The complete resource for walking, health and diet

FitFlops have been about for a few years with a growing following in the fashion industry. But they were originally designed for health and fitness, so they do just that by working the muscles that little bit harder whilst you’re walking.

While they may not be practical for rambles, hikes or more enthusiastic forms of walking, FitFlops are ideal for casual summer wear either on the beach or while walking about the house, back garden or while out shopping. With the new range of FitFlop boots, these can now be worn all year round. Branded as ‘the flip flop with the gym built in’ there’s no denying the fashion status of FitFlops, but for anyone who’s serious about their walking, FitFlops are the perfect excuse to spend even your more leisurable moments working towards you next big hike.

So let’s forget that FitFlops are this big fashion brand amongst all kinds of celebrities, fashionistas and glamorous girlies. Instead, let’s focus on what they do, if they’re comfortable and most importantly how they work.

FitFlops are more than just a comfortable and trendy looking flip flop thanks to the FitFlop midsole with integrated micro wobble board. Just like exercising with a wobble board, the FitFlop midsole is able to improve your posture and work on specific fast twitching muscles in the legs and buttocks by providing a minimal amount of destabilisation in your step.

So by encouraging muscle tension, FitFlops continuously work to develop your walking muscles and provide an ideal supplement to a healthy exercise plan by helping to burn calories. And to see what all the fuss was about, we tried on a pair to see experience them for ourselves.

Once we got used to walking in them, due to the micro wobble board FitFlop midsole, the difference from just casually wearing a pair of FitFlops was clearly apparent. Things certainly felt a firmer, although the extra effort required to walk in FitFlops wasn’t so obvious after a while. In terms of fit, FitFlops are surprisingly comfortable to wear with a soft, but no too squishy feeling underfoot while the strap felt natural on the feet without digging into the skin like many styles of flip flop have a tendency to do.

A cool pair of sandals will be a must have this summer if the weather is going to be as hot as last year, so I can see FitFlops being very popular among the lazy masses. But for real walkers, they’re not a bad choice either. Obviously, you can’t wear them on a long walk like you can with the open Merrell shoes which are designed for trekking, but for the beach or a casual walk, I can certainly see the benefits.

At the moment FitFlops are mostly for women, but they’re working on some FitFlops designs for men too.

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