Asics Conviction X - Women's Review

The Asics Conviction X is a decent choice for your daily workout needs. This shoe did not excel in any on one category but performed average across the board except for rope climbs. You can wear these shoes in most metcon workouts without feeling the need to change shoes between movements. For heavier lifting days it is better to have a different pair of shoes though, as the Convictions did not support us as well as we would like on our heavy clean and jerk testing. If you would like a solid dedicated lifting shoe that can also handle some other CrossFit movements, then you might like our Top Pick for Lifting WODs.

Performance Comparison

Weightlifting

Lifting is one of the more common movements in CrossFit programming, therefore the weightlifting score is 20% of the total score for each shoe. The Conviction X is fine for light and moderate weight lifts; however, you may want a different shoe on your heavy lifting days. For your everyday metcon needs, this is a good choice for those starting out in CrossFit. Some of our shoe testers even preferred lifting in this shoe over the much more common Reebok Nano 7.0 shoes. The Conviction doesn't compare to the NOBULL Trainer's prowess on the lifting platform though.

Running

Running is a common element in CrossFit, so we paid close attention to how each pair of shoes felt on runs during our typical workouts. We spent some time running a short sprint in each pair on top of the programmed workouts so we could pay even closer attention to the feel of the shoes on runs. Similar to its score in weightlifting, the Asics are good for short distances, but not great for longer runs. They need a little more arch support to tackle the longer distances. A lighter feeling all-purpose shoe for CrossFit that is much better for runs would be our Best Buy Winner, the Speed TR's from Reebok. To our surprise, our testers liked running in the Asics over both the Nanos as well as the Metcons.

Sensitivity

Shoes with good sensitivity aid the athlete in feeling if they need to make any minor weight shifts during Olympic lifts. Making subtle balance adjustments in shoes with poor sensitivity is difficult. As the weights were getting heavier on our side by side clean and jerk comparisons, we wanted a shoe with better sensitivity for the heavier lifts. We did miss a lift on a few occasions in the Asics because we had trouble discerning subtle weight shifts in our movements. The best shoes for sensitivity in this review are of course the two lifting specific shoes, the NOBULL Lifters, and the Inov-8 Fastlifts. We were happier with these shoes compared to the Minimus 40 shoes.

Support

The Conviction X were right on par for support. They provide a solid platform for lifting without allowing too much side to side movement of the foot inside the shoe. Part of their good support may be the slightly narrower feel to the shoes. This narrow feel helps our feet feel grounded into the shoe. Asics again seems to have a better design for their trainer compared to New Balance, as the Minimus 40 shoes did not provide the support of the Asics. The most supportive trainer in this review is the NOBULL Trainer.

Protection / Durability

Rope climbs are known to shred shoes quickly. We ran all of the shoes in the review up and down the rope so we can let you know which ones will last. Shoe manufacturers are coming up with new materials to protect their shoes from rope climb friction. Asics has "Rhynoskin" on the uppers of the Conviction X to keep their shoes from being damaged, and we saw no damage to the shoes. However, the material is super slick on the rope, and not being able to keep your feet in place makes your arms and grip work much harder on rope climbs. Nike has a better tactic with their Metcon, as the sticky rubber wraps from the sole up the instep, making the shoe indestructible and super grippy. The Conviction X shoes do a good job protecting feet from double under misses.

Breathability

Breathability is an important consideration in searching for the best shoe for CrossFit. When the workout gets intense, you need a shoe to help you stay cool. The Conviction X shoes again outscored the Nano's, this time in breathability. The mesh tongue and toe box let air flow into the shoe nicely. This shoe could not match the superb breathability of our Best Buy Winner, however, the Speed TR.

Comfort

Comfort always varies a little from athlete to athlete. However, we saw consistent trends after gathering all the data from our testers. Our testers ranked the Conviction X shoes the same as the Metcons for comfort, but more comfortable than the Nanos. Some of the feedback we received from our testers was that the Convictions felt a little narrow. For some reviewers that was a plus, but for our reviewers with wider feet they did not like the narrow feel.

Best Applications

This is a good shoe for your all-around CrossFit needs. Apart from rope climbs, it will take you through the typical WOD programming without any glaring inadequacies.

Value

At $120, these shoes are less expensive than the Nanos and the Metcons and outperform both of those shoes on a pretty consistent basis which makes the Conviction X a good value for the price. For just a few dollars more, however, you can purchase our Editors' Choice Winner and get a much more versatile shoe for CrossFit.

Conclusion

The Asics Conviction X is a shoe that will let you confidently tackle the WOD of the day without getting in your way. This shoe was new to our testers in this review. We were consistently impressed with its general performance. It's a solid choice for a general CrossFit shoe, just beware of the slippery rope climbs!