Choose the Right Rock Climbing Shoes

"Hi! My name is Brandon. I'm with expertvillage.com, and today I”m going to show you how to rock climb. When you go into a gym, typically if you don't have your own gear you can rent theirs. For example, these are the rental shoes here at Rock Quest. They're pretty nice. They're really stiff and the rubber on them is kind of banged up. As you get into climbing, you'll want to use your own shoes. There are 2 different ways to fit shoes. You can fit them comfortably or painfully. Personally, because of my experience, I go for the painful level. I feel you get a higher performance out of a tight shoe, but initially when you start out you'll want to have a comfortable shoe so you can keep them on as you climb throughout the day. A good fitting shoe will be loose but not too loose, and your feet should typically be really flat in the shoe, as appose to having your toes curled up. So when I put this shoe on, I have a slight curl on my toes. Nothing too bad and I feel like I can wiggle them around. The tight fitting shoe for a higher performance level is going to be noticeably different. This is actually the same size I wear when i climb. I have to cram my foot into this shoe. You can already see my toes buckling, and really use these loops on the back to force my foot in. As you own your shoes, they're going to stretch out a little bit and conform to your foot. Typically, a synthetic shoe like this one, isn't going to stretch too much. Higher performance or comfort; it's your call."