To stop your toes from hurting in climbing shoes, you can try the following tips:
- Make sure you're wearing the right size of climbing shoes.
- Consider getting shoes with a wider toe box or stretch your existing shoes to make more room for your toes.
- Take breaks and remove your shoes between climbs to allow your toes to rest.
- Gradually build up the amount of time you spend in your shoes to allow your feet to adjust.
- Try wearing thinner socks or no socks at all to reduce friction and pressure on your toes.
- Use foot tape or pads to cushion and protect your toes from rubbing and pressure.
Rock climbers wear smaller shoes because it gives them better support for their feet while climbing. Wearing smaller shoes allows you to be more precise with your feet, stand on smaller foot holds, and exert much more force from your toes compared to wearing larger shoes.
Climbing shoes are also designed to be very minimalistic in terms of materials and "fluff". Meaning, they have very little rubber around them in comparison to everyday sport shoes. This allows your toes to actually feel what you are standing on, and, in a way, to grip the holds with your toes. This minimalistic approach also makes the shoes seem much smaller than they are when comparing them with street shoes or general sport shoes.
It is important to note, though, that beginner climbers should probably not try and downsize their climbing shoes too much, or at all. Wearing smaller climbing shoes, which is known as downsizing, provides extra benefits in performance, but, these benefits are not really noticeable for beginners, since the routes beginners climb do not actually require or utilize these performance boosts.
Yes, but you won't gain much support from non-climbing shoes. Climbing shoes are designed to give you the maximum amount of support for your feet while climbing, even the cheapest beginner shoes.
Regular everyday shoes are over-stuffed with rubber to the point where you wont even feel what you are standing on. This will make climbing very difficult later on. For beginners climbing very beginner-friendly routes, though, it may not make a huge difference since they probably wouldn't even notice the performance gains from the shoes, they will be too focused on how uncomfortable they are. But, as you get better and advance up the ladder, you will notice the difference and understand why climbing shoes are the way they are.
First of all, get the right shoes in the right size. The most common mistake I hear people make in my gym is that their shoes are way too small, and they don't even know it. In that case, their shoes will probably never be comfortable and may always be slightly painful.
If you get the right shoes that match the shape of your feet, and in the right size, you could actually find some very comfortable climbing shoes. But, you have to keep in mind that these are still climbing shoes, and that they were not designed to be comfortable, they were designed to give you support for climbing, for performance.
If your shoes are too small, it will be difficult to make them comfortable. If they are the right size, however, and they are the right fit for you, then you can try and break them in a little bit more if needed, there are many methods for this.
Something that I like to do is to slightly twist and bend them before putting them on. I really notice the difference before doing this and after. It really just takes a minute or two to just bend them and twist them slightly. Not too much to the point where you damage them, but just slightly to loosen up the stiff rubber. After this, the shoes usually become much more comfortable, and after climbing in them, they sort of open up and are just fine.
Climbing shoes can be comfortable! But, that is in comparison with other climbing shoes, and not with everyday shoes. I believe that climbing shoes will never be as comfortable as everyday shoes.
If you manage to find the right pair of shoes for your feet, though, they can be very comfortable, considering they are still climbing shoes.
For me, the best way to break them in faster and to make them less painful was to just wear them. The more I wore them, the softer they became. One thing that really helps is to heat them up a little bit before putting them on with a small heater or fan, just enough to soften the rubber a little bit, not too much though to not damage the shoes.
Another thing that really helps and that is very simple to do is to just bend, twist, and fold the shoes for a minute or two. This really softens up the rubber and makes it much easier to put on and less painful to wear.
Climbing shoes are not meant to hurt at first, but it's very likely that they will. New climbing shoes can have pressure points that will go away after the break in period.
A strong misconception in the climbing community is that new climbing shoes must be painful, if they are painfully tight, it means you have chosen the right size. This is not true, and it's a pretty dangerous way of approaching sizing climbing shoes.
Climbing shoes should be tight, but not so tight that they cause throbbing pain, or that they cut your blood circulation. They should just be very snug. Your feet should not be able to move freely within them, and you should have little to no dead space in them. This does not mean that you have to choose shoes that you can barely even get on your feet.
But, again, new climbing shoes CAN be painful in the beginning, but not to the point where the pain is throbbing or that you still feel the pain after you take your shoes off. The pain should be minimal.
Climbing shoes were not designed to be uncomfortable, but, given their general nature of being tight, snug, and not leaving any wiggle room for your toes or any space to move for your feet, they are uncomfortable.
Though climbing shoes are quite uncomfortable, you do get used to the general fit of climbing shoes after some time. Normally, people wear general sport shoes that are very padded, loose, and comfortable, and they get used to wearing these kinds of shoes their whole life. Squeezing your feet into shoes that are almost the complete opposite of what you have been used to your entire life, can and will be very uncomfortable.
As I mentioned, you do get used to how climbing shoes feel. If you find the right shoes for you that are the right size and that fit the shape of your feet, the shoes can in fact feel much more comfortable than you would expect.
Bouldering shoes are a reference to a type of climbing shoe that is meant for bouldering. While any type of climbing shoe can be used for any form of climbing, some shoes are made with a specific form of climbing in mind.
For example, bouldering shoes are normally more aggressive, meaning, they are bent downwards in the middle, and are usually slightly twisted towards the big toe. These attributes provide the climber with more support and the ability to exert extra force from the toes, while also giving them potential advantages on steep overhanging routes.
Flatter shoes are used more for longer routes, such as sport climbing, trad climbing, and multi-pitch routes. Climbing these types of routes while wearing flat shoes gives the climber better support in their feet, which means that their feet will not get as tired as they would in aggressive climbing shoes.
Of course, there is no rule when it comes to which shoes to wear and for which form of climbing. You can wear what ever you feel will help you get through the route the most.
If you cannot even put on your shoes, or they cause you throbbing pain, that is a clear sign that they may be too small for you. If while wearing and climbing in the shoes you cannot actually benefit from them and do things such as toe hooks because of the pain, then that is also a sign that the shoes may just be too small.
On the other hand, if you feel your feet slip and move around inside the shoes while climbing, then that is a sign that they may be too big. Your feet should not really be moving around inside your shoes while climbing, you should feel the support of the tight and snug fit of the shoes. If you do not feel this, they may be too big. If you have a lot of dead space in your shoes, meaning, air pockets between your feet and the shoes, this may also mean that the shoes are too big, or not the right fit for you.
There is a third option, which is that the shoes are just not the right fit for you. Climbing shoes come in all shapes and sizes. Some shoes have a wider toe box, and some have a more narrow heel area. It can be that you will find shoes that fit the size of your heel perfectly, but, the toe box is either too big or too small. This situation is much less about the actual size of the shoe, and more about the shoe not matching your feet.
