Instead of buying cool sneakers, I bought ugly ones

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/13/2015 at 13:10 • Filed to: None

Last week I had a hankering to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to add to my ever-growing collection. But then I remembered I need some sneakers with actual proper support for my overly wide, flat feet while working out. So I bought some ugly-ass sneakers instead.

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Thanks to my parents who both have wide, flat feet, I also have wide, flat feet. My actual size is 11 extra-wide, but most of the time for shoes I'm buying just for the look, I buy a 12 and they fit decently enough. But in the past few months I've gotten back into working out on a regular basis, and I haven't really had proper shoes.

Because of my gnarly feet, I need shoes with a lot of support. I have an old pair of Brooks Beasts I got like 6 years ago and were awesome for my feet, but they're worn out. I found a local shoe store that has the new Brooks Beast and tried them on but really didn't like how they felt. So I went searching online and found the Saucony Stabil CS3 which supposedly will be more to my liking.

So you may be asking: what's so ugly about those? They look like your usual running shoes. Well, here's where that stability and arch support comes from:

Basically, they're like a halfway decent colorway on your grandpa's orthopedic shoes. But hey, for working out, I need all the support I can get. I don't care if they look like grandpa shoes.

(I got them from Amazon Prime so I can always try them on and return them if they don't work out.)

DISCUSSION (8)

ACESandEIGHTS > Textured Soy Protein
04/13/2015 at 13:12

Fascinating stuff. Just kidding. TL;DR. But if you went to an actual store to be fitted and they came back with this, props to you for buying something that fit rather than something that looked cool, and may your feet/legs/back benefit from it too.

TL;DR: Good job.

OK and I did go back and read it, and props to you for having Amazon Prime—I buy nearly all my shoes via this method.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Textured Soy Protein
04/13/2015 at 13:15

They don't look half bad I'd say mate.

I've got rather small feet.. 9 1/2 or 10 in length, but I can never find shoes that are wide enough, so I'd love a review on these.

Textured Soy Protein > ACESandEIGHTS
04/13/2015 at 13:31

I have like 25+ pairs of sneakers based on liking how they look.

A couple of those pairs have been halfway decent for working out but not ideal so that's why I ended up with these.

Textured Soy Protein > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
04/14/2015 at 16:02

Many shoes come in widths. Not all of them are stability-specific like these. But if you just need wide shoes and not all that extra support as well, there's decent options. Nike, NB, Asics, Brooks, and Saucony all have some wide options that I know of.

Textured Soy Protein > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
04/20/2015 at 13:29

I’ve now worked out in these a few times and I’m very happy with them. I’ve seen a big improvement in the amount of time and effort I’m able to put into running on the elliptical just from the shoes. The first time I put them on I wasn’t quite sure how cushiony they would be, seemed a bit hard. But as I’ve worn them a few times I can now feel them starting to mold to my feet.

If you’ve got particularly flat arches these are a great option and not too overly heavy as can sometimes be the case with shoes like these. But if you just have wide feet and need something wide, there are plenty of options out there.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Textured Soy Protein
04/20/2015 at 13:31

I’ve got flat arches, perhaps not that wide feet, but I AM rather heavy though.. 172cm and 88kg.

Textured Soy Protein > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh
04/20/2015 at 13:49

There are several shoes worth checking out. These are performance running shoes so they tend to be updated with a new version rather often. You might find the older ones in the series on sale. Sometimes they change enough over time where you have to find something new.

Extra cushion + decent arch support:
Asics Kayano
Brooks Addiction
New Balance 1260
Saucony Hurricane

Extra support, ok-to-good cushion:
Asics Fortify
Asics Foundation
Brooks Beast
New Balance 1340
Saucony Stabil

The shoes I was replacing were the Brooks Beast 9. So my first move was to try the current Beast 14, but I didn’t like them. The 9s have way more cushioning and flexibility. The 14s were too stiff.

I also tried out the Asics Kayano 21 since that was the only other shoe on this list that the store I was in had in my size. It was super pillowy and flexible, very comfortable shoes but not enough arch support for me to feel good about working out in them.

The Saucony Stabil CS3 is much more similar to the old Beast 9s, but they’re a good bit lighter and not quite as plush in the cushioning department. The Beast 9s had these awesome neoprene insoles that felt super comfy as soon as you put them on. The CS3s have required a bit of breaking in but now they’re feeling great and the lower weight + more flexibility is worth the tradeoff, because they’re still pretty dang cushiony.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > Textured Soy Protein
04/20/2015 at 13:54

Thanks mate, I’ll have a look.