LSAT 155 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Toning shoes – walking shoes with a specially rounded sole…

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox

PARADOX: People with toning shoes tend to have stronger leg muscles, even though walking with toning shoes is not more exercise for the leg muscles than walking with ordinary walking shoes.

ANALYSIS: The question here is “how do the muscles get stronger with toning shoes if they’re being exercised the same?”. We’re specifically told the major leg muscles are not exercised more than they would be in normal shoes. But there is an increase in leg muscle.

The key is quantity of exercise, not quality of exercise. Even if the quality is the same, increasing the quantity of exercise will lead to stronger muscles. If you can’t think of this yourself, that’s okay – you can always look through the answer choices to find which one makes sense and is consistent with what we know.

___________

1. We don’t care if they help small underused muscles. We want to know why people with toning shoes have better major leg muscles.
2. It doesn’t matter that leg muscles adapt right away. We know that walking in toning shoes doesn’t affect the exercise of the major leg muscles, so this must not affect that.
3. CORRECT. If people are walking more, their legs will get stronger, even if the shoes aren’t specifically improving the exercise.
4. It doesn’t matter that toning shoes don’t cause injury. Now, if the answer said ordinary walking shoes often caused injury, that would be a good answer. But it doesn’t, and we can’t infer that here.
5. We don’t care which shoes are more marketable or what effect leg muscle strengthening has on marketability. We want to know why the leg muscles are strengthening.

Recap: The question begins with “Toning shoes – walking shoes with a specially rounded sole”. It is a Paradox question. Learn more about LSAT Paradox questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.