Jeremy Barket

Staff Writer

In between all of the commercials and print advertisements for weight loss products, I am sure you’ve all seen Skecher’s Shape Up sneakers. Between Kim Kardashian telling you to “take these pills” because “you’ll lose weight!” and Chuck Norris telling you about his new exercise machine to sculpt those buns of flab into buns of steel, you’ve definitely seen the shoe.

The cute shoes that claim, due to their ‘breakthrough’ in shoe designing technology, you will not only lose weight, but you will also tone those buns and sculpt those gams – all while doing the everyday activity of walking!

For those of you who are not familiar with the ‘breakthrough’ in shoe designing, the sole is essentially similar to gluing a half-cut watermelon to the bottom of your shoe. The sole is also convex, like contact lenses.

So let’s get right to the question at hand – Do Shape Ups really follow through on what they claim they will?
Well, yes and no.

According to Dr. Gerald Zavorsky, Marywood University, “Shape ups DO NOT WORK. They are pretty much the same in terms of weight loss and muscle toning as regular running shoes.”

Dr. Zavorsky is the director of the physiology laboratory, and associate adjunct professor of physiology.
So, in one sense, Shape Ups are not some magical shoe that will allow you to skip typical exercise and diet.
Dr. Zavorsky adds, “It is not the shoe per say that gets you toned and gets you to lose weight, it is the amount and type of exercise that you do that gets you toned. Exercise burns calories not the shape-ups.”
So, in another sense, simply by walking in a shoe, any shoe (including Shape Ups) will cause you to lose weight and get those legs in shape.

Now that we know that Shape Ups are not some magical sneakers helping women (and men, too!) lose weight quicker than a normal shoe, let’s further examine what else Shape Ups claims.
By logging onto www.skechers.com/info/shape_ups, you have the ability to find out what the shoe is exactly made up of, testimonials, and ‘why it works.’

The website also features a short little five minute video of an overview of the sneaker. Within the first seven seconds, the announcer says, “Congratulations! With Shape Ups, you can finally get in shape without going to the gym!” It also goes on to say how it is the first stylish shoe that works instantly to get you in shape.
Now, as we mentioned earlier, any sneaker will get you in shape – so you could really wear whatever sneaker you want without going to the gym. In terms of being stylish? We’ll come back to that later.

The shoe physically has a curved sole, a ‘kinetic wedge’, and breathable mesh design to provide needed support and supreme comfort. I presume that curved wedge is what that makes the shoe so different because it ‘propels wearers into their next step.’ I don’t know about you, but isn’t the walker supposed to propel themselves into the next step? Not the shoe?

Okay, so the shoe claims that you finally have a reason to enjoy exercising without hitting the gym. Luckily, the website provides an area with all different types of shoes.

Guess how much a pair of Shape Up sneakers will cost you through the company website?

Approximately one-hundred dollars. As a college student, I am already strapped for cash by relying on heavy doses of rahmen noodles and Cap’n crunch.

Now, keep in mind that Skechers’ the company that produces Shape Ups. If you decide to look for the shoe for less than one-hundred dollars, you might have difficulty finding the Shape Up sneaker. Now, if you want just a normal-soled sneaker made by Skechers, you could find them starting at twenty five dollars.

Essentially, Shape Ups DO work, but only because that walking bare foot or walking in pretty much any sneaker will burn weight because the exercise itself is what burns weight and tones muscle.

Shape Ups DO NOT work because they there is no sneaker available that will burn more calories than any other sneaker.

However, without regards to exercise or burning calories, maybe you just like the shoe. On the Skechers testimonial section of the website, Craig from Illinois claims that Shape Ups are “the most comfortable shoes I have ever put on.”

In terms of comfort, one cannot really argue. But just remember – Crocs are infamous for being comfortable. But, they are also infamous for being a fashion faux pas.