The best new cross traniners: get more out of your gym workout with these high-performance shoes - gear update

Shape, Nov, 2003 by Sarah Bowen Shea

If you're like a lot of women, you wear running shoes at the gym. "I see it all the time--women in kickboxing, Core Board or step classes wearing running shoes," says Jeffrey Scott, a Los Angeles-based Reebok University Master Trainer and consultant for 24 Hour Fitness. "It creates a potential for ankle sprains, knee strain and other injuries because you don't get the lateral [side-to-side] support you need. Unless you're going to run on the treadmill and nothing else, go with a cross-training shoe. It will help you perform better and lessens your chance of injury."

But which cross trainer to choose? Low-cut? Midcut? Firm sole? Ultracushioned? To steer you in the right direction, we had 36 avid exercisers and instructors at the RiverPlace Athletic Club in Portland, Ore., try out the season's latest models. Not only did the testers find the shoes to be incredibly versatile, but many of the new models also boast qualities that make them superior for specific types of training 7like Spinning or aerobics. Design improvements also mean cross trainers are softening impact even more and offering greater support, stability and performance. to save your running shoes for a five-mile jog--one of these eight cross trainers is bound to be ideal for your next gym workout.

"I'm a shoe geek," confesses Portland, Ore.-based writer Sarah Bowen Shea. "My closet is lined with athletic shoes of all persuasions!" Fittingly, Bowen Shea, author of "The Best New Cross Trainers," page 124, and "Best New Cold-Weather Footwear," page 108, serves as Shape's contributing footwear editor. When it comes to trail running or hitting the gym, "few things are more exciting to me than putting on a new pair of shoes," she says. Mother to 22-month-old Phoebe, Bowen Shea also writes for Fit Pregnancy and Parents.

"I was curious about how people who aren't chefs or professional cooks prepare health-conscious food," says photographer Sang An, a contributor to Gourmet, about his assignment to shoot "Readers' Best Mini-Meals." (He also shot "Beat Winter Weight Gain!" on page 160.) An himself keeps it simple when preparing meals at home. "My favorite thing to cook is pasta with a really good olive oil, plus broccoli, garlic and Parmesan cheese," he says. Based in New York City, An enjoys inline skating on weekends along a path overlooking the Hudson River.

Sarah Bowen Shea is contributing foot-wear editor for Shape.