CardioStrides® Fitness Technology
Overview
Nikken CardioStrides shoes facilitate weight management, muscle toning and strength training through the use of a time-honored technique: applied resistance, by incorporating additional mass (weight) in the shoes and thus increasing the amount of effort needed to walk in them.
The added weight is moderate, so that the CardioStrides wearer quickly becomes acclimated to the difference and ceases to notice it. Yet this added mass is sufficient to increase weight loss and muscle building, while being worn and engaging in activities that require walking. These encompass a variety of pursuits and CardioStrides wearers have reported that the shoes contributed to weight loss even as they carried out routine tasks such as shopping or housework.
The added weight is provided in the form of removable inserts. Each shoe is designed to house an insert that is placed beneath the insole. These inserts are available in two different weights. The “unweighted” inserts serve as a spacer for proper fit, and with these in place, CardioStrides are no heavier than typical, commercially-available athletic shoes. This is intended to give CardioStrides greater versatility; with the unweighted inserts, CardioStrides may be put to all the uses of a conventional athletic shoe, for wear while engaging in strenuous sports.
Removing the unweighted insert and replacing it with the “weighted” version (which ranges from 1 pound/450 grams to 1.7 pounds/770 grams per insert, depending on the shoe size), increases resistance that is exerted against several major muscle groups when CardioStrides are worn in motion. This weighted application is intended for use in walking and other low-impact activities.
Walking in weighted CardioStrides imposes increased resistance on muscle groups in the legs, lower back and abdomen. This contributes to muscle building and toning in these areas.
The exertion required when walking in CardioStrides also can increase the body’s metabolic and heart rate. Studies show that increasing this cardiovascular load temporarily has the effect of elevating these levels for some time after the exertion has ceased. This can provide added benefit in a weight-control regimen, as increased metabolic rates are linked with higher calorie combustion.
Additionally, increased cardiac rates can contribute to cardiovascular health, as has been shown in numerous studies that point to a correlation between aerobic exercise and improved cardiac health, including a lower incidence of heart disease and heart attack.
CardioStrides offer an advantage over other methods of increasing muscle resistance through added weight. An alternative is the use of ankle weights, but as these are placed in proximity to the ankle joint, this poses a hazard due to the increased physical stress placed on that area.
Effects
Based on a small-scale study conducted in Japan and numerical values supplied by the Japanese Department of Welfare, wearers of weighted shoes during walking exercise were demonstrated to have experienced calorie combustion and heart rate levels that were measurably higher than in those who performed the same exercise while wearing conventional shoes.
In one measurement, walking for 30 minutes in CardioStrides was estimated to produce a calorie-burning effect comparable to that attained from walking for 200 minutes (3 hours, 20 minutes) in ordinary shoes.
