Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Epeeinur · 12-28-2003, 09:29 AM

SO whats up with all the people buying those adidas fencing shoes?

They suck, and ill tell you why. They wont make you a better fencer, they wont mke you move better or faster... its just good marketing from Adidas. And all these people are buying it?!

Has anyone ever noticed how ppl walk in those shoes? Or when they just stand how one foot is pointing more outside than the other or how the shoe withouth the ball on theheel kinda falls to the inside?

And that ball on the heel of one shoe, thats just dumb. There have been tests for it.... it doesn help. Actually what it does is that when you land on it your feet bounces back up a bit again.

The0ne · 12-28-2003, 09:36 AM

Really, and I guess that is why all the top fencers in the world decide to use them. I guess I have the advantage in my Blue Gauntelet Victories. . .

Epeeinur · 12-28-2003, 09:39 AM

You dont even know whats going on....

At first they were all fencing on those shoes because it was new and they thought it would be cool... but they just suck

What you now see, is that people are using more and more indoor shoes from asics or adidas as well. Just not 'the oh so special' fencing ones

The0ne · 12-28-2003, 09:41 AM

oh, yeah I should have known THAT. When I went to JO's it seemed that the people not in fencing shoes placed pretty far down but it must have been coincidence??

Epeeinur · 12-28-2003, 09:45 AM

JO's???

Anyways... What do the Jeannets fence in? What does Milanoli fence in? Out of the top 50 epee fencers, there are maybe 5 of them still wearing those crappy shoes.

Oh yeah, one more thing..... the soles of those shoes man... you dont have any grip with them when the pistes are a little older

The0ne · 12-28-2003, 09:52 AM

JO's = Junior Olympics, big American junior/cadet tournament.

Oh Epee. . . That's not even fencing!!!

when do strips become old???

Epeeinur · 12-28-2003, 10:00 AM

Go fence the Budapest world cup one time... and you'll know what i mean man

The0ne · 12-28-2003, 10:06 AM

That's a bit out of my league skill level. . . For now!

But do other shoes have better traction on the "older pistes"?

Epeeinur · 12-28-2003, 10:56 AM

Definately.

Plus good indoor shoes are just overall better for your feet, period.

whtouche · 12-28-2003, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Epeeinur

They suck, and ill tell you why. They wont make you a better fencer, they wont mke you move better or faster... its just good marketing from Adidas. And all these people are buying it?!

There are NO shoes that will make you a better fencer, nor any shoes except maybe rollerblades that will make you move faster. Footwork in epee is much different than in the other two weapons, and it has been discussed here many times that fencing-specific shoes offer fewer advantages to epeeists than they would to people who fence foil or sabre.

Shrug. Just use what works for you. I fence sabre and am perfectly happy with indoor soccer shoes.

fence1848 · 12-28-2003, 03:35 PM

Well, if you want to know why someone would wear the Addidas shoes, I'll give you a few reasons.

1. Hardened leather on the sides of the toes - Several years ago, the popular fencing shoe seemed to be the Star Fighter. Maybe it wasn't so much popular as it was affordable. For my first pair of fencing shoes, it wasn't bad. At least until the sides wore out. I put a lot of wear on those shoes and in about a year, the sides had holes in them. I put duct tape over the sides to cover the holes, but after 1 or 2 tournaments, I would have to re-tape the shoes. If I had a digital camera, I'd post an image of these oh-so memorable shoes.
When I was looking for a new pair, I knew that I would need something that would hold up longer. At the time, Addidas had several different styles of shoes, usually distinguished by the stripes on the side. There were blue and yellow stripes, but the best were the black stripes. These shoes had the hardened leather on the sides that I was looking for. They've held up ever since and the sides are still in good shape. Keep in mind, these preceed the asymmetrical shoes, and I have not tried on a pair of those, yet.

2. Lightweight - The Addidas shoes reflect what I am looking for in fencing shoes - cushy on the bottom (but not too much), sturdy to withstand the sadistic footwork I will put them through, and lightweight enough that they do not become a burden to move.
Tennis shoes are a little too light and not padded enough on the bottom. Cross-trainers are too heavy and do not allow as rapid of mobility as I want, and basketball shoes are obviously even worse on that.

3. Why not? - By your argument (won't make you a better fencer) you sound like you're just whining. It's true, if you buy a pair of Addidas shoes and sit them in front of you and look at them, they won't DO anything. They certainly won't make you a better fencer, because that's YOUR job.

