Strength Shoes are designed to be worn while completing strength and power workouts. They feature a frontal training platform which requires you to remain on the balls of your feet with your heel hanging off the edge. This forces your calf muscles, which are instrumental to jumping and sprinting, to work harder throughout the workouts. With consistent training, the Strength Shoe workouts will improve your leg power, which will in turn give you the ability to jump higher and sprint faster in your regular shoes.
Components
Increases in leg power are a result of consistently participating in strength training exercises and plyometrics, or explosive exercises. Therefore, Strength Shoe workouts consist of a mix of both. The strength training exercises are meant to be done slowly and under control, focusing primarily on your range of motion and progressively increasing the amount of force your muscles can produce. Plyometric exercises are designed to be done as explosively as possible.
Strength Exercises
Strength exercises in the Strength Shoe workout include squats, lunges and stepups. You should begin completing them without any additional weight and then progressively increase the amount of resistance you use as you build up strength. Do two to three sets of 10 repetitions each. To complete squats, place your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart with your toes pointed forward. Bend your knees and push your butt back so that you lower down into a squat. Continue until your thighs are parallel with the floor and then return to starting position. To complete lunges, take a large step forward with one foot. Drop your back knee down directly towards the floor, stopping just short of touching. Return to starting position and repeat with the opposite leg. To complete stepups, step up onto a plyo box with one foot. Be sure the entire frontal training platform is on the box. Step up and drive the knee of your trailing leg up towards your chest, then return it back down to the floor. Complete all of the repetitions of one leg before switching to the other leg.
Plyometric Exercises
Plyometric exercises utilized by the Strength Shoe workout program include box jumps, cone jumps, rim jumps, bounding and skipping. Complete two to three sets of 10 repetitions each of box jumps, cone jumps and rim jumps. Complete 2 to 3 sets of 25 yards each of bounds and skips. To complete box jumps, stand in front of a plyo box, then squat down and jump off both feet, landing on top of the box. Step down and repeat. To complete cone jumps, jump side to side over a cone, focusing on taking off immediately again upon landing. To complete rim jumps, stand under a basketball rim. Hold your hands up as if you were reaching for the rim. Keeping your knees soft but straight, jump up toward the rim, once again focusing on taking off again immediately after you land. To complete bounds, jump as far forward, taking off and landing with both feet. For skips, alternate between driving one knee up towards your chest as you jump as high as you can.
Frequency
The exercises included in the Strength Shoe workouts are very intense and therefore your muscles require an adequate amount of rest between workout sessions. Complete two Strength Shoe workouts per week, with at least 72 hours of rest in between sessions. An ideal schedule is to work out on Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays.
Considerations
Prior to any Strength Shoe workout, it's essential that you adequately warm up your muscles to prepare them for the intense workout and to prevent injury. Before you put your shoes on, jog a quarter of a mile. Put the Strength Shoes on and perform a variety of dynamic warm up activities like leg swings, calf raises and body weight squats.
