G8 Performance Pro Series 2620 Sports Insoles
While most sports insoles are designed to shield your feet from the impact of exercise, the G8 Performance Pro Series 2620 Sports Insoles engage and stretch your tendons and muscles to make your feet stronger. Not only does this make your feet more energy efficient to boost your athletic performance, it can also help distribute the impact force of exercise to avoid injuries. The 2620 Insoles have an ingenious design that allows you to adjust the arch fit over time, so as your feet get stronger, the arch contact gets more dramatic for gradual progression.
What's Included?
- 1 x Pair of Insoles
- 5 x Arch Attachments
- 1 x Fitting and Use Guide
Who Can Make Gains with the G8 Performance Pro Series Insoles?
Passionate cyclists, runners and other athletes could all take their performance to the next level with the G8 2620 Insoles. They're designed to engage more of your feet as you exercise, progressively strengthening the muscles and tendons to improve energy efficiency and balance. This can also reduce strain and impact stress on other force-generating parts of the body like the hips and knees, reducing injuries and fatigue over time.
How Do the G8 2620 Insoles Work?
The G8 2620 Insoles are designed to gradually increase and eventually maximise the natural movement of the foot. Specifically, they aim to move your feet and engage the muscles as if you were barefoot, but with the added support and protection of insoles and shoes. As well as increasing general comfort during exercise, it can also help in the following ways:
- Increases Energy Transfer: with repositioning, more energy is expelled from the first and second metatarsal heads
- Maximises Blood Flow: more areas of the foot are involved in movement, which boosts circulation
- Strengthens Foot Muscles: more foot muscles are activated and are engaged more, becoming stronger as a result
- Improves Balance: more even foot engagement to increase nerve ending activation, for better balance and proprioception
- Minimises Energy Wastage: the flexible arch piece is placed progressively further forward where collision forces occur
- Minimises Return Energy: the added forces coming out of the first and second metatarsal heads result in less impact stress on the feet
What Conditions Can the G8 Performance Insoles Help With?
Strengthening your feet and exercising more of the muscles and tendons can help with a variety of workout-related issues in the feet and the rest of the body. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Plantar fasciitis
- Shin splints
- Arch pains and strains
- Hallux pain
- Heel pain
- General foot pain
- Knee pain
- Hip pain
What Size Insoles Should I Buy?
These G8 Insoles are supplied in four sizes that accommodate UK shoes sizes ranging from 4 to 13.5, which can be trimmed for a more precise fitting. To find your size, please consult the table below:
| G8 Insole Size | UK Shoe Size |
| Small | 4 - 6.5 |
| Medium | 7 - 9 |
| Large | 9.5 - 11 |
| Extra Large | 12 - 13.5 |
How Do I Trim the 2620 Insoles to Fit My Shoes?
As you can see above, each size of the G8 insoles is equivalent to a small range of UK sizes. To get the most beneficial insole size for you, you may have to trim the insoles. To do this correctly, please follow these steps:
- Remove the original insoles from the shoes you want to fit the 2620s into
- Place this original insole over the 2620, both face down
- With a sharp pair of scissors, trim the toe box so the sizes match
Why Are There So Many Arch Attachments in the Box?
Each set of Performance Series 2620 Insoles includes five different arch attachments, and you might understandably be wondering why. Well, while other insoles might mould to your feet, the 2620s aim to exercise your feet, structurally changing them and the way you move. In using the different arch attachments and settings as progression tools, you can strengthen your feet in much the same way as you would when increasing your lifting weight at the gym.
Instead of moving straight from one arch piece to the next, you gradually move each piece forward, and then eventually switch arch pieces.
How Do I Fit the 2620 Insoles Arch Attachments for the First Time?
Before we get into the arch adjustments of these insoles, it's important to get the initial fitting done right. It's a simple process with these steps:
- On one shoe, set the level 1 arch support so that the top row of ridges lines up with the top layer of holes
- On the other shoe, set it up the same way but slightly higher, so that the top row of holes on the arch support is above the top row of ridges
- Place both insoles into your shoes, making sure the toe of the insoles does not curl upwards
- Walk or cycle for about 30 seconds depending on the shoes you are using
- Decide which foot setting you prefer, and adjust the other shoe so they both match - this does not necessarily mean that they are in the same position, but they should feel the same
For more info and a visual guide, have a look at the video below:
How Do I Know When to Adjust or Change the Arch Piece?
