Product: MBT Shoes
Website: MBT: The Anti-Shoe
Description (from website): What is this MBT shoes? MBT stands for Masai Barefoot Technology. Physiological footwear denotes shoes that have a number of positive effects not only on the foot but on the whole body. MBT is the first physiological footwear. Masai Barefoot Technology is patented worldwide.
Designed by a Swiss engineer to simulate barefoot walking or running, MBT shoes were supposedly inspired by the Masai people of East Africa, who walk barefoot over miles of uneven terrain, yet allegedly experience few back and joint problems. Some even train barefoot for marathons. The multi-layered soles, in essence, turn a flat surface into an uneven one, giving muscles you don’t normally use a workout and challenging you to walk more upright. You’ll experience a rocking motion when you wear them. Some athletes, including those on the Austrian National Ski Team, use MBT during training.
‘Shoe’ is the worst four-letter word of all to the folks at MBT, because traditional shoes stabilize us on flat surfaces, resulting in lazy muscles. The human body was designed to walk barefoot on uneven natural surfaces and MBT’s patented pivot sole mimics this action. Wearing MBTs significantly improves your gait and posture and relieves joint and back pressure. MBT also activates more muscles while you’re walking or simply standing. This, in turn, stimulates your metabolism, burns extra calories, and can have a firming effect on your abs, legs and butt. (Is that enough reasons to pick up a pair of MBTs and strut?)
And a video for those who want a visual explanation:
My Review: Love. I love these shoes. Are they a bit pricy? Yes. But they motivate me to work out. The rolling feature is fabulous and makes me feel springier in general but, more importantly, makes it so I have absolutely no pain in the foot that I have the re-occurring stress fracture in. My feet feel more cushioned and secured. I can attest that, like the website claims, MBT’s “negative heel creates minimal heel strike and lessens the impact to your joints and skeletal system”.
They definitely feel different than regular shoes. First off, they are more elevated than regular athletic shoes. Being a natural klutz this semi-threw me off at first and I had issues walking up stairs. After 3-4 times wearing them though I quickly acclimated to it. One of MBT’s biggest claims is the fact that shoe will lead to an increase muscle activity. According to my experience this is completely true. Not only did I feel as my muscles were more active during me nightly walks; I felt as though different muscles than usually were being used. After the first couple uses I woke up with a “good sore” feeling.
The only downside: MBT’s look weird. At a friend’s house I asked what they thought of my new kicks and was asked if they were orthopedic or if I had a clubbed foot that had somehow gone unnoticed. To fit so much technology into the heel the heel it has to be super tall. But MBT seems to have heard about this minor issue and have designed some new, lower profile MBT’s (you can see some here). I mean seriously, how cute are these?!?!
Will I Continue Using: Yes. I love these shoes. LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
Would I Purchase:I received this pair as a review product from the company. I’ll be honest, MBT’s have a high price point ($150ish – $250ish). But, when you consider how much we are on our feet and how important our foot health is in relation to our total health I think it’s a worthy investment. In fact, I am buying another pair of MBT athletic shoes to keep at work for my walk breaks. That’s how much I love them. And I’m asking for the above style for my birthday. Walking without pain = fabulous. Feeling as though I’m getting full body benefits is just a great cherry on top!
Where to Purchase:
I’ve had great success with Earth Footwear. I love the negative heel. Helps with my back pain and tones my legs!
Looks like they would be a great workout shoe. Hubby and I spent that much on our pairs of New Balance and it was totally worth it. I have bad knees so they helped ease the pain. I bet these would too. Love the variety they have.
Good content. Just wanted to add some buying advice for those on a budget.
There is a huge market for sports shoes but what’s significant is the genuineness of the shoes we intend to buy. Most often we think that a pair of authentic shoes would cost us big money and so we turn to fake shoes which are available at very low prices not realizing the consequences of wearing them in the long run.
However, you will be happy to know that you can still get genuine sports shoes at cheap prices. The only thing that we require is a little bit of research to know which stores stock original stuff and offer good discounts that make genuine shoes affordable and fit our budget. So spend sometime and research online to find where you can shop around, how you can shop and when is the best time to shop.
Solid web site – hope to visit again