You probably have seen the commercials or the newspaper advertisements for those funny looking Sketchers. With their clumsy and clunky appearance I could have guessed that the shoe I saw in the ad belonged to Sketchers, but what they have done now is even funkier than any shoe they have ever produced.

They are called Shape Ups. If you have not heard of them before, they are shoes that are designed to promote weight loss, improve posture, tone muscles, and reduce the stress that is on your knees and ankles. They are really some kind of a shoe—they look like your typical shoe, but with a curved bump on the sole. How do they work?

Well, they are designed to help by changing the way that you walk. People say that walking barefoot is good for you so that you strengthen your arches and feet. They say that running on grass is better for your bones and knees and that walking on sand can have major benefits. Well, Sketchers has decided to draw from nature to develop a new kind of shoe. What they have done is to use a kinetic wedge insert and a rolling bottom to simulate walking on soft sand. They say that the movement that these shoes put your body through results in stronger leg, buttock, back and abdominal muscles. How is that for a shoe?

I will admit that the concept is pretty interesting. The shoe itself is not to aesthetically appealing to me, but perhaps to other people it is. However, some people may determine that these shoes could aid their fitness and would choose these shoes over a typical shoe. Because this is relatively new technology, I am curious to see how these shoes work in the long run.

Speaking of running, now I am curious to find out if you can actually run in these shoes. Sketchers typically is not a strong supplier of running shoes, but maybe this shoe is different.

Shape Ups may just be the new thing, we shall see!

When I was little my mom would lead me to the clearance section or to wherever the markdown shoes were, and I would pick out the best looking shoes that were my size. What brand they were did not matter to me, how the support was incorporated did not even cross my mind, and other important factors like that were never taken into consideration. I just wanted a pair of shoes that looked good and that my parents would pay for.

If you are looking into actually performing physical exercise on a pretty regular schedule, choosing a shoe based on color and price is a huge mistake. I learned that the hard way when my silver Nikes with the small pink check and black accents ended up being the source of my shin splints.

The first step in choosing a shoe is to understand your feet. It is important to know how your feet pronate, or how you roll from your heel to your toes through the foot strike. The best way to figure out how you walk is to check out the underside of a pair of used shoes.

If most of the shoe wear is:

• On the inside side, then you overpronate and probably need to choose Motion-Control Running Shoes
• On the outside side, then you underpronate and most likely need to choose Cushioned Running Shoes
• Uniform across the forefoot, then you are neutral and should choose Stability Running Shoes

The next step would be to figure out how your arches are. You could have a normal arch (choose Stability Running shoes), a low arch (choose Motion-Control shoes), or a high arch (choose cushioned shoes).

There are other things that you can take into consideration, such as the fact that overpronators should choose a straight shaped shoe while underpronators should choose a curved shaped shoe, but the number one thing you should do is go see a local specialty shoe store. Many stores even have you run on a treadmill to see the way that you run and almost every store will make the effort to take time out of their day to ensure that you purchase the right shoe. Sure, it may become a little pricey, but your feet and body will thank you in the long run.