inch space between your longest toe and the tip of the shoe.
Fit
Try to reserve your shoe-shopping for the end of the day. The AAOS notes that your feet may swell up to eight percent over the course of the day due to your walking on them, so take the extra mass into consideration when evaluating sizes. Feet also grow as we age, so get your foot re-measured every year.
Splichal recommends mimicking the environment you’ll use the shoes in as best you can. “Never just try on a pair, say, ‘That feels great,’ and leave,” says Splichal. “Always walk around in your shoes and try them on with the socks you’ll actually wear them with.” If you use orthotics/arch supports, or toe spacers, bring them with you to the shoe store.
If you really like a pair of shoes but the fit feels a little off, try relacing them. The AAOS has a video that demonstrates different lacing strategies to accommodate various foot shapes and relieve foot pain.
Brands
No questions? Let's move on to compare some specific makes and models to find the right gym shoe for you. Are we biased? A little. But have we tested the hell out of these shoes, and genuinely care about your comfort and safety? Definitely.
We're also not alone here. NOBULL has earned rave reviews from some major media outlets and websites, including GQ, Men’s Health and Women’s Health, and GarageGymReviews.com. (See what people said in “Which NOBULL Shoes Are Right for Me?”)
Our flagship gym shoe, the Outwork, has a four-millimeter drop, which makes it ideal for lifting and training, and a good transitional shoe for those who aren’t ready to go barefoot or super minimalist yet. The Outwork is known for its durability. We’ve had many customers tell us that clenching the rope with their feet in other shoes tears the uppers to shreds, while the Outwork’s extra durable upper material endures. This specially-made material resists water and abrasions, allowing you to take your workouts outside or on turf. All in all, the Outwork is an all-around gym shoe that should last you for years.
NOBULL shoes don’t have a shank but they’re unbendable due to the dense midsole and the outsole being a single, solid piece. The outsole wraps onto the lateral and medial sides of the shoe (as Fleming described above) to add rigidity that resists torsional (twisting) forces. This is further enhanced by the stiffness of the extra durable upper.
“The NOBULL Outwork is one of my favorite gym shoes,” says Fleming. “They hold up really well, and their look is cool. I’ve also worn Nike® Metcons.”
Splichal prefers very minimalist shoes for workouts, like Vivobarefoot® and Xero Shoes®.
“The Outworks are really good, design-wise, as far as offering a flat, stable base,” says Splichal. “I would personally lean more toward that line than the other NOBULLs because they’re more minimal. I would put Outworks on for a CrossFit class, because they would be good for doing box jumps, some Olympic lifts, swinging a kettlebell, or pushing a sled.”
Splichal advises bringing another pair of shoes for cardio if you plan to combine them with lifting, as the Outwork isn’t ideal for running. Outwork is built for quick bursts, but not dedicated sessions covering serious distance.
NOBULL Outwork Edge, Drive, and Allday shoes were designed to handle more cardio and athletic type movements in addition to lifting, so they’re options if you want an all-in-one shoe. NOBULL Journey, however, is specifically for running and walking.
The NOBULL Bottom Line
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Your gym shoes should bend at the toe box.
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The toe box should allow your toes to splay.
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Choose your size according to how your feet measure at the end of the day.
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Try relacing for a better fit.
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Experts recommend the NOBULL Outwork or Nike Metcon and very minimalist shoes like the Vivobarefoot.
“What Shoe Is Right For My Foot Type?” A Podiatrist’s Advice
“As a functional podiatrist, I recommend footwear based on three things for the sake of minimizing injury risk,” says Splichal. “Foot type, injury history, and activity.” Before you commit to any pair of shoes, figure out what kind of feet you’re walking on.
Flat fleet
Overpronation is a condition where the arch of the foot collapses and rolls inward excessively when walking or running, putting extra strain on the tissues. If you’ve ever been told you have a wide or flat foot, you’re probably an overpronator. Splichal says looking for shoes with strong medial arch support can help keep your feet in alignment. Fun fact: “You get better glute activation when you train when your foot is held in a neutral position,” says Splichal.
