This business about the forward/reverse pedals is funny because I have one garden tractor with the heel reverse and another with the deere type setup.
The only problem I have is getting in the habit of using one and then switching between the two tractors and screwing it all up.
I'll also add, that I haven't had many fatigue issues with the heel reverse either***.
***One issue I did run into was when I rebuilt the tractor with the heel reverse setup, the return springs are finicky and need to be set up right, or there is too much/little pressure on the pedal and it will not center in neutral correctly. If the poster with the heel reverse is doing a lot of reverse work, especially looking over their shoulder doing reverse 3-point implement work, I would look into either trying to get a better angle on the seat to see if you could get more leverage over the heel pedal, and look at those springs to make sure they are set up correctly.
I ended up removing my return springs (f and r) entirely because one was missing and the other was too powerful, and I could not get a replacement of the right tension to keep the pedal centered. Probably not entirely safe, but since I disabled all the other safety garbage, the tractor isn't going to be winning any Ralph Nader awards anyway. It works great now and really does reduce fatigue (My fatigue was from going forward against the full pressure of one return spring without the opposing spring to balance out the forces- and reduce the pressure needed to hit the forward pedal). Call it a poor man's cruise control. Safe? Nope, but I don't think the factory cruise control on my JD is entirely safe either, especially when mowing.
All the other tractors with the heel reverse I have owned (with the proper setup)never have given me fatigue issues. It was only when the springs were setup wrong that it gave trouble. Removed the resistance / effort needed goes down. But you didn't hear that from me!
addendumendummm.... Upon further deep pontification and serious introspective reflection, I think if someone is going to be doing a LOT of reverse 3 point implement work, that I would give a slight edge to the John Deere setup, but I'm talking about spending 3-4 hours looking backwards over shoulder at whatever they are doing behind the tractor. For predominately mowing stuff, I think it would be a wash. I would say this based on my experience. Results may vary.