Nike Romaleos Review

[Riccardo]

Well first of all sorry for the delay, Drizzt been riding me to get this done (no homo) lol but its taken an age to try and upload some pics somehow and wanted to get a good feel for the shoe before I wrote about them. Will divide the review in to categories (Styling, comfort/feel, performance, durability and sizing).

Styling

Ok so I had already seen these in a number of different colourways and if I'm being completely honest its one of the things that drew me to them straight away :oops: They look pretty damn cool, I got the conservative black and white but have seen the white ones in person and they look mint as well. The Romaleos (which is Greek for "strength" in case you were unaware) look similar to a pair of Air Max's only with a couple straps, very different to your traditional pair of WL shoes but they definitely aren't something to be embarrassed to pull out in the gym. Infact it looks like Adidas have taken a leaf out of Nike's book when they were styling their new adiPower shoe for this year's Olympics. Lastly, on the inside of the left foot on the sole is inscribed "go forth and..." and on the right foot "...Dominate" Fuuuuuuuuu not only do these shoes look good but they motivate you as well.

Comfort/Feel

Im glad I didn't write this review immediately after I tried them on because when I did I felt like they were going to slip off my feet when I walked round in them. Obviously this isn't a problem when squatting however as soon as I got a couple training sessions in them they loosened up and got broken in such that they fit like a glove! These really are comfortable, as comfortable as a pair of trainers. They come with two sets of insoles as well, one is a training insole and one is for competition. You can probably guess that the competition insole is a lot thinner and actually considerably lighter while still being pretty comfortable although you wouldn't wanna stand for long periods of time in them. You wouldn't think an insole would make much difference to the weight but it really does! They are a a heavy shoe and this is the one thing that people have seemed to fault the shoe on however you are lifting weights, not sprinting 100m in them. Therefore I really don't feel it is an issue, they might make a slight difference when split jerking but a number of Oly lifters who have a pair have told me they really don't notice the weight difference while lifting.

In terms of stability the Romaleos are incredible. They literally feel like you have magnets on the bottom of your feet, the heel looks as though it's raised quite high but it is only 0.75" The TPU heel cups around your foot giving the illusion of a higher heel. This makes for outstanding lateral stability, your ankles feel very safe and it provides a rigid platform to lift from. The two straps on the upper go in opposite directions which is a nice touch suprisingly this doesn't effect dorsiflexion of the foot. While the traditional one strap tends to almost supinate your foot slightly, this setup holds your foot down while keeping it neutral and centered in the shoe.

Performance

At this point I'm feeling like a Nike sales rep but these shoes get top marks for performance. The solid platform they provide for your foot and ankle allow you to really focus on what your knees and hips are doing, I felt my technique improve considerably with these shoes, I am able to stay more upright and having longer femurs this has made the back squat more relevant to quad development for me. The Nike "power bridge" TPU heel and overall construction of the shoe make you feel like you are transmitting more force to the ground and less energy is wasted through lateral movement/instability of your heel and ankle. A high bar olympic style squat feels way easier in these and I've noticed I've been dive bombing my squats more since I got them, they give you a lot more confidence that you aren't going to and end up with a barbell pinning you to the ground. Basically these shoes deliver on what a W/L shoe should do. Snatching and jerking in these feels great as they are so stable the only thing is I think they give a little less margin for error because of this.

Durability

I haven't had mine for long so can't really comment too much on this, however I have been squatting 4 times a week for the past month and they are showing zero signs of wear, in fact they look the same as the day they came out the box. They look very durable and well constructed and only took a couple sessions to break in. The sturdy construction gives you confidence that they are going to last and not fall to pieces with 200+kg on your back.

Sizing

Nike says that they run true to your normal Nike tennis shoe size i.e. if you are a size 10 in a pair of air max's you will be a size 10 in the Romaleos. However I got told to get half a size smaller by two people who have had them, I followed their advice and I'm glad I did. I am normally a size 11US in Nike shoes of which I have about 3 pairs at the moment, I got 10.5US Romaleos and they fit like an absolute glove.

Conclusion

I really don't like giving something a mark out of 5 or whatever for something like this, my feeling is they are built to do a job and either they do it or they don't much of the rest comes down to personal preference (hence including a "style" section :pfft: ) but If I had to I would say these are a woulddefinitelybuyagain/10 or cansquatwiththefuryofathousandspartans%

Pictures

[Riccardo]

Well first of all sorry for the delay, Drizzt been riding me to get this done (no homo) lol but its taken an age to try and upload some pics somehow and wanted to get a good feel for the shoe before I wrote about them. Will divide the review in to categories (Styling, comfort/feel, performance, durability and sizing).

