Reebok Crossfit Lite TR Review

Probably the silliest, yet most innovative, but not very creative “crossfit” shoe to hit the market this year, the Reebok Crossfit Lite TR, has finally dropped.  Is it worth the price to pay over a tried but true pair of Chuck Taylor’s?

I have to admit, when I first caught wind of the Reebok Crossfit Lite TR, I wasn’t too keen on the idea.  I thought it was just another cash-in scheme by Reebok to appeal to the people that like to workout in Chuck’s.  Well, it kind of is, but after wearing the shoes myself, I can safely say that the RCF Lite TR is worthy of the premium over a pair of Chucks.

Looks:

Probably the best feature, on the list of good features of the RCF Lite.  Definitely an attention grabbing shoe, even in the black on black leather colorway.  I wouldn’t mind wearing these shoes out on the town, they just look clean.  Talk about general physical preparedness.  Obviously the design pulls cues from your favorite traditional Converse shoe.  Gone is the rubber toecap, in it’s place you’ll find the same type of Duragrip toecap found on the Nano 2.0.  Haven’t stubbed my toe on anything yet, but I’m sure it’ll protect my toesies at the very least against double unders.  The stitching adds a great touch of contrast along with the grey metal eyelets against the leather upper of the RCF Lite.  I’m generally not a fan of all the pizzazz that Reebok throws over all their crossfit products, but at least here with the black leather version of the shoe, it’s subtle and not very noticeable.  For those of you that aren’t down for the hi-top look, sit tight, lo-tops are on the way; but I don’t think they retain flavor of the RCF Lite.

Performance:

Say you were to, for some reason wear these shoes out and came across a 500lb uprooted tree that blocked your path.  Fear not, lock those laces in and deadlift that tree out of your way with your new mighty powerlifting shoes. These shoes were designed for work, and work they will do.  If the Hulk could wear shoes, this is probably the shoe he would wear.  Though they look like Chuck’s, they don’t actually feel like you’re wearing chucks.  I would say the closest thing the RCF Lite’s feel like are hi-top Nano 2.0’s.  The soles are a LOT shorter and close to the ground than Chucks are. Traction is great, I guess the pattern on the bottom of the soles is supposed to act like suction cups, I recall being pretty glued to the ground doing deadlifts this past weekend at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.  Though it sports Ortholite insoles, they don’t feel very thick, lending itself more to the minimal shoe feel.  I usually run into problems with stability in Nano’s backsquatting around my 90% (375#ish), but I managed to hit a new 3RM box squat (395#, wide stance) in the RCF Lite’s without even thinking of changing my shoes.  Solid.  Short runs, double unders and metcon’s aren’t so bad in the RCF Lite’s either, they’re a little stiffer than Nano’s, but not so much that it’d make a huge difference in a WOD.  I didn’t bother with the rope, I’m not trying to mess my new shoes up just yet.

The RCF Lite’s weigh in at 10.2 ounces, WAY less than Chucks, slightly less than Oly’s,  slightly more than Nano’s.  Not going to make a huge difference for normal box jumps, but they probably wouldn’t be my first choice if I was trying to hit a max height box jump.  Heel to toe drop feels nonexistant, I would say it’s close to zero drop.

Fit:

Fat footed people rejoice!  This is the shoe for you!

At the same time, sorry really narrow footed people.  If you hated Nano’s because they were too wide, you’re not going to find solace with the RCF Lite’s.  As previously mentioned, the RCF Lite’s fit very similarly to Nano’s, most closely resembling 2.0’s.  Nice touch with the ankle support/padding, though I wear mine pretty loose until I’m actually working out.

My size 9’s are perfect on me, so I would say these shoes fit true to size.

Value:

A steal!

For $90, you get a shoe that is just as capable as Nano’s, won’t blow out like Chucks, and has more style than both.  If you’re a dedicated powerlifter, don’t even think twice, just buy this shoe.To those of you that would argue that you might as well just buy Chuck’s, at half the price.  Take into consideration that you’ll most definitely blow those shoes out; I’ve done it to countless pairs throughout the last 10 years not even lifting in them.   If you’re a crossfitter, Nano’s are very all around shoes, good for just about anything.  If you only had money to spend on one pair of shoes, you might want to look in that direction and spend the extra bit.

Conclusion:

The Reebok Crossfit Lite TR’s might just be my favorite shoe, crossfit or not; granted I value my powerlifts more than my metcon.  Not only will they set you apart from the crowd, they’re completely functional!  Though they were designed by powerlifters, with powerlifters in mind, the Reebok Crossfit Lite TR definitely earns it’s medal as a crossfit shoe and a casual shoe!

Highly recommended.