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Warrior Bushidos
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Gear Review: Bushido Training Shoes by Warrior Lacrosse

Company: Warrior / Product: Bushido Training ShoePrice: $80

I’m going to preface this entire review by saying that I am kind of a shoe addict. I’ll admit it, I have a problem. Luckily for me, my wallet helps keep that problem to a minimum. For the majority of my life when it came to training shoes and cleats, I have been a Nike guy, so when the new Warrior Bushido sneaker came out, I was very intrigued. As far as looks went, they were as sharp as a tack, and now that they’ve been partnered with New Balance for almost eight years, I figured they must have the performance part down by now. With that in mind, I decided to reach out to Warrior and soon found myself lacing up a fresh new pair of kicks.

Right out of the box, I was impressed, but I knew I’d have to send these things through the grinder to really find out how they matched up against other training shoes on the market. I should also let you know that I’m a minimalist guy, I own a pair of Nike Frees, Free Trainers, and Vibram Fivefingers. I just like the fit and feel of a lighter, more flexible shoe. I feel it gives me more control in my movements and allows my feet to do their thing on their own.

The Test

To test out the training shoes, I’ve been putting them through the ringer of workouts and lacrosse associated activities to see how they’d match up against other training shoes I’ve worn. I tested them at the gym (specifically my leg days), during indoor lacrosse/Chumash, and just meandering around town. For leg days I went through most every leg exercise I could think of to test out the stability, traction, and weight of the training shoes. I did squats, single-leg squats, lunges, jumps, footwork drills, sprints, distance… you get the picture.

For indoor days the test was pretty much the same, I judged the shoes throughout the same movements, as well as just general durability. With indoor, it’s pretty common knowledge that there is a lot more cutting and quick movements like basketball so I knew it’d be a great indicator for the quality of the shoes, especially with the hard, rough surface we play on.

Back-side view of the Bushido
No junk in this trunk.

Appearance… +10.0

Aesthetically, these shoes are very pleasing to the eyes. They have a great, clean design without all the gimmicks and flashiness some shoes have. From interviewing one of the Product Managers at Warrior, that is the look they were really going for with these shoes. Warrior wanted to have the functionality of a training shoe, with the looks of a shoe you could wear around town.

The Bushido has the look and support of a basketball shoe, with the cut and weight of a lower tennis shoe – which makes a very comfortable, balanced training shoe. I’ve always preferred low-cut shoes, but wish they had more of the support and stability of a basketball shoe, without going to a full ankle shoe, so this is the perfect combination for me.

Side view of the Bushido
Looks and functionality in one nicely wrapped package.

Comfort/Weight… +7.5

Like a kid on Christmas morning, when I saw that a box arrived from Warrior Lacrosse, I immediately opened up the package and put on the shoes. Right away, they were a little stiff, but after working out in them and playing a night of indoor, I would say they had sufficiently broken in. After that they felt great, and all things considered, the break in time was minimal. Indoor would be the biggest test for these guys though, every Sunday we have a post-collegiate Chumash at our gym. Lately I’ve had to double-sock it with every pair of shoes I wear, heck everyone has – we play on a pretty unforgiving, rubbery surface. With these guys though, it wasn’t a problem at all, I wore one pair of socks and was doing just fine. Prior to this, I’ve worn nothing but low-cut, minimalist shoes, and that is the main reason the shoes don’t get a 2. The Bushido are a pretty lightweight shoe, but obviously not the lightest shoe on the market. As a comparison, I weighed my Nike Free Trainers against the Bushidos (both size 13). Nike Free Trainers – 11.3 oz. Warrior Bushido Training Shoes– 14.2 oz.

Bushido on the scale
Size 13 shoe = 14.2 oz.

Stability/Traction… +7.5

The shoe has a court-inspired outsole and the Turf Bone really helps the overall durability of the shoe. After a ton of time in the gym running and lifting, on the hard indoor surface playing lacrosse, and just forging my way around town, there were only a couple signs of wear on the bottom of the shoe. The support features of this shoe really help to add to the stability. Tighten the laces up and the floating ankle cuffs really help to keep your foot secure throughout your workouts. I was a little worried at first about ankle support with the shoe being such a low cut, but those worries were quickly dismissed.

The only thing that stuck out was my traction on smoother concrete (kind of like a garage floor). When I went to split dodge a few times my foot would split, causing me to do my best impression of a gymnast. While the Bushido had excellent traction on most every other surface, it seemed to have a little trouble with smoother, more finished surfaces.

Bottom View of Bushidos
Traction city.

Durability… +5.0

I wore these shoes as much as humanly possible in the past few weeks in order to fully test them and bring out all the positives and negatives. As I mentioned above, the durability of the outsole is solid and will definitely hold up for a decent amout of time. My biggest complaint is that in trying to find the flaws of these things, I burned right through the sole and the supports are pulling away from the sole as you’ll see below.

The stitching around the shoe looks durable and hasn’t frayed or come undone in any places. The only place I’ve noticed any real wear is on the supports coming up either side of the forefoot (Teal supports on the picture below). The adhesive keeping the upper and the sole of the shoe together has peeled off, allowing the supports on the upper to pull away a little in that area. While this doesn’t affect the performance of the shoe too much, it is worth noting.

Bushido Forefoot Supports
Close-up shot of the area.

Value… +7.5

Without a doubt the Bushido gets a +1.5 for value. Any day you can offer me a decent shoe for the very low price of $80, you might as well take the money out of my wallet. Especially when I can glance around other shoe websites and find the same style of training shoes in the $100 range and even higher. If the durability was a little better, I would have given it a 2 for sure.

Not to mention this shoe can double as a ‘lifestyle shoe’ as boasted by Warrior on their website. I received plenty of compliments on the shoes throughout the review process.

Overall Score: 7.2/10

Warrior is definitely onto something with the Bushido. Any quality training shoe that can give you the performance and looks of other top brands, while keeping the price within range of the everyday laxer, deserves a tip of the hat in my book. The only downside, is that in rigorously testing these, I burned right through them.

If you are in the market for a new pair of trainers, I would definitely suggest you take a look at the Bushidos. Thanks for the sweet new kicks, keep up the good work Warrior!

Bushido Samurais
Advantage goes to the guy on the left.

[The word ‘Bushido’ actually means, “way of the warrior-knight” and is loosely similar to the concept of chivalry. It is a Japanese word that was used to describe a way of the samurai life.]

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