These are great! Finally a good training shoe available
I really like these so far. It takes me a while with shoes to know if I'll be able to stick with them long term. I'm 40, I live in NYC without a car, and I workout & walk/run a lot so my feet & joints aren't top tier and I go pretty hard in the gym so we'll see, but my initial reaction is that I love these!
I really don't do crossfit at all, I'm just a weight lifter, but I tend to have really bad tendencies toward plantar fasciitis and foot/leg pain. So far, considering all that, these have been great! They fit like a glove at my usual size in Asics/Nike/etc. and I like that they have just a touch of support.
My main complaint with Converse for deadlifting is just a lack of support. These give me much better support and a good ground feel too.
I wouldn't walk long distance in these, and probably wouldn't even use them on the treadmill just because of my personal sensitivities to footwear (although for most people they'd probably be fine on the treadmill), but I have deadlifted up to my usual weight on deadlifts (my PR is 405 x5 but I only tested up to 385lb last night) with no problem, and I actually love benching with them because they are so grippy. This is another issue I have related to my gym floors, they just aren't very grippy, so having shoes with a lot of grip helps me leg drive on bench. I hit my original PR on bench this week no problem, nothing crazy, 225lb x5 is my usual bench press top set, and no foot slippage at all which is tricky in my gym.
I also love how they look. I like how solid the tongue feels (no moving around), and the uppers are glove-like without getting in the way. I did 3 sets of 12 rep 225lb squats last night and it felt easy.
I see a lot of stuff like this marketed towards gymgoers that you buy and it feels cheap. These were surprisingly awesome, not cheap feeling at all. I love them and I will definitely buy the black/gum color when it comes back in stock.
For anyone worried about the stack height on deadlifts- I was worried the 4mm heel-toe-drop would be annoying for deadlifts, but I hardly noticed it. They feel basically flat. The stack height feels really nice actually. I'm really happy with the tiny bit of support you get vs. Converse for deadlifts and walking around the gym feels less taxing on my feet in between sets. I am 40 so this matters to me haha. My feet get sore easily...
Thank you Born Primitive! Please don't stop making these. Honestly, don't change them either! These are a classic as far as I'm concerned. They've replaced my Converse for lifting. Thank you!!! Don't change them, or at least, don't make them worse! These are so great for lifting.
