Energetic Advantages and Disadvantages of Running Shoes

INTRODUCTION Adding mass to the feet or shoes increases energetic demand: ~1% for each 100grams added per foot [1,2]. However, several studies indicate that running with lightweight shoes has an equivalent energetic cost as running barefoot (Figure 1). Frederick et al. [3] hypothesized that this could be explained if running barefoot involves a greater “cost of cushioning” which counteracts the energy savings due to eliminating shoe mass. Here, we directly tested Frederick et al.’s hypothesis.