Check out training and gym shoes that advertise “motion-controlled,” which suggests strong arch support and a stiff heel counter—the back of the shoe that covers your heel. (The heel counter helps by limiting motion at the heel.) When you squeeze the back of the shoe, there should be very little give to it. Note that if you have wide feet, you may not need to find a wider shoe to fit them. “When you add an arch, you narrow a foot,” says Splichal, so adding an over-the-counter arch support to the shoe may solve the problem.
The shoe’s upper material can also influence the fit and support. “The NOBULL shoes with knit uppers are stretchable,” says Splichal, “which will accommodate wider feet.”
High-arched feet
If your feet are considered narrow or have pronounced arches, you may be an oversupinator—one whose feet roll outward too much. You probably fall into this category if you feel like your feet always slip out of shoes easily. In this case, Splichal says a knit style can help again. “Looking at NOBULL, the Women’s Drive Knit has an upper that comes all the way around the top of the foot, like a sock,” says Splichal, securing the foot in place.
Don’t worry too much about which category your feet fall into. Overpronation and supination are bigger concerns for dedicated runners who subject their lower limbs to repetitive, high impact on a regular basis—not the average gymgoer who does a little sprinting in an exercise class. Still, if these conditions sound like something you’re dealing with, see a medical pro to evaluate your foot.
A quicker, cheaper, but less accurate test is to wet your foot and then stand on a paper towel. A wide and flat footprint likely indicates overpronation, while a footprint missing the middle arch area (where the foot didn’t contact) suggests oversupination.
Bunions and hammer toes
People with bunions or hammer toes should choose roomier and stretchier shoes. “In athletic shoes that’s usually not a problem,” says Splichal, “because they’re designed to be breathable and stretchable, but make sure yours are.” You could also try wearing toe spacers when you work out to help stretch your toes back to a normal position and get them activated for better training.
The NOBULL Bottom Line
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Consider motion-control gym shoes if you’re flat-footed.
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A knit upper may help hold your foot in the shoe if you have high arches.
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If you have bunions or hammertoes, get roomier shoes and try wearing toe spacers.
Is It Better to Train Barefoot?
Barefoot running is a hot trend. Proponents arguing that because it’s more natural than running in shoes, allowing for proper mechanics and helping to reduce running-related injuries. However, research seems to lean the other way. At the very least, it suggests there isn't one footwear choice that mitigates injury risk better than others.
A 2024 study at Oregon State University had subjects run in traditional sneakers, minimalist ones, and completely barefoot, and found that the latter two conditions significantly increased impact forces, raising the risk of stress fractures and plantar fasciitis.
Meanwhile, a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine compared running with shoes of various drop heights (including 0mm) and found no overall difference in injury risk. However, researchers noted that lower-drop shoes reduced risk for occasional runners while increasing it for regular ones.
To date, there’s no strong evidence that going barefoot in the gym can improve performance or reduce injury, but it’s not a bad idea either. Having little to nothing between your feet and the floor forces the feet to be active and strengthen, potentially affecting the entire kinetic chain. The truth is, wearing shoes won’t do much to protect your feet if you drop a weight on them, but for the sake of cleanliness (and probably etiquette), most gyms won’t permit bare feet on their weight-room floor.
“If you have plantar fasciitis,” says Splichal, “you may not want to do any barefoot training, but I’m still in favor of some barefoot movement for most people.” Splichal recommends at least doing your warmup and stretches without shoes and says it’s perfectly fine to go unshod for deadlifts and kettlebell exercises. Especially if you train at home where you make the rules.
Wearing gym shoes becomes more important for multi-directional movements and heavy lifts, as these demands may overwhelm unprotected feet.
The NOBULL Bottom Line:
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Barefoot running doesn’t seem to be safer than using running shoes.
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Barefoot lifting is good if you have healthy feet. Don’t go heavy unless you’re experienced.
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Do some barefoot movement every workout. Use gym shoes where appropriate.
Find out more about the different shoe options in the NOBULL line in our article, “Which NOBULL Shoes Are Right For Me?”
EXPERT SOURCES
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Founded in 1933, the AAOS is the preeminent provider of musculoskeletal education to orthopaedic surgeons and others in the world.
Wil Fleming
Fleming is a USA Weightlifting Senior International Coach who works with elite athletes (including Olympians). He is a world-champion lifter as well.
Dr. Emily Splichal
Splichal is a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) and former surgeon who specializes in human movement and functional and regenerative medicine.