Weightlifting shoes with a raised, firm heel are among the most common accessories sold alongside squat racks, and cheaper heel wedges and plates are marketed for the same purpose. It is often claimed that a raised heel produces a more upright trunk. This article summarises the abstracts of one review and two small laboratory studies of the barbell back squat. It covers what was measured, not which product to buy, and none of the abstracts assessed how much weight lifters could squat or how their strength changed over time.
The 2021 review: what 14 studies found
Pangan and Leineweber, in a 2021 review, examined how different types of footwear affect full-body kinematics (movement), joint loads, muscle activity and ground reaction forces in athletes of varying experience performing the weighted back squat. They searched three databases and included fourteen full-text articles. The abstract reports that the majority of studies showed footwear choice directly affects kinematics and kinetics. Weightlifting shoes were shown to decrease trunk lean and produce more plantarflexion (pointing of the foot at the ankle) than running shoes and barefoot lifting. The abstract also says that elevating the heel with external squat wedges, described as a popular method, produced similar effects to weightlifting shoes.
The reviewers state what remains unknown: further research with a broader range of people, particularly novice and female weightlifters, is needed to generalise the results to people who are not athletes, and more work is needed on the effects of sole stiffness and heel height on squat mechanics. In other words, the review supports the idea that raised heels change body position, but it does not identify an ideal height or shoe.
A 2019 study: 14 recreational lifters, three foot conditions
Lee and colleagues studied 14 recreational weightlifters (seven men and seven women, aged 18 to 50) in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Each performed barbell back squats at 80% of their one-repetition maximum in three conditions: barefoot on a flat surface, barefoot on a heel-raised platform and wearing heel-raised weightlifting shoes. The researchers measured the activation of the knee extensors and of the paraspinal muscles at two spinal levels using surface electromyography, and used motion capture to record the movement of the thoracic spine, lumbar spine and knee.
None of the heel-raised conditions significantly affected muscle activation or trunk angles. The authors concluded that heel-raised foot postures do not significantly affect spinal and knee extensor muscle activation or trunk and knee kinematics in this group of recreational lifters. The study began from the claim that raised-heel shoes may lead to a more upright trunk posture, and it did not find that effect.
A 2020 study: does raising the heels even out left and right?
Sayers and colleagues, in BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, tested whether raising the heels changed how symmetrically the two legs work in the high-bar back squat. They recruited ten novice lifters and ten regular weight trainers, who squatted with a load of 50% of body weight, standing on either a flat floor or an inclined board while motion capture and force platforms recorded each leg.
Joint movement and joint-moment symmetry data were largely unaffected by raising the heels. The regular trainers showed greater left-right asymmetry in these data than the novices. The single significant result in the discrete data was that raising the heels reduced maximum knee extension moment asymmetry, and only in the novice group. The authors concluded that some asymmetry is common in back squats and is largely unaffected by raising the heels.
Why the three do not simply agree
- The review found less trunk lean in weightlifting shoes than in running shoes or barefoot, but the 2019 study, which compared barefoot flat, barefoot on a platform and weightlifting shoes, found no significant change in trunk angles.
- The studies used different loads: 80% of one-repetition maximum in one study and 50% of body weight in another.
- The samples were small (14 and 20 people), and the review calls for more work on novices and female lifters.
The differing comparisons matter. A shoe compared with running shoes is a different test from a shoe compared with a platform.
What this means when buying equipment
The evidence summarised here neither confirms the marketing claims for raised heels nor rules out benefits for particular lifters. A firm-soled shoe and a wedge changed some measures in the review and had little effect in two small studies. The competition rules that govern shoes for powerlifting are covered in this site’s guide to lifting belts, knee sleeves, wraps and shoes, and the effect of bar position and stance is covered in bar position, stance width and depth in the back squat.
Frequently asked questions
Do weightlifting shoes make a person squat heavier?
None of the three abstracts measured the weight lifted or strength gains, so they cannot answer that.
Is a wedge the same as a weightlifting shoe?
The 2021 review reports that external squat wedges provided similar effects to weightlifting shoes, but it also calls for work on the effects of heel height and sole stiffness.
The bottom line
A review of 14 studies reports that raised-heel shoes change trunk lean and ankle position compared with running shoes or bare feet, and that wedges have similar effects. Two small laboratory studies found little change in muscle activation, trunk angles or left-right symmetry when the heels were raised. Buyers should treat raised-heel footwear as a positioning choice with modest evidence, not a proven route to a better squat.
Sources
- Pangan AM, Leineweber M, “Footwear and Elevated Heel Influence on Barbell Back Squat: A Review,” 2021
- Lee SP, Gillis CB, Ibarra JJ, Oldroyd DF, Zane RS, “Heel-Raised Foot Posture Does Not Affect Trunk and Lower Extremity Biomechanics During a Barbell Back Squat in Recreational Weight lifters,” J Strength Cond Res, 2019
- Sayers MGL, Hosseini Nasab SH, Bachem C, Taylor WR, “The effect of increasing heel height on lower limb symmetry during the back squat in trained and novice lifters,” BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil, 2020