Captain Ob
I'm sure better shoes would help a lot, any recommendations?
Answer
The best shoes for parkour depend on several things. What kind of environment you deal with, your preferences for shoe, and your preferences for techniques are among them. But a lot of popular shoes for parkour have certain characteristics.
Good grip is a given. You're gonna want something that won't keep sliding off the wall you're trying to climb up. A shoe's grip is mainly affected by the material of the sole and surface area. Different sole materials behave differently (obviously). The grip of a shoe using rock climbing shoe rubber will be different from the grip of a pair of chucks. Climbing rubber will kick ass while on rough surfaces like concrete and (duh) rock, but does rather poorly while on smooth surfaces like rail or polished marble. On the other hand, the rubber used on converse will do pretty decently on rails, but not as awesome on concrete and brick.
Grip is also affected by the surface area it is allowed to act upon. A heavily threaded shoe's sole material may be really good for everything, but if all it can use to grip concrete is the tiny outsets, it's not gonna be an overall gripy shoe. On the other hand, you can have a shoe with a material grip that's really average, but have the sole be flat with only a couple of ridges on it giving it all that average grip a lot of area to act upon. Keep in mind that you may want a more threaded sole if you do a lot of natural stuff in the woods
Lightness is also something to consider. You don't want a shoe that will take away power from jumping and make balancing offset. You want something that you can feel as close to your foot as possible.
This "as close to your foot" is a pretty big deal for a lot of traceurs. Most beginners will think big drops need big padding. However, as you start advancing, you'll realize the importance of being able to feel your way through techniques, especially when doing rail work. If you do a lot of railings and precisions, you may want something with a thinner sole that will allow you to sense and flex your way through those. If you don't, then you still want a basic amount of sensitivity and flexibility on the sole for when you do.
Comfort should be factored in when thinking about shoes. You don't want a shoe that you regret having to put on.
Durability also matters. You want a shoe to be useful to you as long as possible. Sometimes, shoes will have layered soles, and after a hard session of cats and wallruns, the pieces of the soles will start peeling off. Make sure that the shoes you get either have one-piece sole, or that the sections of the sole are well glued onto the shoe.
Any shoes can have these characteristics, but here are a few known ones:
Feiyues- originally for martial arts, thin-ish sole, pretty flexible, light, and good grip on both smooth and rough, these would be the perfect shoe for parkour if it wasn't for the fact that the sole wears down very easily.
Nike Darts- I know of a couple of people who wear them. Aside from that, I don't know much about them.
5.10 freerunners- designed for parkour/freerunning, they're like running shoes, but with thinned climbing rubber sole. You may even be able to get a re-sole kit for when it wears out. Unfortunately, the clmibing rubber isn't so awesome on rails.
5.10 daescents- They're of a genre called "approach shoes". Uses a stronger climbing rubber, making overall grip on rails even worse, but is much more sensitive and flexible, bringing rail ability up. Some do well with increased flex, others can't deal with the grip.
Converse- I've been starting to like these. The sole flexes and is thin enough, is flat enough when first starting, and will become better the more you use them, is light, and it does decently on walls and well on rails. The problem with these is that you may need to try them on, 'cause sizing is kinda weird, and you may feel uncomfortable if you're not used to wearing these. If you already have a pair of these, try some stuff with them.
Vibram Five fingers- pretty popular shoe with some experienced traceurs, it's like a foot glove, with inserts for each 5 fingers of your foot. Grip is alright on everything, sensitivity and flex are as good as they go without going barefoot, and I haven't heard any complaints about durability. Definitely worth trying... thinking about buying myself a pair, in fact.
tried to get a wide variety of shoes, but it's up to you to see what's out there. Go to your shoe store, look around. The majority of the shoes may be crap, but there are some pretty random parkour shoe gems out there, you just need to find them.
The best shoes for parkour depend on several things. What kind of environment you deal with, your preferences for shoe, and your preferences for techniques are among them. But a lot of popular shoes for parkour have certain characteristics.
Good grip is a given. You're gonna want something that won't keep sliding off the wall you're trying to climb up. A shoe's grip is mainly affected by the material of the sole and surface area. Different sole materials behave differently (obviously). The grip of a shoe using rock climbing shoe rubber will be different from the grip of a pair of chucks. Climbing rubber will kick ass while on rough surfaces like concrete and (duh) rock, but does rather poorly while on smooth surfaces like rail or polished marble. On the other hand, the rubber used on converse will do pretty decently on rails, but not as awesome on concrete and brick.
Grip is also affected by the surface area it is allowed to act upon. A heavily threaded shoe's sole material may be really good for everything, but if all it can use to grip concrete is the tiny outsets, it's not gonna be an overall gripy shoe. On the other hand, you can have a shoe with a material grip that's really average, but have the sole be flat with only a couple of ridges on it giving it all that average grip a lot of area to act upon. Keep in mind that you may want a more threaded sole if you do a lot of natural stuff in the woods
Lightness is also something to consider. You don't want a shoe that will take away power from jumping and make balancing offset. You want something that you can feel as close to your foot as possible.
