This little piggy went to kettlebell class...
Kick off those cushy shoes! While they may feel nice and bouncy as you walk through the door, it's best to kick them off once you get inside for our Tuesday and Thursday kettlebell classes. Why? Because all that cushion creates a less stable surface... a gap between you and the floor. The squish that feels so cozy while walking around doesn't do you any favors while you are trying to drive your feet into the floor for your strict presses or heavy swings. The cushioning just displaces and disperses all that engergy you're working so hard to generate. You can generate a far greater force from a stable surface than you can from a squishy one.
Imagine yourself in a canoe, floating on the bayou... and you happen to have a cannon. What do you think will happen if you fire that cannon? You'll probably get pretty close to flipping that boat right over, and the cannonball won't actually travel very far. Now, if you move your cannon onto solid ground, you'll get that cannonball to travel much farther!
So, if you want all that force you generate to go where you actually want it to, go barefoot! Not only that, but your feet were designed to give you feedback about the environment in which they stand. With cushy, squishy soles between your feet and the floor, your proprioception (ability to sense your own body's position in space) is diminished.
I'll see you (and your bare piggies) in class!