Lemberg · 12-28-2003, 06:41 PM

I highly doubt that it is only 5(ish) out of top 50 in the epee that do wear these shoes, but even if it's true it's a rather weak argument against using them anyway b/c even if many top fencers don'tuse them, there are billions of outside factors that could have influenced their decisions to wear something else (i.e. sponsorship) so this hardly proves that Adidas are inferior to any other fencing shoes. At teh very least, adidas is the only big sports clothing/footwear company (to my knowledge) that bothers making fencing shoes and other equipment.

Epeeinur · 12-28-2003, 06:46 PM

The adidas fencing shoes give very little support to your feet... and they have bad cushioning. So there are much better shoes for your feet.

And the baddest one of them is obviously the shoe without the ball on the heel.
You know whats funny too? Watching ppl warm up running in those shoes.... the assymetrical movement can not be good for you. Look at at how they place their feet when they even walk... and again, pay attention to the one without the ball on the heel.

And... all the other claimed-to-be-special fencing shoes give very little support to your feet and have very bad cushioning. Its just not good.

danp · 12-28-2003, 08:37 PM

Sounds like you've spent time trying these shoes and found they don't work for you, that's fine, but they work GREAT for me. I don't run miles in them - I just fence in them. For that purpose, they've taken a great deal of foot pain away and been a real help. The asymmetrical aspect of the shoe took a huge burden of weight off of the outer part of my lunging foot and have been flawless. They've also stood up to tremendous abuse.

No product is going to please everyone - there's just too many factors.. But they delivered as promised in my case, and the fact that ANY shoe manufacturer is willing to make a shoe with fencing primarily in mind is a big win in my book.

The cost is over the top, but it's less than what I paid the podiatrist who told me to buy mega dollar orthotics..

-Dan

Quote:

Originally posted by Epeeinur
the assymetrical movement can not be good for you. Look at at how they place their feet when they even walk... and again, pay attention to the one without the ball on the heel.

The0ne · 12-28-2003, 08:50 PM

Plus they look cool!!

bug · 12-28-2003, 09:04 PM

The Adidas asymmetrical shoes are not for running; they're for fencing, so what they do to your feet while you're running is irrelevant. If you're going to run, don't run in those shoes, use a running shoe.

KShan5[PrFC] · 12-28-2003, 09:10 PM

But ya know when fencing moves into rings we won't need to asyms, we would need combat boots like all the other WWE stars.

I hear Soldier and Army Fencer have tried em on, tell us how they work with fencing, maybe I'll make the switch.

Hyperion1250 · 12-28-2003, 09:55 PM

I've contemplated wearing boots however on my team this had a negative connotation associated with it: we had a (umm..... challenged?) sabre fencer on our team who wore boots(not combat boots) to a tournament and went 0-5 with a -25 indicatior.....

laughingduelist · 12-28-2003, 10:22 PM

I have found that the Blue Gauntlet victories hold up just as well as the adidas shoes, and are half the price. So while the soles get worn down every 6-12 months, (I fence an average of 12 hours a week) they are extremely cheap to replace.

retardedspleen · 12-28-2003, 10:42 PM

my first pair of fencing shoes were some crap BG shoes they wore out and broke in under 7 months..i then bout the brand new adidas asymetrical shoes...heavier, bigger than i was used to..but i SOOO loved them..I used them for almost 2 years..i worked the **** outa them! and they held up! i then baught other other type of adidas shoes (the D'artangian i think its called) didnt have as much choosening as i was used to (i did A LOT of running!!) so i took my old insoles out of my asymetricals, and put it in my d'artangians...perfect! i still have those shoes after like 2 years!

when it comes to fencing shoes, i look no further than adidas. Ive tried other shoes. They all suck in comparison(for my feet) as far as im concerned.

sorry Epeeinur i think your full of it. Adidas is the only company out there that takes intrest in fencing. Not only do they take intrest, they make KICKASS fencing equipment in the processe!

ALL of the top foil and sabre fencers out there wear adidas. you know why? cause they're the best. simple as that. This is one of the few shoe producers that have a shoe that has good look, good feel and good quality.

Im a pretty poor person, especily when i was fencing, but when i needed fencing shoes... it didnt matter how exspensive they were, that was all i was gunna have.

Chris Triplett