Reebok Legacy Lifter III review

In our opinion, the Reebok Legacy Lifter III is a great investment for the advanced athletes who:

• regularly lift more than 300 pounds
• need a high heel to promote the correct squat posture
• participate in weightlifting competitions

The Legacy Lifter III is very similar in design to the previous Lifter II but costs £30 more. If you want to be savvy about this purchase, we recommend checking out the current discounts for the Legacy Lifter II.

If you haven't trained in a lifting shoe before, we think that the 0.8-inch (20.5 mm) heel elevation of the Legacy Lifter III may be too much for you. Try going with a lower heel of the Adidas Powerlift 5 or the Nike Savaleos instead.

We didn't expect much aeration from the shoe's leather upper. However, it wasn't as bad as we expected.

Pumping smoke through its upper and assessing how much of it is passing through, we rated the shoe's breathability as 2 out of 5. Not a breathable one but not so toasty either.

Perforations on the toebox do help to freshen up the interiors. They can be seen in our transparency test below.

With its genuine leather upper, our Dremel test was a joke to the Legacy Lifter III. After 12 seconds of drilling the toebox, all we got was a minor scuff!

The shoe deserves the highest 5 out of 5 score for toebox durability.

This is absolutely mind-blowing! Especially when you compare the results of the same test performed on the Nike Romaleos 4. There is a see-through hole right there!

Reebok Legacy Lifter III vs. Nike Romaleos 4

The heel padding stood up just fine too! This is especially surprising given that the lining is usually quite delicate here.

Drilling the inside of the heel collar for 4 seconds, we saw very little wear on the material. The Lifter receives another high score on durability - 4 out of 5!

One of the parameters associated with outsole durability is its hardness.

To be honest, we didn't expect to see a lower-than-average reading for the Legacy Lifter III on our durometer. It showed 79.5 HC whereas the average of lifting shoes is 85 HC (as of writing this review).

But the upside is that a softer outsole feels grippier on rubber mats and wooden platforms.

The outsole is also not very thick on the Legacy Lifter III. Our caliper shows 3.4 mm whereas the average is 4 mm. Not too big of a difference though.

The Reebok Legacy Lifter III is by far the heaviest lifting shoe in our lab!

With a whopping weight of 22.1 oz (627g) in a men's US size 9, it is a whole 3.4 oz (96.4g) heavier than the average!

This is not necessarily a bad thing as some athletes do prefer heavier shoes. It feels like they are pressing you down to the floor for added stability.

As an advanced lifting shoe, the Legacy Lifter III is also one of the tallest.

Using a caliper, we measured that the shoe's heel height is 33 mm.

The forefoot, on the other hand, is much thinner, 12.5 mm.

As you can see, there is a pretty significant "slope" in this Reebok shoe.

Based on the stack measurements above, we found that the drop (aka the effective heel height) of the Legacy Lifter III is 20.5 mm. This is a little lower than the officially stated 22 mm, which can be a bit misleading for seasoned athletes who feel these minor differences.

On the bright side, it is still a very significant heel elevation. We definitely felt the benefits of the correct angles that this drop created in the ankles, knees, and hips.

It is a recipe for new personal bests for sure!

Rest assured that the shoe's TPU platform will not compress even by a hair.

It is among the sturdiest we've ever seen, with a durometer measurement of 95.1 HA.

A well-padded insole buffers the foot from the rock-hard sole. We measured its thickness at 6.7 mm, which is quite standard for lifting shoes.

The video below needs no comments. This Reebok lifting shoe makes you feel like a planted tree.

For comparison, here is what the lighter and more forgiving Nike Savaleos lifter looks like in the same test.

Well, we tried.

The sturdiness of the Legacy Lifter III is through the roof. Thus, we rated its torsional rigidity with a maximum 5/5 score.

The same goes for the heel counter. Incredibly stiff and well-padded, it holds the heel and ankle SO firmly that it even feels a little claustrophobic. But you will appreciate it later when holding a 400-pound bar over your head.

Interestingly enough, the Legacy Lifter III achieves such a high level of stability without an excessively wide base.

We used a caliper to measure the widest part of the forefoot at 102 mm. This is about 5 mm narrower than the average.

In the widest part of the heel, the platform also has a fairly average width. Our caliper shows 86.4 mm.

Unlike many other lifting shoes, the Legacy Lifter III is more forgiving in the forefoot.

From our experience with the shoe, it doesn't affect stability but makes walking more bearable in this lifter.

Using a force gauge, we found that it took only 18.8N to bend the shoe to a 90-degree angle. This is about 40% more flexible than lifting shoes on average!

The grip is incredibly solid in the Legacy Lifter III. With its ribbed and slightly soft rubber, the shoe bites rubber floors and wooden platforms admirably!

The widest part of the forefoot measures 98.1 mm, which is exactly the same as the average.

Just like most shoes of its kind, the Lifter has a very one-to-one fit. There is not much room for toe-splay here. The sturdy leather upper also has zero stretch to it.

The shoe's toebox also gets narrower around the toes. But it is not any more tapered than the average.

At the big-toe mark, we measured the shoe's width at 73.4 mm - the same as most lifting shoes.

The tongue is not gusseted on the Legacy Lifter III. But it is not a problem at all thanks to all the other components of the foot containment.

Some find it gimmicky, others find it nostalgic.

We think that the Pump is pretty cool and is actually helpful in locking down the foot.

Pushing the button inflates the tongue which in turn fills up the space around the instep and the ankle. As a result, we felt a more secure "hug" and support in the upper.

We think that this is going to be life-saving for people with narrower feet who often struggle to achieve a secure fit with a Velcro strap alone.

In addition, the tongue itself is also quite well-padded in the Lifter III. We measured its thickness at 6.6 mm, which is a millimeter thicker than average.

The heel tab is not present but you can use the extended heel collar to assist in putting the shoe on.

The insole is removable and can be replaced with an insert of your chocie.