Shoes thread !?!!

[mbasic]

I JUST bought the new Hookgrip Anta's yesterday .... like 20 hours ago.

Are these better than Romaleos 2? How do they compare?

They seems narrower. The heel cup isn't as tight....but pretty comparable.

Just got a pair of Romaleos 2 after 5 years of using Adipower 1's. Brand-new Rom 2's are not nearly as comfortable to me, have a stiffer forefoot, and a bit more lateral stability.

You "just got" new Rom2s? I thought they were extinct except for a few weird sizes some outfitters have lying around. Or do you mean Rom3 or 4's?

We'll see how they break in. Not really understanding the hype on these shoes other than their durability. Definitely more heel slippage than the Adipower due to the Rom's larger heel cup and stiffer sole.

Dynamic Olympic lifts might be different than slow strength lifts. I'm mean yeah, split jerk is obvs, sure...but the other lifts your feet hop around a bit, your feet might go from full plantar flexion, to slamming flat footed and pushing with full force, all in a fraction of second. Some people's snatch go from a narrow standing stance in the top of the pull, out to much wider overhead squat stance in the catch of a snatch....a lot of lateral forces to deal with there. Also, if you have long legs (long= not 5'5" Manley short femurs ideal for OWL) .... and considering all of your high bar squats, fronts, clean catches, etc will have considerable dorsiflexion...and being that every rep, especially dynamic ones, are not always ideal....I think the heel want to pop. IOW, slot of wear of the upper heel cup area.

I have a pair of ROM2's with almost no miles on them. I bought new and got the red/black Antas shortly thereafter. I think I'll save them....maybe for my son when he's older. They'll be vintage by then... lololol.

I bought the red & black Antas about 2-3 years ago....one of metal loop straps broke...and heel foam/padding wore out too.

That post above in April, I bought two pairs simultaneously of the newer 91Antas from hookgrip....in case we can't import them in the future. This new pair seems to be doing a lot better wear wise. It's still tight.

[Laughter95]

So Antas have a narrower forefoot and a slightly bigger heel cup than Rom 2? And might be less durable? Interesting, the online comments seem to praise Anta so much. I also haven't heard of any failures on the Rom 2, other than initial models having midfoot straps that were too long and dragged on the ground. My impression from the online commentary was that Antas have a better quality upper than Rom 2, inferior sockliner, but everything else is the same. A guy at my globo has a pair of China Antas, says the heel height is too high for him. They still seem cool though. The Red/Black is probably the best Anta iteration I've seen aside from the few golden pairs made for the Chinese Olympic medalists.

There was a small Rom 2 restock at Athlete PS on Christmas. Was lucky to grab a pair in light blue, size 9.5, for $108. There's heel slippage that I noticed during the two C&J training sessions I had with them, but it's not horrible. It's just that the Adipowers have much less slip because of a smaller heel cup and much more flexibility. Planting flat footed for a split jerk is also more comfortable with well-worn Adipower soles being more forgiving than stiff, new Rom 2 soles. Adipower's thinner soles also provide a lot more ground feel. I probably just need to keep training on Rom 2s and will adjust over time.

[mbasic]

So Antas have a narrower forefoot and a slightly bigger heel cup than Rom 2? And might be less durable? Interesting, the online comments seem to praise Anta so much.

A lot of that ^ is probably dependant on shoe size fit/correct sizing.
I want to say I should've got maybe a 1/2 size smaller.
Internet shopping and all that; you can't exactly try a bunch of these on and off in your local Anta store in the United States of Trump.

I also haven't heard of any failures on the Rom 2, other than initial models having midfoot straps that were too long and dragged on the ground.

This is a non issue. There would never be enough strap on the ground to step on with the other foot or trip you up.
I did cut one pair back, then you singe with a lighter like other woven plastic materials.

My impression from the online commentary was that Antas have a better quality upper than Rom 2, inferior sockliner, but everything else is the same. A guy at my globo has a pair of China Antas, says the heel height is too high for him. They still seem cool though. The Red/Black is probably the best Anta iteration I've seen aside from the few golden pairs made for the Chinese Olympic medalists.

