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If you’re going to play Football, you would wear football boots, if you’re going Bowling, you’d wear bowling shoes, so surely if you’re Weightlifting then you’d wear lifters? 

First things first, what are “lifters”. Lifters, also known as weightlifting shoes are a special type of shoe designed specifically for Weightlifting. The shoe itself has a firm semi-flexible sole, with a raised heel. Depending on the make and style, the heel or “drop” of the shoe can vary from subtle, to substantial. 

Lifters are designed to assist the wearer in a number of ways, to ultimately help them lift more weight and with better form. The first and most obvious feature is the raised heel. This incline of the base of the foot not only helps improve your mobility (whilst performing the movement), but it also helps shift more of the load onto your quads. This is why conventionally you would Deadlift either barefoot or flat soled to ensure the use of your posterior chain as opposed to your quads. 

The second important feature of the lifter is the rigidity of the shoe itself. As well as having a relatively solid structure, they also have a wide base of support. This wide base offers an increase in stability for the wearer, especially when performing something like a Split Jerk. An increase in lateral stability in the Jerk could be the difference between a made lift and a miss. 

So if these shoes offer so many benefits, then why would somebody choose not to wear them for Weightlifting? Now because these are a sports specific shoe, they are designed to perform certain tasks extremely well, but others not so much. Whilst a lifter would help you perform a Snatch, they would certainly not help you run a 400m or climb a 15ft rope. So if we were to take CrossFit as an example, you would argue that if the workout contained snatches, running and rope climbs, you would not be able to wear lifters. 

This would put forward the argument that if you are a CrossFitter, then you shouldn’t wear lifters? As you need to be able to perform the lifts combined with other movements and you don’t want to “get used” to lifting in lifters. 

Now what I have found from my personal experience is a mixture of the two. Obviously if you are a Weightlifter, then you should be wearing lifters, it’s as simple as that. Different lifters don’t wear them for specific things but on the whole lifters are favourable. For example, at present I Back Squat wearing Metcons. Not because I believe that it is more optimal, but because of a previous back injury a find it less of a stress on my lower back. Will I ever go back to Back Squatting in lifters in the future? Potentially. 

If you are a CrossFitter however, I would do both. Wear your lifters for your stand alone Weightlifting pieces, but then practice your metcon based barbell work in your flats. If you’re going to compete in CrossFit you should be able to Snatch in either lifters or flats. By wearing your lifters for the Weightlifting elements, you are going to assist your development of the big lifts, which will have some degree of carry over when you lift in your flats. To date my max Snatch in my metcons is only 5kg under my max in my lifters, and I don’t generally Snatch in my flats. 

The bottom line is do whatever works for you and your sport, but either way, enjoy your training!

If you enjoyed this post, check out my next post “Training In The Heat“.