This "as close to your foot" is a pretty big deal for a lot of traceurs. Most beginners will think big drops need big padding. However, as you start advancing, you'll realize the importance of being able to feel your way through techniques, especially when doing rail work. If you do a lot of railings and precisions, you may want something with a thinner sole that will allow you to sense and flex your way through those. If you don't, then you still want a basic amount of sensitivity and flexibility on the sole for when you do.
Comfort should be factored in when thinking about shoes. You don't want a shoe that you regret having to put on.
Durability also matters. You want a shoe to be useful to you as long as possible. Sometimes, shoes will have layered soles, and after a hard session of cats and wallruns, the pieces of the soles will start peeling off. Make sure that the shoes you get either have one-piece sole, or that the sections of the sole are well glued onto the shoe.
Any shoes can have these characteristics, but here are a few known ones:
Feiyues- originally for martial arts, thin-ish sole, pretty flexible, light, and good grip on both smooth and rough, these would be the perfect shoe for parkour if it wasn't for the fact that the sole wears down very easily.
Nike Darts- I know of a couple of people who wear them. Aside from that, I don't know much about them.
5.10 freerunners- designed for parkour/freerunning, they're like running shoes, but with thinned climbing rubber sole. You may even be able to get a re-sole kit for when it wears out. Unfortunately, the clmibing rubber isn't so awesome on rails.
5.10 daescents- They're of a genre called "approach shoes". Uses a stronger climbing rubber, making overall grip on rails even worse, but is much more sensitive and flexible, bringing rail ability up. Some do well with increased flex, others can't deal with the grip.
Converse- I've been starting to like these. The sole flexes and is thin enough, is flat enough when first starting, and will become better the more you use them, is light, and it does decently on walls and well on rails. The problem with these is that you may need to try them on, 'cause sizing is kinda weird, and you may feel uncomfortable if you're not used to wearing these. If you already have a pair of these, try some stuff with them.
Vibram Five fingers- pretty popular shoe with some experienced traceurs, it's like a foot glove, with inserts for each 5 fingers of your foot. Grip is alright on everything, sensitivity and flex are as good as they go without going barefoot, and I haven't heard any complaints about durability. Definitely worth trying... thinking about buying myself a pair, in fact.
tried to get a wide variety of shoes, but it's up to you to see what's out there. Go to your shoe store, look around. The majority of the shoes may be crap, but there are some pretty random parkour shoe gems out there, you just need to find them.
Running in chuck taylor shoes?
Kayla
Okay, so my shoes aren't really chuck taylors they're some cheap walmart version of the low tops. I don't have the money to buy running shoes right now, but I really want to start the "couch to 5k" running program like right now.
Is it okay to run in these cheapo canvas shoes? I thought about getting gel inserts or at least gel heel pads to soften the impact. Sound like a good idea? Or should I really wait until I can afford the still-cheapo $20 athletic shoes at walmart? haha
Answer
Sorry, you shouldn't run in those shoes for more than 5 minutes. They'll make running uncomfortable and turn you off running. The $20 walmart shoes would be a step up, but you should aim to get proper running shoes. You could get some good deals online for shoes starting at $30. Shop around.
Someone mentioned barefoot running, this could work, but jumping into it isn't a good idea and if done improperly, barefoot running would kill your feet.
If you start out in chuck taylors you'll wear both the shoe and feet out very quickly. I don't like gel inserts in regular running shoes, but you could try them in the store and see if they give enough support.
Really just wait to run, you could really screw up your feet/legs (I had a teacher who screwed up his leg running-in proper running shoes-but didn't change them often enough and had surgery) surgery is unimaginably more expensive than buying new running shoes every few months.
What you can do right now is go for increasingly longer bike rides (work up to an hour or two) to build endurance as well as keep your current shoes nice and not require expensive equipment. Biking is great exercise and I include it as a huge part of my off season training as a HS varsity runner. So if you have a bike, bike!
Sorry, you shouldn't run in those shoes for more than 5 minutes. They'll make running uncomfortable and turn you off running. The $20 walmart shoes would be a step up, but you should aim to get proper running shoes. You could get some good deals online for shoes starting at $30. Shop around.
Someone mentioned barefoot running, this could work, but jumping into it isn't a good idea and if done improperly, barefoot running would kill your feet.
If you start out in chuck taylors you'll wear both the shoe and feet out very quickly. I don't like gel inserts in regular running shoes, but you could try them in the store and see if they give enough support.
Really just wait to run, you could really screw up your feet/legs (I had a teacher who screwed up his leg running-in proper running shoes-but didn't change them often enough and had surgery) surgery is unimaginably more expensive than buying new running shoes every few months.
What you can do right now is go for increasingly longer bike rides (work up to an hour or two) to build endurance as well as keep your current shoes nice and not require expensive equipment. Biking is great exercise and I include it as a huge part of my off season training as a HS varsity runner. So if you have a bike, bike!
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Title Post: Whats the best free running / parkour shoe?
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