Best shoes to lift — A Rundown
Solid black, brown, or gray midsoles will look best.
Foot-shaped toe box (you will not regret it).
Stable upper with solid heel lock.
Mild rocker can help both sides feel equal.
Best Brands To Lift:
Altra, Topo, Born, Lems, Keen, Chacos, and Teva.
What to Look For
What to Avoid
White midsoles (lift will be more obvious).
Uncomfortable toe boxes (ask a podiatrist).
Shoes with air pockets (Nike Air or On Cloud)
Shoes with complex midsoles (bumps, grids, protrusions).
Slip-ons or flip-flops (sadly not fun with lifts – you need laces).
if you go that route, get your lift with a mild heel and forefoot rocker to help keep your heel in place.
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Trail running & hiking
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Casual shoes
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Best lift practices
Mild forefoot taper (at/past balls of feet ~3-6mm)
Will keep the same standing platform, but it will allow your toes to push off more comfortably.
To Honeycomb or Not to Honeycomb?
I do get my lift's honeycombed.
However, I ask for no honeycomb in the toe area, as I've noticed it with my toes in shoes with thiner midsoles.
If your lift is under 15mm, I'd say it's less important to get a honeycomb.
May want to experiment with a mild heel taper (3-6mm) in shoes that don't include any kind of rocker sole.
I'm planning on doing this in the next pair of Born's I get, as the heel landing doesn't feel as good as it could between the two sides.
You don't want it to change the drop, so really just at very near the back of heel (1" to 1.5" max)
What May Work Best For You
What I'd Avoid Getting
Tapering down to 0mm at tip
A mild 3-6mm taper down will suffice
I taper mine from 3/4" to 5/8" (~3mm)
With a 40mm+ LLD, a slightly bigger taper could be beneficial.
Lift added to sole of shoe.
They've either got to cut the midsole in half or remove the sole to add the lift.
This happened once to me, and it was ridiculous.
You may want a completely flat lift, however I've found that the mild taper helps when pushing off, and keeps both sides feeling similar
My right big toe would hurt when I wore completely non-tapered lifts — now it feels fine.
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That's where I get my lifts, and they do terrific work.