Wei-Rui Warrior
OUR REVIEW:
I’m officially labeling the Wei-Rui Warrior Weightlifting Shoe the VS/Pendlay/Rogue KILLER. Seriously, this shoe is that good and cheaper than any of those other brands. Without doubt the Wei-Rui Warrior represents the BEST VALUE in a weightlifting shoe that currently exists on the market.
Let’s face it – not everyone is willing (or able) to drop $100+ dollars on a pair of shoes JUST for lifting weights. But given the relatively small market for weightlifting shoes, your options for quality shoes under the $100 mark have been limited – until recently.
Many manufacturers have introduced “budget friendly” shoes including Adidas with the PL Trainer, VS Athletics and various no-name brands that are all vying for a piece of the lifting shoe market. Unfortunately, through reviewing most of these shoes we’ve found fault with just about all of them in some way or another.
For instance, while we like the Power Lift Trainers, they really aren’t meant for serious lifters or people moving heavy weight due to their EVA heel. The VS shoes are ok, but the heel is too high for most people and the overall durability is lower than average. And the “no-name” brands are all just wholesalers buying shoes from China and re-labeling them with a new brand name. Most of these shoes are below average in build quality which is reflected in the (usually) lower price.
Given the previous disappointments with cheap weightlifting shoes, I was excited to receive an email from MaxBarbell letting us know they had a new model Wei-Rui shoe available called the Warrior. If you recall, their Wei-Rui Maestro model actually faired pretty well in our review, but that was almost two years ago and the competition has increased.
The Wei-Rui Warrior shoe from Maxbarbell has a very attractive price tag of only $69 – making it one of the cheapest weight lifting shoes on the market. Naturally a price that low immediately makes you question the quality of the shoe. So I was quite surprised to open the box and see that the quality of this shoe is better than many models that cost $50 more!
The Warrior features an all leather upper made of actual leather, not synthetic “pleather” or suede like Pendlay and others use. The stitching, cuts and pieces were all clean with no tattered edges or crooked lines and there was no glue residue around the heel.
The Warrior features a reinforced heel cup and a medium-wide toe box, so it accommodates most wider feet. The shoe has a single hook and loop velcro strap across the upper instep and exhibited decent ventilation via perforations at the sides and front of the shoe.
The shoe features a set .75″ solid rubber heel that has a nice grip. Like most solid rubber heels, it adds considerable weight to the shoe making the shoe heavier than more expensive models. The only other negative I could find was that the heel is made as one piece of rubber with no sole attached to the bottom. This would mean that once the grip has worn from the bottom of the shoe, you would need to have a cobbler make an entirely new sole. This wouldn’t cost much, but is something to keep a watch on as a slick sole is dangerous in the gym.
SIZING:
The Warrior is only available in men’s sizing and tends to run a half size large. Again, the toe area is slightly wider than a standard width shoe so they are comfortable on moderately wide feet.
WHERE TO BUY:
The Wei-Rui shoes are only available through MaxBarbell.com. At the time of this review, the Warrior model was out of stock but is expected to be back in all size by the end of May 2012.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Some of you may have noticed that the Warrior looks very similar to the black and white BAF weightlifting shoe that retails for around $90. Well, the reason for this is that Wei-Rui actually makes the BAF shoe (another example of a Chinese company re-labeling shoes for a company). If you look at the back of the BAF shoe it will have a W.R. imprinted, signifying the true manufacturer. And if you didn’t catch it, the Warrior is the SAME shoe but almost $20 less!
PROS:
- Low Cost
- Well Made
- Good Heel Height
CONS:
- Heavy
- Resoling Could be an Issue Down the Road
ADDITIONAL SHOE FEATURES:
Do you think these could hold up for a 200+ lb lifter squatting in the mid-400s?
Certainly, these are very solid shoes. The heel does not compress at all since it is made of very dense rubber; hence the weight issue. I've seen guys squat over 600 pounds wearing the BAF version of this which is identical. Because of the heftiness of the shoe, they are much more suitable as a power lifting / squatting shoe than any Oly shoe.
How does it compare to the maestros?
Sturdier, a little heavier, nicer leather exterior and cheaper… can't go wrong with that.
As a newbie to Olympic lifting (I'm joining a gym next month), which sub $100 shoe would you recommend I pick up: the maestro or warrior? Thanks …
I prefer the warrior between the two.
OK, thanks for your quick response ….
What do you think is the best WL shoe for less than $150? You said you think this is the best value?
Less than $150, my vote would go to the Reebok Oly or Adidas Power Perfect 2.0. Less than $100 I would go with the some Wei-Ruis. That’s pretty much the breakdown of the best shoes per price category.
So would you recommend this over Pendlay Do-wins (2011)? Penday is selling them at 100$ currently. Is this a better shoe?
I haven’t seen where Pendlay is selling those for $100, unless you are talking about the odd-size discontinued models. And yes, the wei-rui is a better made shoe and about $50 cheaper than the Pendlays. Anyone else find it odd that Pendlay is still selling their 2011 model shoe when here it is the middle of 2012? You might want to think about why that is…
How would you compare this shoe to the Adidas Power Perfect II?