The advice from G8 is to adjust or change the arch piece when it doesn't feel like it did yesterday:
- After you have them set up comfortably and have been wearing them for a while, your arches should feel supported
- Eventually, you will wear them and they won't feel the same, because the muscles or nerve endings in your feet have developed
- So when the initial feeling of contact changes, or you no longer notice the arch, it's time to move the arch piece forward
- After all the forward movements on an arch level are exhausted, it's time to move up an arch piece height
Position the Arch Piece Forward for the Most Benefit
In order for the G8 Insoles to do what they're made for, forward arch support positioning is key. When your feet land in a normal pair of insoles, the impact is between the forward arch and the shoes, and most of the foot remains unengaged, limiting blood flow and muscle stimulation.
Conversely, when an arch piece is fitted correctly to the 2620s, it flexes when your foot strikes the ground, encouraging the foot to splay and disperse force through the ball of the foot for a more even impact.
How Do They Help With Sporting Performance?
When more of the foot is engaged, more muscles and tendons are kicking off of the ground and absorbing impact. Not only does this make you more energy efficient, it also gives you better balance and helps reduce the impact on the parts of the body that generate force, like the hips and knees.
Is There a Maximum Arch Height for Each Wearer?
Yes, although 5 arch height pieces are provided, the maximum arch height is determined by your skeletal structure, along with muscular flexibility. For example, someone with a flat foot may only be able to use a level 2 arch height, taken all the way forward, as level 3 would be too steep for their arches.
While you can make your foot more flexible, you cannot change skeletal structure. Each foot reacts and behaves differently, so experimentation with your own feet is key to finding the most beneficial fit.
No Two Feet Are the Same!
As well as progression and muscle activation in the feet, the different arch supports and settings are great for accommodating injuries and other conditions. Also, as they can be adjusted independently, it's no problem if your left leg or foot is different to your right. Below are a few situations where the the ability to adjust your arch supports to your own feet could help:
- Foot or leg injuries that affect movement or gait
- Long-term conditions like plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis
- Leg length discrepancies
- Tightness, sprains or strains that affect performance of the foot
- Favouring one side because of localised deficiencies or conditions
Even if an injury or condition is temporary, one foot can use a more gentle arch setting, and be slowly trained until both feet match!
What About Moving the Arch Pieces Sideways?
G8 have found that moving the arch pieces sideways has little to no effect on most people, with the exception of some cyclists. This is because a cyclist is strapped in, and so cannot adjust the angle of attack with the pedals like people can do while running. As such, cyclists may find it beneficial to experiment with the width settings of their insoles, just as we have advised everyone to do with the height settings.
How Can the G8 Performance Insoles Benefit the Rest of Your Body?
While foot health and development are the main aims of the G8 Performance Insoles, your whole body can also feel huge benefits over time. Moving your feet in a more biomechanically correct way dispels the energy and impact, as well as reducing the energy that is returned back to where it is originally generated, like your knees, back, shins and hips. Stronger feet lessen stress on these more fragile body parts, reducing wear and encouraging healthier body alignment.
How Are the G8 Performance Insoles Different to Other Athletic Insoles?
While most other athletic insoles on the market focus on shielding and protecting foot weakness while you exercise, the G8 2620 Insoles prioritise making your feet stronger. By engaging and activating more of your feet, the stress of exercise is better dispersed through the whole foot instead of just part of it. Over time, these issues will become much less severe and the parts of the foot that are protected by other insoles, can instead contribute to performance.
Want an Equally Beneficial Pair of Insoles for When You're Not Exercising?
These G8 Insoles are made to grow and change with your feet, adapting as your level of performance gets higher and higher. But if you're looking for a pair of 'set-and-forget' insoles for your everyday shoes, consider the G8 Performance Ignite Heat-Moldable Insoles. They're not as flexible as the G8, as they are heat-moulded instead to give you a more static and supportive insole, which is more suited for recovery than training.
Key Features and Benefits of the 2620 Insoles
- Passively exercise the feet over time
- Engage far more of the feet than average insoles
- Build foot muscles and encourage blood flow
- Trimmable for perfect sizing
- Easily adjustable to changing feet
- Includes 5 arch support inserts for different arch heights
- Improve balance and energy efficiency during exercise
- Properly engaged feet reduce impact on knees and the rest of the body
- Help with foot conditions like planar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis and more
- Help to regulate foot temperature and reduce sweating
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