Shoes for Parkour

When looking for the best shoes for training Parkour there are a few things that should be taken into account, certain things to look for, and other things to avoid. Sometimes the best shoes for training can be as little as $20 rather than a gimmicky ‘Parkour specific’ shoe that can be over $200 and not actually be that good for Parkour at all.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A PARKOUR SHOE

Weight
Ideally the shoe should be as light as possible, when your running around all day the less weight you carry the longer you can continue to train. Generally, less added weight to the body is beneficial because it will allow more natural and free movement.

Sole
There are a couple of factors that need to be considered when looking at the sole of a shoe:

Thickness
Despite what some may believe, a thick sole is not advisable in a Parkour shoe. Thick soles can sometimes assist in promoting poor technique. Thick soles generally provide a lack of sensitivity between your feet and the environment you interact with. This lack of sensitivity allows some people to attempt drops that they are not yet ready for. Having thinner soles allows you to feel the impact of landings. This is beneficial as it forces you to maintain correct technique so as to avoid injury.

Design
Shoes with a one piece sole will be the most effective as they do not tear away in chunks as many soles that are glued together in segments tend to do.

As soles similar to the ones in the image above wear down, some of the individual parts of rubber (shown in red) will rip off while others stay on, exposing the padding which will wear through very quickly and provide less traction. Most people tend to want to avoid this.

Arches
Arches are preferable when choosing a shoe, these work as a safety mechanism when performing precision landings. Sometimes when landing on an edge our feet slip forward, by having an arch in the shoe you can drop the heels and the edge of the landing tends to lock into the foot arch.The only exception to this rule would be when wearing a thin soled flexible shoe like the Feiyue or Dunlop volleys, due to the exceptional flexibility and sensitivity of these shoes you can use the natural arch of your foot for safety.

One thing to avoid is shoes that have hard plastic in the arches (shown in the above image in blue) as this can cause slippage when climbing, and if you happen to land on a metal rail with the hard plastic arch part it will cause you to easily slip off.

Compound
The rubber that the sole is manufactured from will generally affect how long the shoe lasts and its ability to grip. Softer compounds tend to supply more grip but wear down more quickly. While harder compounds last longer, their grip can be ineffective at times allowing you to slip down on arm jumps.

TRAINING BAREFOOT

Although this has been all about shoes, taking them off and training barefoot is very beneficial. As discussed, a good shoe gives you good touch and sensitivity, hinders movement as little as possible, and promotes solid and refined technique. Training barefooted gives you the greatest feel for your environment, allows for complete freedom of movement, and forces you to have solid technique particularly in regards to landing. If you land poorly barefoot it will most likely hurt, so it forces you to land with very good technique, minimising impact.

Whilst it is very hard to train all techniques at a high level barefooted, it is great to take off your shoes and train, even if it is only occasionally. Once you have a reasonable grasp of the techniques involved in Parkour it is a good idea to start doing some barefoot training. Just start by taking your shoes off whilst you normally train and seeing how it feels. Make sure you approach your training with the appropriate caution until you adjust.

As your skill and experience training barefoot increases, you can train extensively without your shoes, eventually being able to train primarily barefoot.
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Sagasaki wrote ...

So, has anyone actually worn Feiyues, or own a pair? I just ordered one that'll be here sometime next week, and I want to know how they've treated others. I'm trying to work on my sensitivity to the ground, so they sounded like a perfect fit

Kago wrote ...

ok, how about THIS:
SOCKS???
in general they dont really affect preformance or anything, but i wear kinda thick cotton socks and at the end of a training day they are fairly nasty.
anyone sympathise with me or is it just me?

wasabe wrote ...

Best shoe all around for me would be the New Balance 470 series. I've used the 471, 474, and 472 most of my sporty stuff. They all have the same sole and are really lightweight. There are only slight diferences between shape of each model. At $35-$40 each (Big 5, Marshall's, etc), it's hard to go wrong.

N o F l o wrote ...

My first shoe, that is still holding up is the NB 478. Awesome all-around shoe. Gonna get another pair. Nice to use these after over-relying on the 5.10 freerunners' high-friction rubber (which we all know is horrific on metal surfaces).