I know we've all thought this to ourselves while the coach writes the WOD on the white board.  You hope to never see some kind of heavy Oly lift or overhead squats paired with box jumps, double unders and maybe a run.  Hell, it could be "Nancy".  But in reality, this kind of WOD happens all the damn time and you've got to pick and either sacrifice ankle stability/power delivery or foot mobility.



 

wodLIFTS are an insert that you put under (or on top) of the insole of your favorite cross training shoes.  Designed to be used with minimalist shoes, i.e. crossfit shoes; such as Reebok Crossfit Nano's and Inov-8's.  The inserts are made of a solid, hard plastic and add about a half inch to your shoe's heel height, landing you at about .75? depending on what shoes you're putting them into.  They offer 3 different sized inserts, ranging all the way from women's size 5 shoe, to mens 10.5+ (mine are medium).  As far as weight goes, mediums weigh 4.5 ounces (128 grams).  wodLIFT's retail at $49.95 for a single pair.

 

Installation is easy enough.  If you're using Reebok Nano's (any of them), you're going to need to peel off the insole and slide the wodLIFTS in.  For Inov-8's, just take out the removable insole, put the wodLIFT in and replace the insole.  The shoes I used for my testing are Nano 3.0's and Inov-8 252's (Both 9mm heel height, Nano's = 4mm drop, 252 = 3mm).

 Alright, now that all that technical mumbo jumbo/intro is out of the way.  Let's talk about the important stuff, how they fit, feel and most of all, work.

 The feel upon putting your feet into your shoes with the wodLIFTS in them is…surprising?  Feeling the more solid raised heel on a flexible trainer feels interesting.  Honestly, you quickly forget about this and almost forget you have the inserts in at all.  I had no problems of comfort coaching multiple classes in either shoe.  Then again, I'm also used to walking around and doing things in Oly shoes, but never do shoes with the wodLIFTS in become uncomfortable.  One of the instructions given while using wodLIFTS is to make sure that your shoes are laced all the way up and tight like you would Oly shoes.  Follow this!!!  It's going to feel like your heel wants to come out of your shoes when you walk otherwise.  The mediums fit like advertised, they go from my heel all the way to the middle of my foot almost about where the balls of my feet are.

For more inforamtion visit blog.thewodlife.com.au

These are available at The WOD Life for $49.95 >>> HERE