Once the clocks go back, you can be sure that winter is well and truly on its way. It gets dark earlier every night and the weather gets a little cooler every day. It won’t be long before there’s snow on the ground. On a positive note, it’s time to treat yourself to a new pair of trendy winter boots.

Clearly there’s no shortage of styles to choose from. Fur boots and leather boots are perennial favorites. When it gets really wet and windy you can still be fashionable in a pair of colourful Hunter boots – wellies with style. After all, if they’re good enough for royalty, then they’re always going to enjoy a certain cachet.

But why not ask for a little extra from your winter boots this year? What if you could get a pair of boots that not only looked good but which helped you to look good as well ?

Toning shoes are a relatively new concept on the market. They are specially designed to help you to tone and trim your lower body just by walking about as normal. There are a number of different designs and brands available on the market, including winter boots.Most of them work by using a special design of sole which encourages the muscles in the lower body to do a little extra work.

Skechers Shape Ups and Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) Shoes both incorporate curved soles which are intended to reproduce the sensation and gait of walking across soft sand. Reebok Easy Tones and FitFlops sandals, on the other hand, feature soles which are intended to generate a very small imbalance whilst walking. The leg and butt muscles attempt to restore the body’s natural balance – doing a little extra work in the process.

It’s not too difficult to see why the prospect of a lower body workout just by walking around as normal would be an appealing prospect to many people. After a long day at work, looking after kids or just doing general, mundane daily chores, it can be difficult to find either the time or the energy to pay a visit to the gym. For many busy women, toning shoes must seem like a dream come true .

A number of independent tests seem to back up the claims of increased muscle activity as a result of wearing toning shoes. There’s also plenty of extremely positive feedback from satisfied users. However, there are those who question the claimed results. Many question the veracity of the tests, pointing out that they were funded by the footwear manufacturers. Relatively small sample sizes are frequently raised as a reason to doubt the results. There do seem to be two opposing camps. However, if all that toning shoes do is encourage wearers to walk a little further during the course of their daily routine, then that’s a very positive result in itself.

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Womens World