Shoe Suggestions for a Female Newbie?

I’ve been olympic lifting for a couple of months now. I’ve been wearing these hand me downs that are way too big. So I’ve been wearing my vibram five finger shoes inside them. THe two together are a good fit.

But now that I see that I like it, I thought it’s a good time to make a small investment. Any thoughts?

Also, does anyone know if there is any real fit differences between mens and womens shoes besides color?

Doubt it but when your getting yours get a size smaller than what you’d normally wear in shoes, thats what i did and they fit perfect.

If you are are ordering Adidas, go try on a pair of Stan Smiths at an athletic store. The Adidas weightlifting shoes fit the same.

depends on the form of your feet, if you have narrower feet, I would go with adidas.

There are some reviews here:

http://buyweightliftingshoes.com/

As a female you might want to avoid ones that are known to run wide (e.g., Risto).

Masch, Debra, and myself got Do-Wins (regular - not women’s).

I haven’t used mine much (using a cheaper pair that I got the heel built up more on). They do feel much more comfortable than my cheaper pair, though. Debra and Masch seem to love them (there is a discussion earlier in my log about this - but I wouldn’t recommend hunting through my verbosity to find it).

Edit –

With sizing I think it depends a bit on how you wear your ‘normal’ shoes. I ordered 1 size down from my Chuck Taylor’s and the things were too tight to get on my feet without them turning numb. I ended up with the same size as my Chucks - but realized in the move to vibrams that my ‘normal’ shoes are a bit on the tight round the toes side. IF you wear shoes fairly firm against your toes then DON’T order a size down (or I probably should just say that 4 people I know who have done this have needed to return them).

Because of the wood heel… I find the shoes a little uncomfy to stomp with… Like wearing fairly thick socks with them to soften them a little… Sizing is hard. A good returns policy is a virtue.

I love my do-wins!

They were too small when I bought them. They were too tight around my toes. But they stretched and are perfect now. When I replace them I’ll go a bit bigger so I don’t have to wear them in as much for a good fit. I had to order mine online so I couldn’t try them on first, hopefully you can try yours on.

debra did you order the same size as your normal shoes or a size down?

Thanks everyone. This has been really helpful. I don’t think I’ll be able to try them on either. Good thoughts on the return policies! I guess I’ll get to ordering!