Nike Metcon 8 Review: Why I Switched From Soft Running Shoes for Lifting

Gear · Published 11/24/2023 ·

Lately my shoe collection keeps growing. It’s because I prep one or two pairs per workout, and here I am.

A sad excuse for a body — terrible range of motion, belly packed with fat, 173cm and over 80kg, 26% body fat, a 34-inch waist, drinking at least twice a week, two-plus bottles of soju each time, a pack of cigarettes a day…

Using “social life” as my excuse, I’d been living a lifestyle that was completely wrecking my body. I get up at 5:30 every morning… but at some point I basically stopped being able to drag myself out of bed, and recently I pushed my alarm back by 30 minutes. A 6:00 wake-up is a problem for me. Traffic on the commute, breakfast, prepping for meetings — everything gets delayed by a full 30 minutes.

Since hitting my 40s, my basal metabolic rate has dropped below 2,000 kcal. And yet I think I was eating at least 3,000, sometimes 4,000 to 5,000 kcal a day.

Even with jjajangmyeon, a double portion plus a side of fried dumplings was my default. And after a meal, a coffee loaded with sugar was a given.

In the past, “I don’t have time to work out” was the easiest excuse to reach for. But if you don’t exercise and you overeat, of course it starts with insomnia, and since your body has energy to spare, it just keeps storing it as fat. And that’s how the belly grows…

So I’m putting together a routine I can carry for the rest of my life. One part of it is an hour of weight training and an hour of running — two hours of exercise a day, total.

This isn’t a temporary thing; I just plan to live this way for good. So that it becomes second nature… so my fitness keeps improving… or at the very least, so it doesn’t decline any further.

I signed up at a training center near the office and contracted a personal trainer. The very first thing my PT pointed out was that my shoes were way too soft.

Naturally, running shoes had been my mainstay, and even the firmest pair I owned was a pair of Air Max 97s. So I got recommendations for shoes like Vans or Converse… but those aren’t even cute, and they’re so expensive? So I looked into it a bit more and made my pick. Of course, mine wasn’t a gym-only choice — I picked something I could also run on the treadmill a little after lifting. If you don’t do cardio, Vans or Converse types might suit you better.

This is the Nike Metcon 8, and the current model goes all the way up to version 9. Figuring there’s only so much a shoe can really evolve, I picked the best-looking design among the 8th-gen products. The sole is in the red family I love, a subtle brown. Head-on, it’s not exactly a pretty shoe.

Here’s the side profile. You can see the reinforcement that grips the arch quite firmly, the Swoosh above it, and then — the pièce de résistance — the snail lol.

So now I’ve got two pairs of these snail shoes. There’s something fast and dynamic about the shoe, but I really do love the snail design. Heh.

The toe box is just right — neither wide nor narrow. Since it’s a CrossFit-focused shoe, it seems to lean more toward function than fashion.

Here’s the sole. The grip is excellent, and it looks quite different from the shoes you’d wear out and about.

The best part is how well it supports the arch of your foot. They say that if your arch collapses while lifting, heavy loads put a serious strain on the soles of your feet and your ankles.

Not that I’ll ever get into heavy lifting, mind you ^^;

Having used them, it seems investing in the shoes — not the workout clothes — is the right call.

Workout clothes have all leveled up these days anyway, so it’s actually harder to find anything that really stands out.

I hope everyone reading this builds plenty of muscle and parts ways with body fat for good.

Thank you.

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