Sticky Feet: Being a review of three yoga socks
This Christmas, Santa and the Fitness Fairy conspired to send me three different pairs of sticky-feet yoga socks so that I might do my burpees, mountain climbers, pushups and, yes, yoga, on my hardwood floors without getting blisters or dealing with foot slippage. There was also a mention that said Fitness Fairy was interested to see which ones worked best. In gratitude for my blisterless feet (and lack of face-planting), I present this review. The opinions expressed herein are solely my own, based on my personal experiences, needs and preferences.
I received a pair each of Half ToeSox with grip, Stick-e socks, and TractionSocks. Over the past few weeks, I’ve worn each set several times to work out in (including burpees, pushups and so on), to do yoga in (with and without a mat) and to just futz around the house in (to assess general comfort/fit, and because my feet were cold). Here are my rankings, in order from best to less, focusing on two areas: Comfort and security.
1. Half ToeSox
These are the winners by a large margin. They are by far the most comfortable, have the best grip and fit the best of any of the three pair.
First, comfort: After reading a few Amazon reviews for these and other “individual toe sock” style yoga socks, I had been concerned by reports that the design might put pressure on or cut into the areas between my toes during stretchy moves. I have both super long monkey toes and “delicate princess” feet in terms of binding/pinching/rubbing issues. In fact, I almost exclusively wear “diabetic” style socks (loose cuff, no toe seams) because the rubbing and seam pressure from regular socks drive me nuts. So I figured if anyone was going to have this problem it would be me. However, I haven’t noticed this being an issue during any of my workouts or yoga sessions, no matter how twisty-bendy my movements have been. I did almost sorta feel a bit of intra-toe pressure once, after a series of yoga positions seemingly designed specifically to cause it. But we’re getting into serious nitpicking-with-a-magnifying-glass territory in terms of how closely I was on alert for it, and how miniscule the pressure was. And “fixing” it basically involved scootching my foot backward just a hair inside the sock.
Another comfort bonus for me is that the socks are very snug, with an extra bit of snuggy ribbing around the arch. This keeps them from sliding around on my foot (hence the lack of toe-strangling) and provides a pleasant hugging sensation along with some arch support.
Next we move onto security, which for me breaks down into two parts: Grip and the stay-put-iveness of the sock itself. The ToeSox were the best of the three pairs in terms of grip. The grippy dots are generously apportioned, covering the entire sole up to and including the entire ball of the foot right up to the base of the toes all the way back to and across the heel. No matter where or how you put your foot down, you can be assured of finding a good, solid grip. And the grippy material seems significantly “sitckier” on these socks compared to the other two, without being too sticky. The grip securely held my weight (190lbs at last weigh-in) with complete stability at any angle and through any delta vee that I managed to generate, but I never once felt like my freedom of movement was impaired by being stuck too firmly to the floor. In short, the strength and generosity of grip is, in the immortal words of baby bear, Just Right. And this sock stays put on your foot. There’s no slipping, no shifting, no sliding inside of it, period. That comfortable snug fit serves double duty in providing an amazingly secure foundation – the socks act and feel like a part your own foot, only grippier.
2. Stick-e Toe Socks
These come in a very close second to the ToeSox. Comfort-wise, they’re a bit less “huggy” in terms of overall fit and arch support, although not enough to feel uncomfortably or insecurely loose. Another comfort issue is the nature of the grippy surface – instead of dots, Stick-e goes with a solid surface approach, which feels just a bit stiffer and “flappy” underfoot. So I’m more consciously aware of them than I am with the ToeSox, in terms of how they feel. As with the ToeSox, I had no problems with shifting, “toe strangling” or other similar issues.
In terms of security, the grippy material coating the sole of the foot is slightly less sticky than the ToeSox dots, although still perfectly functional. My primary issue is that it covers less area. The grippy surface stops a bit short fore and aft, leaving both the extreme front surface of the ball of the foot (right behind the toes) and the back of the heel exposed to slipping. Since I primarily need the extra gripping power to secure me when my weight is on the extreme front edge of the ball of my foot (i.e. holding plank, doing pushups, jumping out into the plank position in burpees), this leaves my landings and my holds somewhat less secure in comparison to the ToeSox. However, for most yoga positions and fitness activities, it’s perfectly sufficient.
3. TractionSocks
These are, sadly, a distant third. While they are perfectly comfortable for “around the house” wear and for light exercise/yoga that doesn’t require a lot of extra stability, the enclosed-toe/below-ankle design allows the sock to slip and shift both around my foot and forward/backward when my body-weight is at any significant angle to my feet. I feel this is less an indictment of this particular brand, however, and more a matter of basic physics – there’s simply nothing to stop the tubular body of a closed-toe sock from rotating around the foot under torque, whereas the construction of individual-toe socks doesn’t give the sock anywhere to go. This individual-toe vs closed-toe difference is definitely something to consider when buying socks you plan on using to provide stability during fitness activities. However, as I said, these are otherwise very comfortable socks in less strenuous situations.
As for security, the grippy surface is significantly stingier than the other brand and the material itself is far less grippy – in fact, as far as I can tell it’s barely got any grip at all. During even basic yoga poses (warrior, downward dog, bridge) I was hard pressed to keep my feet from sliding out from under me, or to keep the socks from sliding/rotating around my feet – in fact, several times I simply took the socks off and continued with my bare feet, which provided a substantially more secure footing. As a result, these socks have been relegated to non-fitness house-sock status. They’re perfectly functional for keeping my feet comfy and warm and to prevent sliding around on the hardwood floor normal day-to-day puttering. But under any sort of torque or lateral movement, they’re actually worse than nothing at all.
So, that’s my report. All in all, the addition of grippy yoga socks has had a truly wonderful impact on the comfort and security of my fitness activities and I sincerely thank Santa and his pal for thinking of me. And any disappointment I might have over the performance of the TractionSocks in the fitness arena is more than made up for by the fact that I really needed a new pair of grippy house socks; the open toes of the half-socks are just a bit too chilly for around-the-house comfort this time of year, and all the other house socks I have are slippery – great for lounging and linoleum skating, not so great for housework.