Testing GoRuck’s newest functional fitness footwear
An old saying goes something like this: “If you’re not in your shoes, you’re in your bed—so it pays to invest in both.” And while that might seem like a catchy but empty phrase when you’re 20 years old, by the time the decades start to pile up that hard-won wisdom keeps looking better and better.
The more you demand from your body in your workouts, the more you’ll need to rely on your shoes to provide the support, stability, and mobility you need. But as I’ve hunted for the perfect cross trainers, I’ve come up empty-handed time and time again amidst a sea of perfectly good running, hiking, and walking shoes.
So I’m delighted to report that after weeks of putting them through their paces, GoRuck’s Ballistic Trainers are the real deal. In this review, we’ll give you the ins and outs of these next-generation cross training shoes, and share with you just how special they really are.
Disclaimer: The Ballistic Trainers were provided to us by GoRuck, in exchange for an honest review.
About the Shoes
The demands of heavy rucking—carrying a weighted pack on your back as you hike through urban, rural, or outdoor environments—put a serious stress on your joints, muscles, and connective tissue.
And all of that weight ends up pressing down on one place in particular: Your feet, which then transfer stress back up through your ankles, knees, and hips and into the rest of your body. That kinetic chain of connected tissues relies heavily on your footwear to provide support and prevent injury.
With that in mind, GoRuck redesigned the classic trainer to provide more support and stability across all three arches of your foot (yes, you have three of them). The result? Shoes that can stand up to heavy rucking, sudden calisthenic movements, and everyday wear—and look darned cool doing it, too.
How We Used Them
For a shoe that’s advertised as being able to handle anything, we thought it only fair to see how they stood up to—well, just about everything. That includes:
- Heavy daily rucking with a 30 to 40 pound pack
- Circuits of sprints, box jumps, burpees, pushups, and pullups
- Backcountry day hiking (10+ miles)
- Casual everyday wear
All of those activities were performed in a wide variety of end-of-winter, beginning-of-spring weather. Below-freezing mornings, 80 degree sunny afternoons, and plenty of sudden downpours were all included.
Overall, our impression is this: These shoes aren’t just capable of handling anything—they’re tailor-made specifically to power you through your most strenuous activities. And with multiple zones of use for heavy rucking, agile scrambling uphill, and daily pavement pounding, they’re versatile enough to replace the rest of the workout shoes in your closet.
Materials and Durability
To get the performance that they were looking for across such a wide range of exercises and activities, GoRuck had to get deep into the details with the materials used for this shoe.
A combination of a custom warp-knit forefoot (read: one-piece, exceptionally durable) and 1680D Cordura ballistic nylon makes the Ballistic Trainers’ uppers incredibly tough—yet quite flexible, breathable, and comfortable. The wide toe box further emphasizes this comfort factor, giving your toes and arches room to stretch and spread as you’re working out and walking around.
That upper is supported with an injection-molded heel counterweight that gives added support when you’re carrying heavy loads. High density inserts and a gradient density midsole combine to give equal parts responsive spring and constant support.
And the whole package is rounded out with a rubber outsole made of three different rubber compounds, delivering extra grip at the midsole (where you need it) and extra density at the heel (so it won’t wear down so quickly).
Taken as a whole, we’re incredibly impressed by the attention to detail GoRuck has put into the design of their Ballistic Trainers. It really seems like they thought of everything an athlete would need, and went the extra mile to put it all into one ideal shoe.
Fit and Feel
This reviewer has a pretty rocky history with injuries (15 years of martial arts and two bad motorcycle crashes will do that to you). So when I say that I’m blown away by the fit and feel for GoRuck’s Ballistic Trainers, I don’t just mean that they’re comfortable and look nice—I mean that they’re the first pair of athletic shoes I’ve owned in years that actually decreased my chronic pain from knee, foot, and ankle injuries on my right side.
A big part of this has to do with the selection of supports listed in the “materials” section above, as well as the generous toe box that lets your foot spread out to its natural shape as you exercise.
But that’s all capped off by a judicious design decision: An 8 millimeter heel-to-toe drop.
You’ll find huge ranges of conflicting advice about how much drop your shoes should have, from absolutely none (“barefoot” or “minimalist” footwear) to mid-range drops for cushy walking shoes to massive drops for weightlifting shoes.
Thanks to the GoRuck designers’ experience though, they knew that the right size for an all-purpose cross trainer has to be 8 millimeters. That’s a level of experience and attention to detail that is frankly impressive. (If you’re interested in learning the ins and outs of why that drop makes sense, it’s explained in detail on the Ballistic Trainers product page)
Value
At the time of writing, GoRuck’s Ballistic Trainers (Low Top, in the Blackout colorway) sold for $125. That’s roughly in line with popular running shoe offerings (from brands like On Running, Altra, and Brooks Running), and less expensive than most decent quality hiking boots (Salomon, Merrel, and Keen).
They’re more expensive than the majority of shoes advertised as cross trainers, from brands like Under Armour, Reebok, and Nike. But if you compare their materials and attention to detail, the Ballistic Trainers are far and away a better shoe than almost everything offered in the category.
Overall, GoRuck’s Ballistic Trainers offer a great value for a shoe that’s so versatile and well made. And because they can perform well in a wide range of activities, a single pair of Ballistic Trainers could well replace two or three pairs of more specialized shoes.
Final Verdict
In the end, I’ll give the Ballistic Trainers the finest endorsement a pair of shoes can earn: I’ll be buying another pair whenever these start to show signs of wear. And quite frankly, I’ll be buying another pair after that (and another and another) for as long as GoRuck keeps making them.
They’re an ideal fit for my active lifestyle, and a simple one size fits all solution to most of where my life will take me. And given the attention to detail GoRuck has put into their design, I’d imagine they can do the same for you.
Price: $125
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