The Forza Trainer From Xero Shoes Is... Alright
The fall of 2022 has brought some significant changes to the Xero shoe catalog. We’ve got a new trainer, the Forza, a new runner also named the Forza, and they’ve made the Denver leather. All three arrived at my house last week, and I’ve finally spent enough time in the Forza Trainer to do a proper review. So look out for the Forza Runner and leather Denver reviews this month.
Let’s get started with the Forza Trainer because it was the shoe I was most excited about. I wear trainers 90% of the time as a personal trainer and active person. The Forza seemed like the sturdiest weightlifting shoes Xero had built to date, and it appeared aesthetically like a minimalist shoe for powerlifters. However, after training in it for a week, I’ve got to say I wasn’t impressed.
Unfortunately, when it comes to cross-training, the Xero 360 does everything the Forza does but better. However, there are still some things that I like about the Forza, and I will go into detail below:
What’s food about the Forza Trainer?
The Forza Trainer is lightweight, has a wide toe box, and sturdy sole. Its best feature, though, has to be comfort. If you’ve worn many weightlifting shoes, you know they can be pretty stiff. Unfortunately, stiffness can sometimes be confused with stability. You don’t need a stiff shoe to feel stable lifting weights, and the comfort of Forza is the best example of that idea I’ve tried to date.
I could wear the Forza Trainers all day and be perfectly comfortable, which is something I cannot say for the Nike Metcons or really any other weightlifting shoe I’ve worn. These shoes gently hug your feet like socks, and you can forget you are even wearing them. These shoes will get the job done if you are looking for a comfortable minimalist weightlifting shoe for a casual weightlifter.
Although this shoe is not great for a serious powerlifter, and that brings us to our next section:
What is bad about the Forza Trainer?
The Forza Trainer is designed to look like a powerlifting shoe, with thin laces and a strap across the top common in weightlifting shoes. However, it only looks like a powerlifting shoe. The strap serves no function when it comes to adjusting the shoe’s fit. If it tightens the shoe, it isn’t by much. The thin laces are the only way to adjust fit, and I find the laces too thin. The Forza Runner has laces that fit the shoe much better than the Forza Trainer.
Again, the Forza Trainer laces and strap seem to put design and look before function. Which I would be OK with if they looked cooler. The Forza Trainer and Runner come in limited color choices, and if you don’t want an all-black pair, your options aren’t great. The Forza Trainer comes in all-black, Ohio state (grey, red, black), and Michigan (yellow and blue). Besides the black, it looks like your college football-loving uncle’s gym shoes.
Lastly, the Forza Trainer feels like a slight tweak to the Forza Runner to sell it to a different audience. The Forza Runner does its job well, and I will cover that in more detail in an upcoming article, but the trainer is mediocre.
Is the Forza Trainer worth it?
At the time of writing, they are on sale for $103.99, and their regular price is $129.99. I don’t see these shoes being worth the $130 price tag when the Xero 360 is ten dollars cheaper.
The Forza Trainers are a comfortable pair of shoes for the gym, but they do not improve on the Xero 360. If I were looking for a new minimalist workout shoe, I’d go with the Xero 360. It has better functionality, it looks better, and it costs less.
If you are looking for a comfy workout shoe and you like how the Forza Trainer looks, it will get the job done. But overall, this author was far from impressed by the new trainer.
I am a paid affiliate for Xero Shoes and always give my honest opinion. If you are interested in other Xero shoes, please check out this article, where I cover all of their most popular styles.
