Wondering about the Reebok All Terrain Super? Check out Tony Ferrante's review of the new obstacle racing shoe at Obstacle Racing Media.
When I received the new Reebok All Terrain Supers
Out of the box they look fantastic. Vibrant colors and attractive styling makes this a good looking pair of shoes. The design was different from what I’ve been used to because they have much less heel than what I’ve been running in, and they’re built with very little platform, so the orthotic insoles I’ve been wearing weren’t going to work so well in them. But I decided that I’d run in them as they were meant to be used, and see what I thought about this new feel to running.
First off, it seems that one of the main purposes of the shoe is to accommodate running in water and wet conditions that habitually make up a great deal of OCR running. There is very little water absorbent material in these shoes so they don’t gain a lot of weight when wet. Even the tongue and laces are less absorbent than most other shoes. Then they have ports on the sides that actually facilitate drainage so the water runs out after it has gotten into the shoe. Very nice.
The soles of the shoes have stiff rubber nubs on the outsides for firm traction in muddy conditions, and the nubs in the middle are a softer rubber which helps when climbing walls. And the coolest things are the little yellow nubs in the instep portion of each shoe to help pinch with your feet when climbing ropes. They’re perfectly placed and a great addition to have whether you use a J-hook or just try to pinch between your feet and use knots.
I wore the shoes without insoles and paid close attention to how the shoes felt, and how my feet felt during and after workouts and running. I wear the orthotics because a running assessment told me that I over-pronate when running, and I have low arches. However, when I trained and ran in these Reebok All Terrain Supers with just low compression socks I felt no discomfort and there was no pain in my feet afterwards. Maybe the orthotics are overkill for me? Maybe the shoes make them obsolete? Maybe I’m just slow enough that it doesn’t matter? I don’t know, but I do know that wearing them “au natural” hasn’t caused me any problems.
I put them to the ultimate test for me this weekend when I wore them for the Georgia Spartan Sprint. I had the best looking shoes on the race course. They drew a lot of attention and rightfully so. The very first obstacle had us running in icy water and the shoes drained remarkably. They didn’t feel noticeably heavier afterwards at all.
The course was a muddy mess thanks to rain the previous week and I had absolutely no traction issues. They never lost grip when I needed them to give me traction, and the nubs are actually spaced far enough apart that the Georgia Red Clay did not stick to my shoes and make me carry more treacherous mud on the soles. The softer nubs in the middle helped with climbing the walls, providing traction even when the wall was already wet and muddy. The shoes felt good when climbing the Cargo Net Cliff aka “The Gamble” and the wooden A-frames so there was never any fear of my feet slipping when I was climbing.
The nubs on the instep helped me immensely in gripping the rope as I did my rope climb. I wish I could say that they helped me ring that darned cowbell this time, but I’m still a newbie and I only got up four knots. But that was four knots higher than I’ve ever been, and I intend to use these shoes in training to help me conquer this obstacle.
After 4.6 miles of very difficult trail and obstacle running, my feet felt great. Everything else hurt, but my feet in these shoes were not an issue. But my heart did skip a beat at the end of the race when I saw my beautiful shoes covered in red Georgia clay, which has a notorious reputation of ending the life of other shoes. However, with a low pressure hose and some hand scrubbing they looked as good as new! Even the bright laces came totally clean which is almost a miracle around here.
And then just to put them to the ultimate test, I wore my wet socks and shoes the rest of the day while on my feet for my volunteer shift. They never hurt my feet. They helped things dry out quicker, so I didn’t have the normal “prune feet” at the end of the night. And they continued to be the best looking shoes out there.
In short, these are the best trail shoes I’ve ever had on my feet. I plan to continue to wear them until they’ve helped me achieve a trifecta this year so that when they’re worn out and ready to be replaced I can upgrade them with the new Reebok Trifecta shoe.
Latest posts by Tony Ferrante (see all)
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- Reebok All Terrain Super Review - March 17, 2014
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Thanks for the review. Any negatives?
I honestly haven’t experienced any negatives yet which has surprised me. I went into the Test and Review period with open eyes and planned to be very forthcoming on anything I didn’t like, or things I thought they could improve upon. There have been no issues to report yet. This past weekend I ran the Badass Dash and put the shoes through even more varied stresses than at the Spartan. We ran a lot on pavement, mud, sand, down hills covered with pine straw, and hard packed dirt; through creeks and ponds, and more cargo nets and walls, The shoes drained wonderfully again, and gave me consistent traction on all the different surfaces. I will be monitoring my miles run in them and gauging the life of the soles and the shoes, especially the softer rubber nubs, but so far, so good.
