I hope I’m not alone in thinking that, as a man, I should consider buying women’s running shoes.
No, it’s not some perverse fetish, it’s simply that the same running shoe, if female, is lighter and cheaper than the male version.
OK, I’ll let you in on a secret: Not only have I toyed with the idea, but I also have (had) two women’s running shoes for being a man. A Mizuno Wave Rider Neo and an Aiscs Metaracer.
I have Miscros?
I think not!
I’m a 41-42 and not too thick. This size is big for women, maybe a bit extreme. The thing with both of these was that they were last, and no one wanted to take them in this size, which is big in women, so they were sold well below the normal price. And I bought it without trying it on.
How much of a good idea was it to buy women’s running shoes instead of men’s running shoes, and what are the professional pros and cons? We’ll find out by the end of this article.
The experience
Let’s start with my personal experience: it was not a bad idea at all to buy women’s running shoes instead of men’s (in fact). Both women’s running shoes delivered exactly what the men’s running shoes should have delivered only cheaper.
I should add right away that, my race weight (and I’m really talking about my race weight) is 58-60 kg, which is normal for a lady, or as I wrote before, I have a 41-42, not thick foot.
And to make the comparison more credible,I later bought a men’s version of the Mizuno Wave Rider Neo.
Was there a difference between the two other than the color?
Yes! I wore out the soles of the men’s running shoes much faster than the women’s running shoes.
How can this be?
I’ll explain the technical reason in the meantime (I don’t want to drag out the answer, it will simply make sense in the meantime).
(follow my example only at your own risk, if the following professional justification convinces you that women’s running shoes can be just as good, comfortable and suitable for you as men’s running shoes or vice versa)
Scientifically
Women’s feet are not simply narrower in most cases, they have a different shape. To oversimplify, the average man’s foot is a brick and the average woman’s foot is a curved work of art. The female foot tends to be wider at the front, narrower in the middle and narrower at the heel, the male foot does not have such a wide difference in width (the front of the foot is wider than the heel but not to the same extent as the female foot).
Previously, manufacturers simply solved the women’s running shoe by taking the men’s running shoe and making it narrower. Today, because of the above, this is not entirely true, they are narrower, but not everywhere. In general, the heel of a women’s running shoe is narrower, but it is the same width at the forefoot as a men’s running shoe in the same size.
There is another huge difference, which goes all the way back to the hip.
Women’s hips are wider than men’s (in relation to the whole body and on average), which makes the femur tilt inwards a bit more, as you can see in the picture. This angle of inclination is called the Q angle. Because the angle of inclination of the femur is greater, women pronate more (pronation means that the ankle leans slightly inwards, so more load is placed on the inner arch of the foot). Women put more load on the inner edge of the foot, so women’s running shoes should be more stable on the inner arch.
And that’s the answer to why I wore out of the same running shoe sooner for men than women. My foot is pronated, so it leans slightly inward. The women’s running shoe most likely held my arch better, so I ran with better support, so I wore the shoe out less.
The average weight difference between men and women also justifies a different support for women’s running shoes than men’s. In addition, the soles of women’s running shoes can be thinner because they do not have to support as much weight.
Summary
I have used the word average a lot in this article, for a reason. Shoe manufacturers make their shoes for average ladies and average men. Average is that a lady is lighter, has a more pronounced foot and a proportionally narrower foot in the heel and midfoot. Women’s running shoes and men’s running shoes are made accordingly.
But what if a man’s body shape is more suited to a woman’s running shoe (because he is short, because he is lightweight and because he is pronated)? Or what about ladies who are 43 feet tall and weigh 70 kg even with a BMI of 19?
What about the ladies and gentlemen who are not of average build?They have a lot of trial and error, and the running shoe of the opposite sex may fit better.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to tell if a man’s running shoes are right for you as a woman or vice versa by just trying them on in a shoe shop. You will only be able to judge the support after a 10-20 km run. But fortune favours the brave!
Mostly men’s running shoes are reviewed on this site, but in most cases this will also be the case for women’s running shoes. The reason for this, apart from the above, is that manufacturers want to give women’s running shoes the same character and the same knowledge as men’s running shoes.
