Review: Again Faster Lifter vs. Reebok Lifter

[Kenny Markwardt]

Again Faster Lifter:

I ordered the Again Faster Lifter about 3 weeks ago. They are my first lifting shoe. I was drawn to them by the price ($99) and usual awesomeness of Again Faster. We have over a dozen of their barbells and quite a bit of other equipment from them. They have always been great.

Appearance: Out of the box, the shoes look pretty ugly. I did expect the ugliness, however, so that wasn't a big deal. They look exactly like a bowling shoe with a large wooden wedge underneath.

Comfort: The shoes are about as comfortable as they look. Not too bad, not like a glove. They fit about like a bowling shoe does. They were my first lifting shoe, so I didn't really know what to expect. Really not bad though.

Performance: Immediately I noticed an enormous different in all of my lifts. Anyone debating about whether or not should to get a pair of lifting shoes should definitely do it. Everything felt about a million times better. I had been wearing various minimalist shoes, and the difference was night and day.

Longevity: This is where things went South. Less than 3 weeks into owning the shoe and logging less than 15 lifting sessions, the toe seam tore. Then the outside of the wood base started peeling. Then I noticed the shoe separating from the platform. Then the rubber sole started separating from the wood. Pretty disappointing. I have taken extremely good care of the shoes. I don't do other WODs or anything in them, just lift. They literally moved less than 15 feet from where they were stored in my office everyday. I've never had a pair of shoes destroyed this quickly unless at the hands of my dog.

I emailed Again Faster and they offered a 30% discount on the shoes or I could return them for a replacement pair.

After my experience with their shoe, I decided I was going to go with something different. I found Eastbay.com after perusing the forums here for a bit and found one of their discount codes for $20 off orders over $75. They stocked the Reebok lifter, so that's what I ordered.

I got the gravel, white and black pair. This was definitely not my first choice when viewing them online, but they were the only pair that weren't neon green or nacho cheese orange at the time.

Reebok Lifter

Appearance: I am extremely surprised at how good the color combination I got looks. I had never seen this combo in person, and am now pretty surprised. They look bad-***.

Comfort: These feel a great deal different than the AF Lifter right off the bat. The toe of the Reebok is flexible so you can do other movements than lifting in them, and that is very noticeable. Not better, not worse, just different. I hadn't planned on doing other movements in the AF shoe, but with these, it seems like an option. The U-Form (bake and form to your foot) made a little difference than the shoes right out of the box. They fit pretty darn well, and feel much more like an athletic shoe than the AF lifter. They feel like they are able to get more snug overall.

Performance: These just arrived today, so time will tell here, but doing a squat while wearing one vs. the other feels pretty similar. I'd give a slight edge to the Reebok right off the bad, but nothing crazy. I have a competition this weekend, so I'll know pretty soon how they feel after several workouts.

Longevity: Again, time will tell, but where the AF Lifter strongly resembles a bowling shoe glued to a platform, the Reebok looks like a complete shoe, built to act and flex as one.

Conclusion:
At this point, I would say that hands down I would go with the Reebok. Especially through Eastbay.com with a discount code. For $130 with free shipping, its not that much more and really appears to be the better shoe, by far. Sorry Again Faster. You guys have been great on a lot of other things, the shoes just seem to have a long way to go.

[Marshall Flagg]

I have some AF oly shoes that are a few years old that take up space in my closet. My Reebok Olys are dandy. My Adidas Adipower Olys are bomber-a far better shoe that I am a lifter.

[Jon Gilson]

Kenny,

Thanks for the review, Brother. Honesty and candor makes everyone better, and the fact that you'd take the time to put this down for the benefit of the Community means a lot to me.

I created the Again Faster Oly Shoe to get shoes in gym bags at the lowest price possible. As a coach myself, I know the value of that hard, raised heel.

That said, v1.0 of the Oly Shoe is definitely a starting point. Without a doubt, the company with three decades of building shoes under their belt, Reebok, built the better product this time around, but I don't plan on letting that track record stand for long.

Every great product becomes that way through iteration. Try, learn the deficiencies, rectify, and recreate. We've got v2.0 in development now, and it is SWEET.

Thanks for helping with the dev cycle. I've got something in the mail to you.

I appreciate your help, Kenny.

Best,

Jon Gilson
Founder, Again Faster

[Jeff Enge]

Now that ^^^^ is customer service.