Heel height seems the same as ROM2s... to me anyways.

TBQH, the only reason I bought the Antas was to kind support the Hookgrip guy to an extent....
I don't care for CHINA! (said like trump) Weightlifting that much, its definitely not about that.
Using same gear as elites, etc....that's silly.

People were saying they are both comparable (Roms/Anta).
The ROM2's are likely made with the same psuedo-slave labor as the Antas.

I don't like the look and reviews of the Adidas products.

[Hardartery]

You guys go through a lot of shoes. I still have the same pair of Safe SST's that I started with. They have to be at least 15 years old. I bought them based on pressure from Hugo Gerard to get real shoes for pressing. I do most of my lifting in flip-flops atm, even the cleans. The Safe's are custom hand made to my specific size. Nobody makes off the sheld lifting shoes in a 4E width, so I'd be hating life trying to use any of the names being reccomended on here.

[Laughter95]

Internet shopping and all that; you can't exactly try a bunch of these on and off in your local Anta store in the United States of Trump.

The trick is to pay with PayPal and they'll reimburse your return shipping. Some conditions apply. Order a few sizes and keep the one that fits best.

[mbasic]

You guys go through a lot of shoes.

Two of mine "didn't count" tho:

I bought Powerlifts2's first, because a read on the SS forums that was shizzle because only .6" heel height or whatever.
That shoe is complete fucking garbage IMO, didn't change a fucking thing.
I remember like 10 years ago when I started lifting again, I bought some shiity New Balance with the stiffest, hardest soles I could find.
I think those shoes were better than the Powerlifts I got....

I then bought my first pair of ROM2s. Black.
They were stolen out of my truck.
Were in a backpack with a Inzer lever belt, chalk, straps, etc ..... was so pissed.

[mbasic]

Internet shopping and all that; you can't exactly try a bunch of these on and off in your local Anta store in the United States of Trump.

The trick is to pay with PayPal and they'll reimburse your return shipping. Some conditions apply. Order a few sizes and keep the one that fits best.

...dealing with that Natrem guy who runs the hookgrip channel, I don't know if I want to try that trick with him.

The Antas he imported were a limited edition shoe IIRC.

[Hardartery]

They were stolen out of my truck.
Were in a backpack with a Inzer lever belt, chalk, straps, etc ..... was so pissed.

Ouch. That just pisses me off on your behalf. You know the dick that stole it had no idea what he stole and probably just threw the stuff away and kept the backpack.

[zappey1]

Finally broke down and bought a pair of lifters. Soooooooo many were out of stock! These were probably my 3rd or 4th choice but again EVRY where was out. I went with mid price range as I did not want to spend a mint if I do not like them.

Went with the: Reebok Lifter PR II Training Shoe

First day went well. It will take some time to get used to them but they felt good on the first workout!
Still not sold on using them during DLs. Do you guys wear them during DLs?

[Hardartery]

Finally broke down and bought a pair of lifters. Soooooooo many were out of stock! These were probably my 3rd or 4th choice but again EVRY where was out. I went with mid price range as I did not want to spend a mint if I do not like them.

Went with the: Reebok Lifter PR II Training Shoe

First day went well. It will take some time to get used to them but they felt good on the first workout!
Still not sold on using them during DLs. Do you guys wear them during DLs?

I currently wear flip flops for DL's, but that's not a reccomendation. I prefer to DL in socks or barefoot, but he slippers would be fine if I was in a comp that required footwear. I have DL'd in my squat shoes, anf it works great. A lot nicer than flip flops or regular "Athletic" shoes, I wouldn't shy away from it if I had mine with me.

[mouse]

Still not sold on using them during DLs. Do you guys wear them during DLs?

HELL NAH...

I will use lifters for:

Squats/front squats... but not box squats... wrap your mind around that...

Any overhead pressing variant...

Flat bench... losing the lift in the heel makes it feel weird now for whatever reason...

Any loading or throwing movement (stones, bag, kegs, etc.)

But NEVER for deadlifts... the rare exception being RDLs or SLDLs... if I was already wearing them...

