(Spencer J Eggers/The Daily Campus)

The one item everyone needs when they work out is a pair of shoes.

Whether you are running, cross training, walking, playing tennis or any other sport, you have to wear some type of athletic shoe.

The style of shoe depends on the activity you are participating in.

If you look at the soles of the shoe you can see the different designs that separates each one from another.

Running shoes have horizontal lines all down the sole of the shoe to help enhance forward movement and are typically more flexible.

A shoe described as a running shoe should not intimidate walkers.

Running shoes can be used both for running and walking. Andy Prior, a shoe specialist at Luke’s Locker, believes it can be beneficial to wear a running shoe because athletic shoe companies spend more time and money in developing their running shoe line than they do with their walking shoe line.

“A cross training shoe is designed for lateral movements or standing still and lifting weights,” Prior said.

Court tennis shoes have no horizontal lines. They have rotational pieces on the bottom that enable you to quickly swivel and change directions.

These shoes have lots of lateral support and have material built up on the side of the shoe to give you more stability.

It is important to remember that shoes get old.

That may seem obvious, but not everyone realizes when they need to purchase new running shoes.

“Typically if you’re using a shoe three days a week for an hour work out you’d be looking at about eight months or so,” Prior said. “When someone is doing mostly walking or running we give them a mileage number, 350 miles.”

This means that someone running three to four miles a week, for at least three days a week, is running around 10 miles a week for 35 weeks, or nine months.

People who do not purchase new shoes every eight to nine months can run into some problems.

“Potentially aches and pains, it can be knee issues, shin issues or hip issues,” Prior said.

But he also says that a lot of the time it is not as dramatic.

Just because your shoes are not getting as dirty or as worn out it doesn’t mean you are not due for a new pair of shoes.

Prior says it is usually a situation where you can’t visually tell, but there is definitely a difference when you try on a brand new pair.