Overweight runners: special shoes?

Hi there,

Do you need special shoes to run in if you're overweight? Aside from the normal neutral/overpronation etc type?

Baby,

I'm big boned and will never be a wimpet of a runner so tend to go for asic type padded shoe's for stuff like a marathon distance but over than that you don't need any special shoe's if your overweight. I would just go for normal shoe's and take it from there. If you are overweight it won't inpact on your running or health unless you have any over conditions as well. You might be surpliced how quickly your weight changes after a few months running.

Best to get checked out at a good running shop, or by a physio.

The received wisdom is that overweight people tend to overpronate quite a lot, and need high stability shoes... with good cushioning.  But these are nothing outside the normal range of shoes...  some "average" weight runners will also need these.

If you do lose a lot of weight (which will take control of diet too), any overpronation might naturally reduce...  so get checked again.

Well done, good luck and have fun.

Agree with Cake - well cushioned shoes. Asics Cumulus are my own favourites. But it's not so much about simple weight though, more a combination of weight plus how heavy you are on your feet. Very overweight people can be surprisingly light on their feet and skinny little sylphs can often tromp around with all the grace of an elephant!

thanks, all.

I'm hoping that the running will help shed the pounds too. I'm going to have a gait analysis at sweatshop after payday