The Warrior is going to be heavier than the PP2 since it has the solid rubber heel and the PP2 has a poly molded heel. Other than that, they are very similar. I think the Wei-Rui shoe will be wider in the toe-box area and fit people more comfortably.
Would you say recommend these shoes for someone who is doing stronglifts or a similar program that revolves around squats, deadlift, benching, and ohping?
What size would you suggest when I wear size 9 chucks?
You should be good in size 10.
I followed the instructions on the Max Barbell site to find my Wei Rui size which told me to get a size 7.5. I normally wear a 10 and am therefore unsure to trust the Sizing chart or my regular size (I know to buy a half size small)
Has anyone else encountered this issue or have any advice?
Thanks
Email Joseph at Maxbarbell and ask him directly, he’ll let you know what size will work best. Then report back here with the results!
I’ve been browsing through different weightlifting shoes for a while to make sure I make a good choice. The shoes I’m debating between are Rogue Do-Wins and Warriors. Aside from price, any comparisons between the two or why you think one is better than the other?
We’re not a fan of any of the newer Do-Win shoe models. They were good shoes until 2010, when they changed them up. If you look around the web, you’ll quickly find forums and blogs where people have posted issues with Do-Win WL shoes – the most common being splitting heels and sole pulling away at the toe. They are supposedly coming out with an all new design in late 2012. Hopefully it will address the issues the shoe has had for last 2 years.
Alright, thanks for the quick reply. I noticed those complaints. I was leaning towards the Warriors anyways. Also, how would you rank/compare the Warrior agains the new VX3 Wei Rui shoes?
No experience with the VX3s yet.
I just purchased the VX3 shoes from maxbarbell and they are very, very light, stable and with a good grip. Previously I used a pair of VS Athletics that I had for 3 years and the VX3s are like feathers compared to them. The heel is also lower than that on the VS which for me is a good thing. With the VS I on occasion would find my weight transferred to the front of the foot. No such thing with the VX3s.
I ordered half a size smaller (as per the instructions on their page) and they fit well.
Disclaimer:
All this is based on only one squat session. Hoping that the shoes will hold up well to long term use.
Good to know. I’ve been meaning to get a review pair from them but I’m been neglecting this site pretty bad lately. Just too much other stuff going on!
Worst shoe ever. 4 months now and glued BOTH SOLES 3 times, strap tore, strap ring ripped out, and leather so stretched out feet becoming unstable. Total crap!
You’re the first I’ve heard to have these sort of issues with the shoe. Can you tell us more about your experience? What were the shoes used for; did you just do olympic weightlifting exclusively? Did you contact MaxBarbell customer service?
You have mentioned that these are the same make/style as the BAF squat shoes. Is there any major differences between the two? Heel height in particular?
They are the EXACT same shoe.
First let me say that Max barbell’s customer service is great, I had sizing issues and they took care of it promptly and professionally. Secondly, these are $70.00 shoes made somewhere in Asia, I don’t expect the same quality as the Nike or Addidas weightlifting shoes. If I wanted that then I would buy those, but not everyone is willing to drop $200 on a set of shoes. You get what you pay for and I was fully aware of that.
That said; I’ve used these shoes exclusively for weightlifting for 2 months, 2-3 days a week. Let me qualify that by saying, I don’t walk around anywhere but the gym, I don’t box jump, skip rope or run in them. I don’t take them off by pushing the shoe off with the other foot, I unlace them. I don’t grab hold of the strap like it’s indestructible and crank it down.
Yes, these shoes will stretch in width a bit, big deal, take a footbed from another pair of shoes and stick on top of the existing one, now you’ve reduced the volume. Not enough heel height? Glue a piece of cork or plastic to the bottom of the footbed.
After a month of use I noticed that sole had a hairline separation from the heel that has been getting larger, but I’m still using them. I’ve contacted the seller to inquire about the sole material so that I can use the appropriate adhesive for fixing them. Once I’ve gotten an answer I’ll post the results from my fix. So for $70 I still think this is a decent shoe.
Nice. A good wear and tear durability review. Currently we don’t get the shoes long enough to perform extensive durability tests on them. Check out our “How We Test Shoes” article (up in a few days) to see the stress testing and functionality tests we perform on all the shoes we review.
Follow up to my original review:
As stated in my original post I contacted Max barbell regarding the separation of the sole from the heel and they responded within one day. The stated that although they have not encountered this problem often, the best adhesive they’ve used to correct this was Gorilla Super Glue. Using a small jewelers file, I scuffed the two mating surfaces then cleaned them with a q-tip dipped in IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not beer) and let the area dry. I placed a very small amount of the glue on one of the surfaces and used the edge of a piece of 3×5 card stock to push the glue all the way into the thin opening. I then placed my hand in the shoe and pressed the shoes against a solid surface and held it there for at least a minute while the glue dried. Using too much glue is worse than too little. As long as the surfaces are wetted your good, but you don’t want a bunch of glue oozing out, the surfaces will not bond properly if the glue layer is too thick.
