I bought these with the hope that they would help me feel less pain during my workouts (bootcamps, HIIT, etc).  The more intense my workout have gotten, the more painful my very flat arches and shins have felt.  I'm a bigger guy, about 240 and 6' but relatively athletically built, but struggle with the pain that comes from flat feet, even with inserts.  I've had a hard time finding shoes that can take the punishment. I've had mixed results with Nike but heard good things about the Alvord. I thought I would have to break these in on my first use, but they did  a great job.  At first when doing sprints doing a boot camp class, they started hurting, but after about 2 minutes they pain subsided and they worked great the rest of the class, another 40 minutes.  The next day i had no pain either.  The arch support is good, and not overly "supportive" to the extent it pushed into my arch.  the walls of the shoes are also supportive, as is the heel of the shoe.  I didn't put inserts in them (I use the&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Powerstep-Pinnacle-Orthotics-Arch-Supports-M6-5-W8-8-5/dp/B001337704/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Powerstep Pinnacle Orthotics Arch Supports (M6.5/W8-8.5)</a>) and they still worked great.  Highly recommend them.