OTOMIX STINGRAY REVIEW
Like a lot of competitive athletes, I am always looking for what can make my performance better. Even the smallest of advantages can make a tremendous difference in strength sports. One place that my coach consistently noted improvement was necessary was my footing position in the deadlift. Countless gym sessions the phrase ‘keep your toes down’ would be repeated and repeated while the weights were breaking from the floor. Even in a competition losing my footing caused me to lose my balance and I missed what would have been a personal record deadlift. I swore over and over that I was driving my feet down as hard as I could and pushing my toes through the floor, but training footage showed something different.
I was one of those lifters who wore converse religiously. The inexpensive sold canvas shoe with a flat sole in bright red were a staple of my gear. I was insistent that it was the only shoe I could possibly need but something needed to change if I were going to get past this issue. I tried changing the angle of my feet, played with the width, practiced mental awareness, and I even experimented with the thickness of my socks trying to find a solution. Then one day I was packing my shoes into my gym bag and I noticed something.
The toebox on my converse had an ever so slight curve to them. Placing them sole to sole allowed me to see just how much of a gap I was overcoming to drive my toes to the ground in my deadlift. Even a quick image search of the classic plimsoll showed the toes with the toebox curling from the floor. Surely Chuck Taylor’s Allstars were not holding me back, after all everyone around me wore them! Athletes I aspire to perform like wore them! Even my coach wore them! If I were no longer going to wear them, I would have to try something else, but what?
I considered a lot of options. I scoured the internet for advice. I read forum after forum and review after review. People around the world insisted they had the magic bullet by lifting barefoot, ironing or steaming converse flat, wearing deadlift slippers, and on and on. Then, almost completely by accident, I stumbled on a piece of information from the most unlikely of places. Pictures of the late Luke Sandoe.
For the uninitiated, Luke Sandoe was an IFBB Pro Bodybuilder, and a fellow Redcon1 Tier Operator from the United Kingdom whose impressive career was tragically cut short when he decided to take his own life during the Covid-19 Quarantine. While I am not a bodybuilder, I had the utmost respect for him. His work ethic was incredible. His personality was infectious. His style was always on point. Looking back at pictures of him after his passing I noticed he wore very distinct high-top sneakers.
They did not have a swoosh or three stripes, but they were high tops and, most importantly, he was always wearing them in pictures of him at the gym. I found out they were Otomix brand. I started to read up more. It did not take look before I decided to give them a try for myself. Truthfully, I decided first my wife would give them a try. Admittedly I still was not convinced my converse were letting me down. It was not long after we received hers in the mail that I was ordering a pair for myself.
Otomix shoes were establishes in 1988 as martial arts and fitness apparel. Currently their website classifies themselves as shoes for mixed martial arts, bodybuilding, powerlifting, yoga, and weightlifting. The company also offers apparel and other pieces of gear for the fitness industry. They even feature Mr. Olympia champion Jay Cutler as one of their athlete ambassadors!
The first thing I will say about the shoes themselves is regarding sizing. My wife and I both wear odd sizes for men and women’s shoes respectively, sometimes limiting the options we have for what we can wear. That is not an issue with Otomix. The shoes are sized unisex and even offer half sizes for the perfect fit. Currently on their website you can find a pair of men’s pink high tops in a size 13! A pair of plain black starting in a men’s size 6 and all the way up to a 15. You will find a color you like in a size that will fit like gloves for your feet. They fit true to size and we had no issues with the fitment when the shoes arrived.
The material used to produce the shoes is an interesting blend. The model we opted for was the Stingray which featured a suede-like top, cloth lining, and the thin as butter spread on warm toast sole. The sole is where these shoes really shine in performance. Rubberized on the bottom gives excellent grip while remaining thin enough you can feel the smallest of irregularities in the gym flooring. Straight out of the box there is no practical toe lift in the shoe, giving it a true flat sole. I would consider the sole of this shoe to be the closest relative to wearing a deadlift slipper or Vibram sneakers on the bottom while maintaining a more traditional, and in some cases more functional shoe above.
The lacing is the only point on controversy in our house. Whenever I wear a hightop sneaker I prefer to stop the lacing at above the ankle, not at the uppermost eyelet, and wrap the excess lacing around the ankle. To me this has always felt the most secured knot I can accomplish. My wife prefers to lace her hightops to the bitter end of the eyelets and was disappointed that her laces did not leave enough remaining to wrap the ankle, but were excessively long that she finds the need to triple knot the lace to keep from tripping. My wife was also quick to point out that her purple shoes came with only one pair of laces while my red-white-and-blue kicks came with both a red and blue set of laces.
For me, appearance gives these shoes the gold medal. I can see why bodybuilders would be a fan of these in the gym for the looks alone. The exaggerated profile of the hightop complete with a tongue that hangs out like a Columbian necktie make those around you notice whether you are skipping leg day or not. There is a wide variety of color options available from the pure white or black all the way to yellow camo with stops along the way for however much attention you want to draw.
While the brand is known in some circles, my wife and I still have athletes who attend the gym we do for coaching or visiting athletes from out of town asking what the shoes are. More than one has gone on to order them for themselves. They are without a doubt a functional statement piece and a real head turner.
Pricing on Otomix is what I would describe as competitive in the sneaker market. Are they more expensive than a pair converse? At first glance they can be. Are they half the price of a pair some Air Jordans? Absolutely. As with anything for sale on the internet it pays to do a little research before you buy. Both times I ordered directly from Otomix I was able to find a discount code for additional savings off the listed web price which put these sneakers within about $10-$20 of some converse models.
What happened when these went onto my feet? I was glued to the floor. It was a night and day difference from what I had been lifting in. I would not give them the credit of shattering my previous deadlift records because of them, what I will say is that I strongly feel that having that extra control contributed to the lift. The chanting of ‘keep those toes down’ disappeared and once again I could focus on the rest of the movement. It was a gamechanger from the first time I slipped them on. They are as comfortable as wearing a sock with unbelievable grip. It was wearing them that I set a forty-pound personal record with the yoke and a thirty-pound personal record in the deadlift.
I have also worn the Otomix for squatting, pressing, and other strongman events. I do not feel a substantial difference with them over the Allstar Converse like I did for the deadlift. This may also be because my Chuck Taylors were not presenting an issue during these movements. During a heavy Yoke carry I did feel that I had added traction and stability. As an aside I have on several occasions stepped out for a squat in the Converse and rolled my ankle while this issue has not presented in the Otomix. Whether or not that has something to do with the shoe is still up for debate, but it is worth an honorable mention.
My wife and I have been playing in the Otomix for about three months now. As a point of information, we wear them only inside the gym. They are not worn on concrete, stones, blacktop. They are changed into for everything but my wife’s squatting days and removed afterwards. For her and I that means about four to six days a week of training in the Otomix and so far, we have had only one issue with wear and tear. At a recent powerlifting competition, my wife noticed three stitches had come loose in the outside toe of the shoe. This did not impede her ability in them and still took second plave. In reading online I only encountered once or twice in a forum where someone mentioned a premature blowout to a seam. I do not foresee these shoes being overly abused by my wife and I, so I fully expect them to hold up under our conditions.
I do not hesitate to suggest these shoes to anyone looking for an affordable lifting shoe. Backed by a company with a pedigree in the bodybuilding community, these fit a niche that some lifters may not even know existed. As with any shoe, your mileage may vary, but for my wife and I Otomix are just what we were looking for.
CULT-OF-IRON 