Sketcher Shape Ups

I don't know if they really do what they claim, but I've been wearing similar ones for a month or so and I just love them.

There's been reports that they don't do anything for ya. But if they're comfy, then that's GREAT!!!

I loved mine very comfy until I ruptured my achilles heel and been in cast for eight weeks my Dr told me not to wear them again ! Great debate if the shoes played a role in my injury ! But I did love them !

See the NY Times article below on the Reebok version of the shoes from not that long ago. Bottom line- don't count on the shoes to tone without you putting in any extra work.
Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/a-workout-in-a-shoe/

Can you give your muscles a better workout simply by changing your shoes?

The athletic shoe giant Reebok claims you can. The new EasyTone walking shoe, a provocative new marketing campaign says, leaves leg and buttock muscles better toned than regular walking shoes.

Consumers are buying it — literally. Officials from Reebok, a unit of Adidas, say the EasyTone is the company’s most successful new product in at least five years.

Other companies have marketed shoes that promise a physiological benefit. Masai Group International, of Switzerland, sells the MBT, a “rocker” shoe with a curved sole, said to ease arthritis and back pain. Shape-Ups from Skechers USA are designed to improve posture and muscle tone and promote weight loss. The FitFlop brand has been engineered to increase leg, calf and gluteal muscle activity, giving the wearer “a workout while you walk.”

While most athletic shoes offer support and cushioning, the new muscle-activating shoes are engineered to create a sense of instability. Design elements like curved soles and Reebok’s “balance pods” are said to force the wearer to engage stabilizing muscles further, resulting in additional toning for calf, hamstring and gluteal muscles.

That sounds great, but do they really work? To support the claims, the shoemakers each offer company-financed exercise studies suggesting that the shoes produce a higher level of muscle engagement, at least in a controlled research setting.

But the studies don’t show whether more engagement leads to meaningful changes in muscle tone or appearance over time. Nor is it clear whether the high level of engagement continues once the walker becomes accustomed to the shoe.

Reebok’s EasyTone has made the biggest splash in the muscle-shoe market, especially with its advertising. In one commercial, the camera drifts away from the woman’s face and zooms in on her backside. Another advertisement claims that the leg and butt-toning effects of EasyTone will “make your boobs jealous.”

The advertisements, aimed at younger women, have appeared in magazines and online, and a big television campaign is under way: 3,000 commercial slots have been scheduled on network and cable in November and December.

But the claim that the shoes offer muscle toning is backed by a single study involving just five people, not published in a peer-reviewed academic journal. In that study, done at the University of Delaware, five women walked on a treadmill for 500 steps wearing either the EasyTone or another Reebok walking shoe, and while barefoot. Using sensors that measure muscle activity, the researchers showed that wearing the EasyTone worked gluteal muscles an average of 28 percent more than regular walking shoes. Hamstring and calf muscles worked 11 percent harder.

Reebok’s head of advanced innovation, Bill McInnis, said the size of the study was adequate to determine the effect of the shoe and added that exercise studies of this nature commonly used small numbers of participants.

The EasyTone is the brainchild of Mr. McInnis, a former NASA engineer, who said he was interested in the stability balls used in gym workouts and wanted to translate the technology to a shoe. In particular, he was intrigued by the Bosu ball, a small half-sphere that exercisers stand on during workouts as a way to engage leg and core muscles better.

In designing the EasyTone, Mr. McInnis and his team sought to mimic that concept by adding “balance pods” to the toe and heel of the shoe. As the person walks, the air pushes back and forth between toe and heel, and the person sinks into the shoe. The effect is similar to that of walking on a sandy beach — which requires more work, balance and muscle engagement than walking on a flat surface.

John Lynch, head of United States brand marketing for Reebok, said the company’s market research showed that four out of five women were especially interested in products that toned their leg and gluteal muscles. Mr. Lynch added that retailers were reporting brisk sales of the shoe; one Los Angeles sporting goods store reported that its Reebok sales more than doubled in November.

Reebok says it has collected 15,000 hours’ worth of wear-test data from shoe users who say they notice the difference. “They definitely feel something in their muscles after they’ve walked in the product,” Mr. McInnis said.

One of them is Carol Vanner, 51, an executive assistant in Atlanta who had tried the larger-soled FitFlop shoe and was skeptical she would notice much difference with the EasyTone.

“I thought there was no way they would work, but I tried them and I felt like I had worked out,” she said. “Do I look like I’m 20? No, but I feel like when I wear them for periods of time that I have exercised and worked those muscles.”

Shay Gipson, 31, an apparel product manager in New York City, said she tried the shoes after hearing a friend rave about them. She immediately felt the balancing effect, she said, and she likes walking in the shoe.