[psmith]

Is there such a thing as a decent Crossfit/"""hybrid""" shoe with a bit more heel than a Nano? I have Nanos that work fine for most things but front squatting in them just doesn't work for me right now, and a pair of Romaleo 2s that are holding up well with a little shoe goo but that I don't want to thrash dragging sleds on pavement and whatnot. Might just buy some cheaper lifting shoes and thrash those instead but wanted to see if there had been any interesting developments in this area since I stopped paying attention a while back.

[James]

I've started using heeled shoes again and noticed the leather eyelets on my legacy lifters were stretching and the laces have been sawing through the plastic eyelets at the top. You'd think for expensive shoes rebook would spring for metal grommets at lest on the leather holes.

Went to harbor freight and picked up a $4 pair of grommet pliers and put some in.

[brkriete]

Still not sold on using them during DLs. Do you guys wear them during DLs?

I did lifting in a commercial gym since I was already wearing them for squats and wasn't going to take the time to wear multiple pairs of shoes. I tried taking them off for deadlifts a couple times and didn't notice a huge difference. Now that I'm lifting at home if I'm doing squats and deadlifts in the same workout I usually leave them on, if it's a deadlift-only workout I just lift in my sandals. I really think it's mostly whatever you're used to.

[zappey1]

Still not sold on using them during DLs. Do you guys wear them during DLs?

I did lifting in a commercial gym since I was already wearing them for squats and wasn't going to take the time to wear multiple pairs of shoes. I tried taking them off for deadlifts a couple times and didn't notice a huge difference. Now that I'm lifting at home if I'm doing squats and deadlifts in the same workout I usually leave them on, if it's a deadlift-only workout I just lift in my sandals. I really think it's mostly whatever you're used to.

Shoot that was posted almost 10 months ago.

I have been using them for EVEYTHING since that post. I kinda of like them but they are getting worn out. They may last another 3 or 4 months. I don't think they help enough for me to want to buy another pair. I will probably go back to chucks or vans once they are trash. I think they were like 120 USD I can get some chucks for 50

[Hardartery]

Bump with a question. Anybody else have fat feet? By which I mean wide and a high instep. I typically wear a 12-13 EEEE or wider. I was measured and told that I am technically only EE width, but the instep (how tall or thick the foot is) is apparently some sort of ogre gene malformation which dooms me to New Balance or Skechers most of the time. I am really interested in a bare of minimalist shoes like Vibrams (Only maybe without the individual toes) for deadlifting and couldn't find anywhere with them in stock to try any on during my lst trip through the US. Looking for suggestions.

[brkriete]

Bump with a question. Anybody else have fat feet? By which I mean wide and a high instep. I typically wear a 12-13 EEEE or wider. I was measured and told that I am technically only EE width, but the instep (how tall or thick the foot is) is apparently some sort of ogre gene malformation which dooms me to New Balance or Skechers most of the time. I am really interested in a bare of minimalist shoes like Vibrams (Only maybe without the individual toes) for deadlifting and couldn't find anywhere with them in stock to try any on during my lst trip through the US. Looking for suggestions.

Yeah Vivo Barefoot. I bought a couple pairs years ago and they wear like iron plus have a very unstructured upper (depending on the style) so I think would likely accommodate your foot OK.

These are probably the closest to what I have (I prefer the slip-ons): https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/ababa-i ... =Gray+Mist

[Hardartery]

Bump with a question. Anybody else have fat feet? By which I mean wide and a high instep. I typically wear a 12-13 EEEE or wider. I was measured and told that I am technically only EE width, but the instep (how tall or thick the foot is) is apparently some sort of ogre gene malformation which dooms me to New Balance or Skechers most of the time. I am really interested in a bare of minimalist shoes like Vibrams (Only maybe without the individual toes) for deadlifting and couldn't find anywhere with them in stock to try any on during my lst trip through the US. Looking for suggestions.

Yeah Vivo Barefoot. I bought a couple pairs years ago and they wear like iron plus have a very unstructured upper (depending on the style) so I think would likely accommodate your foot OK.

These are probably the closest to what I have (I prefer the slip-ons): https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/ababa-i ... =Gray+Mist

Thanks. I'm checking them out now.