Styling

Ok so I had already seen these in a number of different colourways and if I'm being completely honest its one of the things that drew me to them straight away :oops: They look pretty damn cool, I got the conservative black and white but have seen the white ones in person and they look mint as well. The Romaleos (which is Greek for "strength" in case you were unaware) look similar to a pair of Air Max's only with a couple straps, very different to your traditional pair of WL shoes but they definitely aren't something to be embarrassed to pull out in the gym. Infact it looks like Adidas have taken a leaf out of Nike's book when they were styling their new adiPower shoe for this year's Olympics. Lastly, on the inside of the left foot on the sole is inscribed "go forth and..." and on the right foot "...Dominate" Fuuuuuuuuu not only do these shoes look good but they motivate you as well.

Comfort/Feel

Im glad I didn't write this review immediately after I tried them on because when I did I felt like they were going to slip off my feet when I walked round in them. Obviously this isn't a problem when squatting however as soon as I got a couple training sessions in them they loosened up and got broken in such that they fit like a glove! These really are comfortable, as comfortable as a pair of trainers. They come with two sets of insoles as well, one is a training insole and one is for competition. You can probably guess that the competition insole is a lot thinner and actually considerably lighter while still being pretty comfortable although you wouldn't wanna stand for long periods of time in them. You wouldn't think an insole would make much difference to the weight but it really does! They are a a heavy shoe and this is the one thing that people have seemed to fault the shoe on however you are lifting weights, not sprinting 100m in them. Therefore I really don't feel it is an issue, they might make a slight difference when split jerking but a number of Oly lifters who have a pair have told me they really don't notice the weight difference while lifting.

In terms of stability the Romaleos are incredible. They literally feel like you have magnets on the bottom of your feet, the heel looks as though it's raised quite high but it is only 0.75" The TPU heel cups around your foot giving the illusion of a higher heel. This makes for outstanding lateral stability, your ankles feel very safe and it provides a rigid platform to lift from. The two straps on the upper go in opposite directions which is a nice touch suprisingly this doesn't effect dorsiflexion of the foot. While the traditional one strap tends to almost supinate your foot slightly, this setup holds your foot down while keeping it neutral and centered in the shoe.

Performance

It this point I'm feeling like a Nike sales rep but these shoes get top marks for performance. The solid platform they provide for your foot and ankle allow you to really focus on what your knees and hips are doing, I felt my technique improve considerably with these shoes, I am able to stay more upright and having longer femurs this has made the back squat more relevant for quad development for me. The Nike "power bridge" TPU heel and overall construction of the shoe make you feel like you are transmitting more force to the ground and less energy is wasted through lateral movement/instability of your heel and ankle. A high bar olympic style squat feels way easier in these and I've noticed I've been dive bombing my squats more since I got them, they give you a lot more confidence that you aren't going to and end up with a barbell pinning you to the ground. Basically these shoes deliver on what a W/L shoe should do. Snatching and jerking in these feels great as they are so stable the only thing is I think they give a little less margin for error because of this.

Durability

I haven't had mine for long so can't really comment to much on this, however I have been squatting 4 times a week for the past month and they are showing zero signs of wear, in fact they look the same as the day they came out the box. They look very durable and well constructed and only took a couple sessions to break in. The sturdy construction gives you confidence that they are going to last and not fall to pieces with 200+kg on your back.

Sizing

Nike says that they run true to your normal Nike tennis shoe size i.e. if you are a size 10 in a pair of air max's you will be a size 10 in the Romaleos. However I got told to get half a size smaller by two people who have had them, I followed their advice and I'm glad I did. I am normally a size 11US in Nike shoes of which I have about 3 pairs at the moment, I got 10.5US Romaleos and they fit like an absolute glove.

Conclusion

I really don't like giving things a mark out of 5 or whatever for things like this, my feeling is they are built to do a job and either they do it or they don't much of the rest comes down to personal preference (hence including a "style" section :pfft: but If I had to I would say these are a woulddefinitelybuyagain/10 or cansquatwiththefuryofathousandspartans%

Pictures

[drizzt]

Awesome review bro! 'Bout time! :grin: Kudos

[M.T]

Good write up indeed so keen so these suckers.