Love your guys' stuff, Jon, products and coaching vids.

[Snir Golan]

Originally Posted by Jon Gilson

Kenny,

Thanks for the review, Brother. Honesty and candor makes everyone better, and the fact that you'd take the time to put this down for the benefit of the Community means a lot to me.

I created the Again Faster Oly Shoe to get shoes in gym bags at the lowest price possible. As a coach myself, I know the value of that hard, raised heel.

That said, v1.0 of the Oly Shoe is definitely a starting point. Without a doubt, the company with three decades of building shoes under their belt, Reebok, built the better product this time around, but I don't plan on letting that track record stand for long.

Every great product becomes that way through iteration. Try, learn the deficiencies, rectify, and recreate. We've got v2.0 in development now, and it is SWEET.

Thanks for helping with the dev cycle. I've got something in the mail to you.

I appreciate your help, Kenny.

Best,

Jon Gilson
Founder, Again Faster

incredible, simply incredible. this should be the template on how to handle a customer complaint.

Jon, my hat off to you, once again you prove that AF is a great company with great customer support.

[Milton Brisson]

Good info in there Kenny, I am the counterpoint to this, as I have tried the Reebok Oly, and did not care for it. I actually returned mine.

I use a Kanama (out of Toronto) oly shoe now (its second-hand) and its sturdy and solid!

The Reebok is purpose built for Crossfit, it goes from oly movements to box jumps and double unders well. The AF looks like its just for weight lifting. I would be curious to know if you were doing any other exercises (you said hadn't planned on it) in the AF.

I have been thinking about getting a new pair of WL shoes, and the AF one has an attractive intro price - and I am impressed by the customer service shown in this thread (its really cool to see Jon go out of his way to address a product concern not even directed at him - really, nice job!)! I may just give them a try......

[Jason A Smith]

Milt,

FWIW I am getting a pair of Adipower's (as a gift too !) Go to the Canadian adidias site, they are $170, but if you ssign up to adidas.ca they will send you a 15% discount and it's free shipping. Works out to $160 Cdn with shipping and taxes. Really good deal.

[Kenny Markwardt]

Originally Posted by Jon Gilson

Kenny,

Thanks for the review, Brother. Honesty and candor makes everyone better, and the fact that you'd take the time to put this down for the benefit of the Community means a lot to me.

I created the Again Faster Oly Shoe to get shoes in gym bags at the lowest price possible. As a coach myself, I know the value of that hard, raised heel.

That said, v1.0 of the Oly Shoe is definitely a starting point. Without a doubt, the company with three decades of building shoes under their belt, Reebok, built the better product this time around, but I don't plan on letting that track record stand for long.

Every great product becomes that way through iteration. Try, learn the deficiencies, rectify, and recreate. We've got v2.0 in development now, and it is SWEET.

Thanks for helping with the dev cycle. I've got something in the mail to you.

I appreciate your help, Kenny.

Best,

Jon Gilson
Founder, Again Faster

Jon, you and your company are really awesome. I hope I conveyed that in my post. Your products, customer service, and instructional videos are really incredible. I really don't think I would have ever opened a CrossFit box without the assistance of your business informational videos and articles.

We've ordered products for our gym from many different vendors and none have been as pleasant as your company. We're just a small gym in North Idaho, but we don't get treated like that when dealing with you. (I can't say the same about some of the other vendors).

I'm glad you can use this as constructive criticism. I'd love to continue supporting you guys in every way I can.

Thanks Jon,

Kenny

[Christopher G. Woods]

PM

12 minute AMRAP
100ft yoke carry, 355#
max c2b pull-ups

16-9-10-10-10-8-7

My max rep pull-ups have gotten weak!

[Jon Gilson]

I appreciate it, Kenny. You're changing lives; there is nothing small about that.

Originally Posted by Kenny Markwardt

Jon, you and your company are really awesome. I hope I conveyed that in my post. Your products, customer service, and instructional videos are really incredible. I really don't think I would have ever opened a CrossFit box without the assistance of your business informational videos and articles.

We've ordered products for our gym from many different vendors and none have been as pleasant as your company. We're just a small gym in North Idaho, but we don't get treated like that when dealing with you. (I can't say the same about some of the other vendors).

I'm glad you can use this as constructive criticism. I'd love to continue supporting you guys in every way I can.

Thanks Jon,

Kenny