ON released the original CloudPulse in 2024 and I was quick to jump on it as my first shoe ever from the brand. It was…underwhelming. Sure, you could train in them if you were in a pinch or never touched a heavy weight but in my opinion, they were more suited for boot camp and HIIT classes versus actual strength training. This year ON took a cue out of Apple’s playbook and released a “Pro” version of the shoe offering the promise of a more grounded strength training experience.
At first glance, the CloudPulse Pro’s look like something on brand (pun intended), mainly at the heel of the shoe which has the now iconic openings in the midsole. To be honest, that was a huge red flag to me, for obvious reasons. Either way, I decided to give the shoes a shot, plunked down $180 (ouch) and picked up a pair from Dick’s. The rest of the shoe, in my opinion, actually looks great. We live in a time where designs are getting either outlandish or copy/paste, so it’s nice to see something that looks different for once. One thing that I’m not so crazy about is with the white pair that I purchased, the upper is more of an off-white, but not in a good way. It looks like the shoes upper is already oxidizing. Should have gone with my gut for red.
For the upper, ON went with an engineered woven material which looks like it wouldn’t be that breathable, but has actually done well in the hotter summer months in SoCal. It does flex well enough but has a sort of crumply-ness to it that can be felt on top of your foot. Toebox width for me is fairly wide with a good amount of volume. In a size 10.5, I have ample room for my toes to splay, almost too much but the shoe might run a little large in comparison to most brands. There’s on overlay over the toe bumper for added foot containment that extends to both side of metatarsals and becomes reinforced with TPU. The medial side of the shoe has a taller TPU piece that might have been added for rope climb protection, but honestly since I’m not sure, I didn’t test it because I don’t want to ruin this expensive pair of shoes.
The lacing system of the shoe has two webbed eyelets on each side of the shoe to provide a mid foot wrap. Getting a nice locked in fit around the midfoot is a cinch. However, since the eyestay and ankle collar are quite rigid, getting the ankle opening to stay down when lacing can be challenging. I immediately reversed the direction of the top laces and that helped attenuate the problem. You could of course use a runners lock, but who’s got time for that?
Something you can’t see from outside of the shoe is the bootie-design. There’s an inner lining that extends from the tongue throughout the inside of the shoe. Sure, you can still feel (and hear) the woven upper flex, but it’s not uncomfortable. It also makes it so that the flat tongue stays in place with a more form fitting feel through the throat of the shoe. Another nice addition is the elastic strap that runs over the tongue for you to tuck your laces into, which you will use because the laces are pretty long.
At the back of the shoe the material changes to a woven nylon which does a good job of making your foot feel a bit more locked in. On top of that there’s a thicker woven heel counter that also cups your foot in place. A cautionary note is that the heel does rise up quite high so if you have thicker ankles, you might get some achilles rub. I personally don’t have an issue with it but even my skinny ankles make contact with it from time to time.
Where the original CloudPulse failed was that all it had to help stabilize it was its CloudTec midsole foam. Though it was denser than a running application, it would still squish a lot under any kind of load. This year, the CloudTec foam is stabilized with both a FocusBoard under the heel and a Speedboard under the forefoot. Both of which, are quite literally right under your feet with the only thing cushioning your foot from them being the insole. Below them lays the actual midsole foam, which looks deceiving…
It’s a pretty interesting design – the shoes feel grounded, but don’t exactly look like they would be. Since the rigid boards sit right under your feet, the shoes feel very responsive and not squishy at all; actually a bit harsh at times. Certain bounding movements like running, double unders, box jumps and even long sets of burpees can light your feet up. It feels like the midsole foam mainly disperses off to the sides of the shoe to cup your foot and give you more contact area rather than under your foot providing cushioning. Even at the heel which has ON’s typical hole-y design, flexing the midsole only happens at the extreme if you step on the edge of the shoe.
Underneath the shoe, the MissionGrip rubber is broken up into pods, which increases overall flexibility and shaves a bit of weight. So far the grip on these shoes has been excellent through and through, no matter what the surface I put the shoes on. Only the forefoot is treaded, but even the flatter heel rubber feels just as tacky. The FocusBoard is exposed underneath the shoe in the middle which acts as a shank and through over a month of testing still looks new. One might think you could use this area to grip the rope, but I’d beware since there is exposed midsole on each side and underneath the shoes.
While not always the most comfortable, ON did achieve their goal in creating a grounded feeling, stable training shoe. Very surprising considering the model that they were building upon. I’ve done every lift with the utmost confidence in these shoes. I know that sounds crazy, but the way they stacked the boards over the midsole actually make the shoes very stable for lifting movements. As I mentioned earlier, the foam is almost decorative and doesn’t take away from power delivery. If anything, it probably adds stability because of how it cups your foot in place, giving you a wider area to push from. Add in the unrelenting grip of the shoes, 6mm flatter drop, and you have yourself a shoe that can hang with best out there.
If there was a chink in the armor of the CloudPulse Pro’s stability, it would be that the shoes taper quite a bit towards the middle. Doing so adds a bit more flex torsionally, which helps for your agility movements but can pitch you forward if you’re not paying attention. The weight at 13.5oz could use a little trimming as well. Another issue that affected me was the toe box width, but that’s something that might be corrected by sizing…
When it comes to choosing the right size – I think the 10.5’s feel usable with thicker, cushioned socks since I’m able to fill up the space a little better but at the end of the day, I’m still left with more space than I’d prefer. My forefoot can shift inside of the toebox of the shoe which for more dynamic lifts, doesn’t feel confidence inspiring. These shoes are fairly wide, so if you’re someone that has sized up due to width issues, I think you could size these back down without any issue. For just about everyone looking to pick up a pair of these, you’ll probably want to size down as well – specifically those coming from RAD V2 and most Nike Metcons. Coming from TYR can be a mixed bag but if your shoes don’t have a lot of space, just get that same size. Most Nano’s should size the same as these besides Nano X4, X, 8.
Despite the CloudPulse Pro not always being the most comfortable shoe to do agility work in, I’m genuinely a fan of them. For the most part, they’re flexible and work well for bodyweight stuff – it wasn’t until I got to a very long slog of a workout that included running and a ton of burpees that I noticed the shoes being uncomfortable. For lifting, I’ve actually been loving them and there’s not a single thing I wouldn’t use these for other than rope climbs.
The kicker? The price tag of course – $180 puts these well above the training shoe standard and all you’re really paying the extra for is brand tax. These still perform worse than RAD V2, TYR CXT-2, Metcon 10, Strike Haze, While On Earth…just about every established training namesake. Which begs the question of why you would even consider paying more for something that doesn’t provide as much. Honestly, it just comes down to brand snobbery.
Honestly, it probably worked a bit on me – I’ll continue to train in these because I just like them, and that’s all the reason I need. I think that ON did a great job making the CloudPulse Pro a legitimate serious training shoe and I’m confident that when they come out with the CloudPulse Pro Max, it’ll be a doozy.
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