“I can definitely feel the muscle groups in my legs working more than I would in regular shoes,” she said. “I feel more toned.”

But it remains to be seen whether such effects will make a difference over time. In a July 2008 study of instability boards and balls, Canadian researchers found that among experienced exercisers, moderate instability balls like the Bosu had little effect on muscle activation.

The shoes are designed only for walking, and because of the instability design, wearers are discouraged from running, jumping and engaging in other athletic activities while wearing them. So the real effect may come from simple awareness that they are wearing a muscle-activating shoe, causing them to walk more briskly and with purpose.

“I think buying them with this in mind is likely to increase mindfulness, which is good for health,” said Ellen J. Langer, a Harvard psychologist who has studied the connections between mindfulness, exercise and health. “It will probably result in even more walking, with the implicit and explicit virtues endemic to exercise.”

I don't have the Shape Ups...but I have the Tone Ups...which are the sandles. I have had them for over a year and I love them! They are perfect in the summer for the long 45 min walks with the dog, and my feet are getting a tan.

My hubby bought Shape ups and he loves them...though you can't really run in them

They will tone and shape your legs exactly as much as non-shaping shoes...

I wouldn't be caught dead running in them, great way to get injured.

The answer is "no". However, if it gets you moving more, then fine. However, there are people who have had back and knee problems as a result. I was interviewed about this by our local newspaper. Rather than give you the link to that article, I'll just point you to a very reputable source, the American Council on Exercise.

Read below:


http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/720/will-toning-shoes-really-give-you-a-better-body/

The article is long, so if nothing else, please read this, from the American Council on Exercise.

The Bottom Line

“Don’t buy these shoes because of the claims that you’re going to tone your butt more or burn more calories. That’s absolutely wrong,” says Porcari.

Then how do researchers account for the anecdotal evidence (found on blogs, etc.) from those who wear the shoes and claim their muscles get sore, which must mean the shoes are working?

“Do you feel different when you’re wearing these shoes? Of course you do because you’re walking on probably an inch worth of cushioning,” explains Porcari. “They feel different, and that’s why when people first wear them they’re probably going to be sore because you’re using different muscles. But if you wear any sort of abnormal shoes that you’re not used to wearing, your muscles are going to get sore. Is that going to translate into toning your butt, hamstrings and calves? Nope. Your body is just going to get used to it.”

Bryant isn’t surprised by the findings: “When you think about it, it’s kind of the same old song and dance,” he says. “People will still fall prey in their search for the quick-and-easy fitness solution. These shoes are just another attempt to find that magic bullet.”

Bryant says he’s also concerned that extended wear of these toning shoes may alter the walking gait mechanics of wearers and, in some cases, potentially cause problems for those who may already be at risk for lower-extremity issues. But to evaluate that will require another longer-term study. And although the toning shoes don’t deliver on their advertised claims, Porcari mentions there may be potential that these shoes could improve wearer’s balance over time, but that too will require a long-term training study.

They will tone and shape your legs exactly as much as non-shaping shoes...

I wouldn't be caught dead running in them, great way to get injured.

Agreed.

I'm thirding this. They do absolutely BUPKISS for tone and can actually cause more problems to your joints because they are making you walk with an unnatural gait. But you did mention work- if your job involves standing for 8 hrs a day I would go for them. The cushioning for standing for a long time on them would be the ONLY reason I'd even consider getting these fad traps, but if you're looking at them for muscle gain or exercising, then you're SOL and don't waste your money.

If you intend to pick them up, do NOT RUN IN THEM. They are not designed for running or anything like that and you will end up with injury. *wince* I've seen other runners wearing these at the rec center where I run* and I don't know how their ankles aren't broken yet with the way their contorting their gait to try and run in them. (That big pad in the shoe doesn't allow the foot to rock back on the heel like it normally does in order to get forward spring, so their gait is this tippytoe dig in with no recoil and often includes twisting joints in odd ways to push off. I want to cry in pain every time I see it happening...)



*Disclaimer: I barefoot run (usually in vibrams since the rec center requires foot covering)- My feet had plenty of years of evolution to come up with the fantasic biological structure that they are and several decades of fad design in shoes is not going to suddenly jump over all that with a shoe version of a "little blue pill". If it ain't broke don't fix it! I'll skip putting bricks on my feet and let my feet with all their fantastic bones, tendons and muscles move like they should naturally. Because of the running (I did c25k and now run 3 miles every other day) my legs have some ni~ice muscle tone to them and I did it barefoot, no fad shapeup shoes. They aren't needed.