It's that time of year again...summer. It's right around the corner. Time to search for ideas to keep your children busy. Time to plan your summer vacations. For many of you it is time to shake off that cabin fever and get outside and be active. If you're like me, you won't have a lot of time for yourself. One of the activities that gets dropped by the wayside is my fitness routine. But there are new solutions that can help you get creative outdoor workouts wherever you live or vacation. One of which is sport sandals.

There are a lot of different types of sport sandals available. All different shapes and sizes. Don't let your feet down this summer. There is a lot of new fitness sandals available this summer that will help trim the fat and make your body feel great. With many varieties to choose from, and a lot of different claims being made, I have chosen two that I have personal experience with and that I think are worth looking into more.

MBT Sandals

We all know the feeling of walking on sand, right? Soft, forgiving, but actually very hard work. That's the concept of the MBT sandal. MBT stands for Masai Barefoot Technology. It's a footwear company that claims to have technology that mimics walking on a beach.

The secret to the MBT sandals are in its heel. Instead of a traditional sandal heel, they have used a heel sensor and pivot sole that forces you to balance and straighten up. They turn hard and even surfaces that we walk on every day into soft and natural ground. This causes the muscles to work harder and become the natural shock absorbers they were designed to be. With a more upright posture, you not only look better, but you are also healthier and automatically stronger. The design of this sports sandal has provided me with very positive effects, remarkable actually. It really did prove its claims of activating neglected muscles, improving my posture and strengthening my back.

FitFlops

When first reading the name, one might think that their is an error. That I meant to type more common name flip flop. But it's no misprint. Fit Flops are an relatively new type of sport sandals that have been all the rage in Europe and are starting to become very popular in the United States. Fitness, made simple, is the claim and are suppose to tone and strengthen muscles in your legs as you walk.

The people that developed the FitFlop spent years to research and devise a way to train the bottom of the foot to do all the work that it would do if you were walking barefoot. The premise of these sport sandals is to induce instability so that you hit the ground normally while walking. The mid soles incorporate a technology that challenges hard to reach muscles, tones your legs and thighs, and give you a better posture. All this is accomplished with the microwobble effect that causes increased tension in the legs, working the muscles more when walking.

I think the FitFlop sandal is very appealing. It's very comfortable to wear, making a great walking shoe. It's also appealing because of their stylish look. They can be worn with basically anything. Jeans, shorts, skirts. The list is endless. You can't say that about most fitness footwear. I've had my pair, called the WalkStar, for a short period of time. But I can honestly say that, while wearing them, I did feel the muscles being worked. While wearing them I felt my posture being corrected and felt very comfortable while walking.

Overall, I think both the above sport sandals are worth taking a deeper look at. There's a lot of high-tech footwear out there that make promises to do a lot from a fitness and weigh loss standpoint, but these two have a lot of research behind them, plus a lot of satisfied users.