The Monday Shakeout: Can I Transition Out Of Stability Shoes?
By Matthew Klein
In this week's Monday Shakeout, Matt talks about his transitions in and out of stability footwear over the years, particularly in the past year as he's amped up strength training. Find out how he's done and the lessons you take to do the same.
Back when I began running, I was placed in moderate to high stability shoes. The Saucony Omni, Brooks Adrenaline and ASICS GT 2000 series were what I spent most of my time in. A slew of injuries (probably more associated with overtraining and a lack of strength) prompted me to try something different, which lead me to a long stint in minimal shoes. I still experienced the occasional injury and significant discomfort and in DPT school made the switch back to training more in stability shoes. During this time, I began reviewing running shoes, so started to spend more time in a larger variety of shoes. I still found myself returning to stability shoes, but felt limited by the decreasing number and the beginning of the elimination of the lightweight stability category. A few years later, we at DOR started to talk about Stable Neutral as I began to realize there were components of shoes that still provided stability without being traditional stability components. This opened up a new area of footwear for me, but I still had to switch back and forth between higher levels of stability and neutral shoes.
When people talk about needing stability in footwear, they are usually referring to the fact that certain people need help controlling motion at their foot/ankle/entire lower extremity to maintain forward motion during gait. The most common place people focus is on the arch of the foot but this is far more complicated than that. The hip also needs appropriate stabilization and lower limb stabilization occurs as a unique interaction between the entire lower body. Footwear usually makes the most direct impact on the foot, but can impacts, both positive and negative on the rest of the lower extremity.
Working on the Basics
If we are to keep this simple, let's focus on the foot/ankle. The arch of the foot is important in running gait as it needs to collapse during the loading phase to allow for shock absorption and needs to stiffen up during propulsion to allow for appropriate transfer of forces. Pronation and supination are natural motions that occur with this and require adequate strength and power to control during high force actions like running. Most traditional stability concepts are based on trying to "control" or "stop" pronation, but most people need help controlling it. That control requires adequate eccentric power to control the lengthening of muscles and collapse of the arch and concentric power to quickly shorten them and lift/stiffen the arch. Power is how quickly force can be produced and is key here due to how quickly these motions occur.
Keys to the Car
During the last two years, I have added a far higher degree of strength training into my routine than I have previously. It started with 50lb kettlebell squats, deadlifts that progressed to 200 lb (two 106lb kettlebell) deadlifts, squats and calf raises. In the last 2 months, I began a plyometric progression that started with double leg jumps and has now progressed to depth jumps and single leg jumps. This progression has suddenly made neutral shoes far more comfortable than they have been in the past. What has also helped has been the slow exposure to neutral shoes, balance training and being able to switch back to a shoe with a little more stability when necessary. The key that I want you to get from this narrative is that a few things are needed to transition away from stability shoes. You will need to work on strength and power, with an appropriate early build of strength followed by a careful introduction of power training to teach your body how to appropriately control pronation and supination motions.
You will also need to work on balance and expose yourself to more neutral shoes. The answer to the original question of this article is yes you can transition out of stability shoes if you choose. How far you can move out of stability shoes will depend on you but if you give your body time, you can move a good distance. I still prefer stable neutral shoes for a bit of guidance but can handle far more than I did years ago. Patience and a slow progression is key.
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