Over the past few months, in my home gym, the Xero HFS has been my favorite training shoe. However, after a more thorough look at Xero website, I actually think there may be some even better options for my personal training. That being said, I’ll periodically get in and try out the various Xero options that will fit my needs. The first shoe that we’ll be taking a look at in this series is going to be the Xero 360.
Since I just recently got this shoe in, I’ll only be able to give you my first impressions and, in this case, after my first handful of workouts with it. I do want to preface that I mainly just lift weights and focus most on powerlifting movements, and accessory lifts second. So, you’ll be getting an opinion from the perspective of the average gym-goer, not a crossfitter or someone who does Olympic lifts.
Let’s first take a look at the 360. The particular one that I have is in the Lunar Rock colorway with the gum soles. The lunar rock is sort of an off white color, almost heading towards grey. When it comes to shoes, I’m pretty plain and typically buy all black shoes. But this shoe didn’t come in all black but black and grey, which I don’t particularly like so I thought that this was the best available option.
The 360’s upper is comprised of a lot of mesh, which means that this is going to be an extremely breathable shoe and not exactly recommended for cold activities. Something that you may or may not be able to make out behind the mesh are the tensioning straps that run along the sides. These tighten the main portions of the sides of the shoe tighter around your foot as you tighten the laces. This really helps to lock your foot inside of the shoe.
Reinforcing at the toe box, heel, and eyelets is a suede-like material. This is a synthetic material as this shoe is 100% vegan. At the toe box, you’ll also see the rubber inlay lines, which Xero advertises as being helpful for “stability and control when climbing rope and scaling obstacles”. I don’t do those things, so I will have to take their word for it.
Moving to the sole, we get a zero-drop sole that’s very minimal in both material and design. This is a very thin sole that lets you stand barely above the ground and allows you to really feel the surface that you’re on. This is good for weightlifting because it means that the user can transfer the forces while pushing directly into the ground and not have to worry about excess cushion messing with that or contributing to an unstable lifting surface. I really like this sole. It’s basically a thin sheet of rubber with some minor grooves cut into it. Exactly what I’m looking for.
Again, at this point, I’ve only used this shoe for three workouts, but that is enough to make me say that this is better than my previously favorite training shoe, the Xero HFS. First of all, fitment with this shoe is just more comfortable for me. The HFS seems to be a more narrow shoe all around, so in general, the increase in comfort was immediately felt by me. But that doesn’t mean that this shoe is loose because, again, the 360 has the tensioning straps running along the sides of the shoe that you can use to really lock your feet into place. The main difference for me in terms of training is going to come from the sole. I previously praised the HFS’s sole for being very minimal, but it still has some pronounced and separated lugs. Compared to the 360, the HFS looks and feels like a hiking boot. The 360’s approach to a minimalistic sole just takes it to a whole other level, and I’m all for it. Now, if I can get just a plain sheet of rubber for the sole with some minor texture to help prevent slipping, I’d take that, but until then, the 360 comes pretty close. Its tread pattern is very close to each other and not very pronounced, which is exactly what I’m looking for. To me, the sole is everything in a training shoe, and this is pretty close to perfect. Moving forward, I’ll be wearing this shoe almost exclusively, so that tells you how much I like this silhouette.
Want to support my work?
Consider visiting the shop and buying "Absolutely Nothing"
https://www.HaiHoangTran.com/shop/absolutely-nothing
or
Become a YouTube member!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLUO-2ltlWfydRZ7pRRnXkw/join
Become a Patron!
https://www.patreon.com/HaiHoangTran
or
Buy some official merch!
https://www.youtube.com/haitran/store
PayPal
https://www.PayPal.me/HaiHoangTran
or
Just shop on Amazon via this link!
https://amzn.to/2FgsDnG