Appreciate the OCR tested review. Nice work. What size shoe do you wear? I have flat, slightly wide feet, size 11.5/12. I always have problems with thin sole shoes like these (nike running shoes especially) and noticed that people with similar but smaller size shoes can adjust to the soles with less pain. Too much arch support is also a problem for me and the reason i have only been able to run OCRs in Vibrams or New Balances. I had given up on these shoes for myself because of the thin soles and arch support, but this review may cause me to give another look.
I wear size 10’s usually, but this pair of Reeboks is a 10 1/2. The extra 1/2 size may accommodate my wide feet better, and there’s no problems with too much toe room. I wore them again this past weekend to the Charlotte Spartan Sprint and they continue to perform extremely well, and the low heels and lack of arch support have not caused any pain or discomfort in my terribly flat feet. I’m starting to re-evaluate my earlier diagnosis by running professionals (salesmen) that said I needed a high heel and orthotic insoles. I’m starting to think they may have been upselling me just to make more money.
These shoes absolutely rocked during my Sprint and Super races. My ONLY negative is on the last A-Frame wall with the climbing rope before the fire jump at the end of the race. As soon as I get to the top of the rope and go to jump over the peak of the wall, my shoes give out & slip on on the wet, muddy wall. I slipped & fell 5 times on the same, freakin wall. It happened at both races. Just that one obstacle. Other than that, they rule.
Excellent review and I am very very much looking forward to getting mine in the mail any day!
Thanks for the review Tony, very helpful! This will be next to purchase for me as well.
What socks do you reccomend for events like this ?
Drying compression socks. Anything but cotton.
This is exactly what I needed to know. I just got shoes and am doing my first Spartan on July 12th. Hope they work as well for me as they did for you!
I ordered a size 10. Are you shoes tight around the side of them? Mines really snug an considering sending them back and trying a 10.5. Has yours loosed up any since you bought them?
I usually wear a size 10, but my All Terrains are 10 1/2’s. There’s more toe room which seems to help for comfort and they’re not too tight on the sides. They haven’t seemed to stretch very much and I’ve worn them for 2 Spartans and the Badass Dash now, along with training and still haven’t had any issues.
In doing my first Spartan Race this past weekend, I used a old pair of running shoes that had a little more mileage left in them. Second obstacle was water… They did ok, but were pretty heavy. Def will look into these for my next off-road race. Thanks for the info!
I just received my All-Terrains and I am SUPER excited. However, I ordered both a 7.5 and a 7, and I’m torn as to which may be best for me. I am running the Civilian Military Combine in June and the Killington Spartan Sprint in September, which will be my first OCRs. Is it better to have them fit snug (not tight), or with a little bit of space in the toe? Neither is horribly uncomfortable, but not having run a race like these before, what is an experienced opinion? Feet swelling, wet socks (even if drying compression socks), etc.? Thank you!!
Anyone have experience with the supers vs the sprints? The sprints are only .5 ounces lighter and I’m wondering how much protection you lose. Store ordered the wrong ones for me and I might be forced to either keep them or trade to something else. Concerned because I don’t run less than 6 miles on trails.
I have ran over 33 miles in them now on avg 7 mile runs and they kill my feet. I just brought so doc soles inserts and I’m going to run in the am so hopefully it helps
I love my Supers. I have worn them in two runs; Tough Mudder Los Angeles 2014 & Mud Factor 2014 also at Glen Helen. If any one knows these courses there are many dirt/muddy hills and traction/grip was no problem. I have done many runs prior to these two with trail running shoes that had small knobs and they didn’t do well in the mud at all with traction. The water drainage on the shoes are great. I made it a point to go through every puddle or water obstacle that I could, and water drained out in no time. I’ve flown up ropes at the gym and done some WOD’s with them. They are comfortable, considering I was in them for 10.3 miles in the Tough Mudder, and fairly light. No matter how much mud was on them it rinses off easily; even the neon green strings seem like nothing even touched them. The soles are firm but flexible. The only gripe is I couldn’t run up Pyramid Scheme in Tough Mudder like some others managed to do. Other than that I am extremely happy with them and ready to see what else I can throw at them.
One question r these also good for concrete surface???
Reece, they are not for running on concrete. I climb clay rocky hills in them all day, but dread the concrete trek back to the house afterwards.
I noticed these only go up to size 14. Unfortunately, I wear size 16. Anyone have any recommendations on anything similar in sizes that big???
I too wear a 16. If you come across a great set of shoes for OCR let me know.
Hi! I wear a 9.5 in running shoes – Brooks and Asics. Can I assume I would need a 9.5 in these too? My other shoes and boots are usually a 8.5. I’ve been wearing a pair of Merrell’s that are mesh for obstacle races but now I’m ready to upgrade.