ÿþLet's try this then (questions to follow the asics football boots colon): 1) What is the average heel lift (defined as the height difference in millimeters between the heel and the forefoot) of the top 5 (by quantity) Asics running shoes sold at retail (both online & in stores) in 2010? 2) How many of those top 5 shoes have peer reviewed studies showing their effectiveness at preventing injury or increasing performance? I swear, this whole thing is like a religion discussion where neither side budges because both sides feel they are right.

Anyhoo, I don't have a peer reviewed medical journal article to back up what I'm about to write so SB may want to hit that little "x" in the top right corner. For as long as I can remember every running shoe (for the most part) has always been a variation on the same theme: high-cushioned heel with much less cushion under the forefoot. Without fail there was always a huge amount of asics gel lyte these types of shoes in the running shoe section of ______ store. There may be some slight difference to make a few stand out from the others, such as gel pods, microchips, air pillows, whatever.

Essentially the modern running shoe has remained unchanged in the last 30 years if you don't count the gimmicks asics gel (which I don't). So, essentially the shoe industry, for the most part, is still selling the Model T. Different companies may give it a spoiler, Foose wheels, HID headlights, or a flashy paint job, but no matter what they do, it's still a Model-T. If the Asics of the world don't start truly embracing a thing called innovation, then they WILL become the IBM of the shoe industry (as one astute reader stated previously).*You mentioned before about a 12mm heel height being ideal? Why is that the standard? *Well.

That's a very interesting question because it hasn't been settled on at all. With ASICS we've always worked on a asics gel lyte iii 10mm gradient. That's the difference between the height of the forefoot and the height of the rear foot, so if you've got a cushion type shoe it might be 24mm and 14mm off the ground. A racing flat might be slimmer at 10mm and 20mm. We've done a lot of research on this and we understand that it actually puts your foot in a mechanically better position, makes it more stable, takes a load off the Achilles tendon& so there's a lot of positives. There's a lot of myths and all that sort of crap and the problem is that every time you add a little raise.

As Jay Dicharry so eloquently wrote in response to the post on Zero Drop, the debate should be about how best to find the optimal shoe for each runner. My belief is that in order to do this, more options are needed. In a case where the science is hard to do, anecdote has to play some role, and anecdote suggests that some people do better in less shoe. Thankfully, more easily accessible options are appearing in regular shoe stores, and runners are conducting individual experiments on a daily basis. Heck, I have run in just about every type of shoe imaginable, probably much to my own detriment.

And only recently have I come to determine asics kayano 22 my own personal preferences. Sometimes I like a soft shoe like the Saucony Kinvara, other times I like an ultraminimal shoe like a Vibram Fivefingers or Merrell Trail Glove. I don't like anything that has much more than a 6mm heel lift. That's a personal preference, and I am a n of 1. However, if I went by the advice of the shoe store clerk when I first started running, I'd still be in typical stability shoes. I feel that the shoe fitting process is flawed, and more research needs to be done on how to fit runners to shoes.