Yeah that was kind of long, but if anybody else is in the same situation I’d like to be able to give them a solution. Does it work? Yes, so far I’ve used the shoes for 10 days; workouts consisting of approx.40 snatches, 40 clean & jerks, 35 squats per session just to give some point of reference.
How do these run size wise? i’m just getting back into the gym and these seem like a reasonably priced solution to my shoe problem. thanks.
They have instructions on their site for how to determine your correct size.
OK, I wasn’t able to get the Warrior as I planned when I first posted my comment because MaxBarbell was sold out. So, I went with the VS Athletics shoes since I live in southern CA and they’re HQ/store is not too far from where I live.
Your review was spot on! They were heavy, clunky, and bulky; however, I was, and still am, a newbie to the sport and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on shoes. So I used the VS for a good 6 months before considering changing to the VX3s.
I’ve only trained in them twice so far and my experience is just like Ted’s! I’m so happy that I’ve switched as these shoes feel like night and day on my feet! I really hope that you get to do a review of the VX3s because I’d like to hear how they stack up against shoes that cost $100+ more …
Oh and thanks for this site, as it was very useful in helping decide which shoes to buy.
I recently purchased a pair (2 weeks ago) and the sole on the left shoe has already begun to detach. I am very disappointed with this and let maxbarbell know. I think in the end that it is better to just sack up and take the bank account hit and buy a quality pair of WL shoes and get the quality and longevity you pay for. Thoughts?
also as far as quality shoes go when I’m going to break the bank… Adipower vs romaleo 2′s vs romaleo 2 volts? thoughts on the options and sizing for these?
Many prefer the fit of the Adipower but if you have proportionately wide feet (like a EE width) they will not work for you. I’m not a huge fan of the Nike’s; but why go top shelf anyway? The Power Perfect 2 are a great shoe, cost less and fit a little wider.
As far as going top shelf I think of WL shoes as the one thing it may not pay to cheap on. Not that the PPerfect 2 isn’t a quality shoe but my train of thought was might as well spend the extra dough and be confident that you are getting a shoe that you can count on for years to come. Turns out that it is really irrelevant anyway because Maxbarbell offered to upgrade me to the VX3s for free which I’m pretty stoked about. I’ll be getting them tomorrow, just in time for my heavy load cycle. Can’t wait to see how it stacks up against the warrior.
Can we expect a write up on the new contenders, VX3, and/or bombshells? I am very curious to know how these $55 shoes hold up compared to the much more expensive Romaleos and Adipowers.
I believe they will only continue to carry the VX3 and Warrior models. Once we know for sure, we will attempt to get a review pair and test them out. Obviously there is a huge difference between a sub-$100 shoe and the top of the line stuff from Adidas and Nike. In the end, it depends on what you need and the overall value you are looking for.
I have the Wei-Ruis with the 1.5″ heel, Work amazing, even for heavy lifters lifting heavy!
I just bought the Wei-Rui Warriors to use for crossfit. I ordered them Thursday afternoon and they arrived Monday afternoon with standard shipping, which was a lot faster than I expected. I bought the “surplus stock” shoes. So, I only paid $55 for them. Only design variation is the strap is black instead of white. These shoes seem to be very well made for a $55 lifting shoe. They are a lot lighter and more flexible than I was expecting, which makes them a great choice for crossfit. I was going to use these as my squat shoe and buy a pair of Reebok Oly’s for metcons. But, I might just hold off on the Reeboks.
These are very well made and I was not able to find any flaws. velcro strap is vinyl instead of leather. I’ll have to see if that holds us. Might be why they changed it. But, if it last a year I will have gotten my moneys worth.
Anyway you slice it. A great pair of lifting shoes for the price.
Hi guys, looking for some advice as I’m quite new to lifting. When squatting, I find that my upper body leans forward quite a bit. I think maybe I nd to work on ankle and hip flexibility to help with this, but I’m wondering if a pair of lifting shoes would help my form??
Shoes may help some if you have poor ankle flexibility but they aren’t a magic pill. You need to fix yourself and any issues you have first, then add gear to help maximize your efforts. I wouldn’t even start putting weight on the bar until you learn how to squat properly, with solid form. If you’re having trouble staying on your heels I recommend doing box squats to below parallel. Concentrate on “pushing” your butt back and keeping your chest up high and middle back arched.
As a 2 year novice powerlifter, squatting 230×5, I am unsure if I should just go for the top of line shoe like an adipower or Romaleos or go with the much cheaper Wei-Rui Warrior for my first pair of oly shoes.
I’ve heard many people regret not putting down the extra 80-120 dollars to get the Romaleos/Adipowers.
Any suggestions or advice?
All I can say is that more expensive shoes will typically last longer. The wei-rui is a great pair of shoes but its price does limit some of its features – for instance, it is one of the heaviest models. If it is something you plan on wearing until it is destroyed then you’d get more bang for your buck with a higher end pair.