Running and walking are amongst the purest and most natural forms of exercises. Choose the wrong athletic shoes and you could end up lying on the couch with paining shins or aching heels instead of enjoying your daily run.

While most of the sports shoe stores have knowledgeable staff that properly guide you, you’ll be a few steps ahead of the game if you are armed with some basic knowledge about your feet and their specific needs.

Most running shoes feel comfortable when you’re standing in a shoe store, but the true test is after several miles on the track. Sports shoes for men have the widest variety as compared to the one for women. In case you are new into the sports you will soon realize that the perfect shoe has more to do with the shape of your foot and your running style than it does with the logo stitched on it. Although it may be tempting to dismiss the difference between men and women’s running shoes as a marketing trick, experience proves that men and women have, not a lot differing needs for running.

Originally, running companies offered a scaled down men’s shoe in more appealing colours for women but this quickly proved poor. Women found that if the heels didn’t slide, the forefoot was too tight for comfort. Companies that took the time to research and design the appropriate footwear found that sales skyrocketed drastically.

Whether you’re pounding the pavement outdoors, running trails in the woods or plodding along on the treadmill at the gym, it’s important that you wear the right running shoes. The excess of models and colours on offer from various footwear manufacturers can be overwhelming.