THE GORUCK SPEARHEAD
“The GORUCK Tough patch is not for sale. It takes inspiration from the First Special Service Force’s spearhead, and the only way to earn it is to pass the GORUCK Challenge.
The Force was a joint Canadian-American commando unit formed in 1942. ‘The name ‘First Special Service Force’ was selected to cover an assault force whose handful of men would carry considerable automatic-fire power. It sounded innocent enough…’ However, the Force earned the nickname Devil’s Brigade for its devastation of Axis powers in WWII. Though its history is a short one, modern day Canadian and American special operations trace their heritage to this unit.”
- Jason McCarthy, 10th Special Forces Group, 2006-08
3X SUPPORT™ = 3X STABILITY
You Need More Support
Barbells. Sandbags. Sprinting. Rucking. Up-down-left-right-lift-toss … rinse and repeat.
To push past your limits in garages and driveways and in fields and on asphalt the world over — you need a stable platform, and you need more support from your fitness & weight training shoes.
When you run, you need support. When you lift, you need support. When you flex, you need support.
THE BALLISTIC BREAKDOWN
It's Science.
To build the Ballistic Trainers™, we took everything that works (and nothing that doesn't) about existing functional fitness shoes and combined it with proven science of proper under foot support.
UPPER // Dual Material Construction
(1) Breathable + Flexible Knit
(2) Tough Ballistic Nylon
MIDSOLE // Gradient Density™ EVA
(3) Flexible + Cushioned Forefoot
(4) Firm + Stable Heel
OUTSOLE // Triple Compound Rubber
(5) Grippy, High-Traction Forefoot
(6) Hardened Midfoot
(7) Dense, Durable Heel
UPPER // Dual Material Construction
(1) Breathable + Flexible Knit
Seamless, one-piece engineered warp knit covers the entire forefoot giving you plenty of breathability and flexibility without cramping your toes. The pattern of the knit is varied — tighter where you need reinforced strength and looser where you want increased airflow.
(2) Tough Ballistic Nylon
The lace area, midfoot and heel is built from two panels of Special Forces grade Ballistic nylon. You get Ballistic protection from the stress of rope climbs with additional structure and stability in the midfoot and heel.
MIDSOLE // Gradient Density™ EVA
(3) Flexible + Cushioned Forefoot
The forefoot area is resilient and flexible, providing excellent cushioning and rebound from strike to recovery when running, jumping or performing other explosive movements.
(4) Firm + Stable Heel
The firm heel keeps you grounded on a stable platform when lifting or squatting and the 8mm lift maintains your center of gravity for a versatile mechanical advantage.
OUTSOLE // Triple Compound Rubber
(5) Grippy, High-Traction Forefoot
The forefoot rubber is formulated for increased grip in any environment — wet and dry, inside or out.
(6) Hardened Midfoot for Rope Climbs
The midfoot rubber is formulated from a rock climbing compound for the best abrasion resistance and long term durability — ideal for rope climbs.
(7) Dense, Durable Heel for Pavement Pounding
The rubber in the heel is dense, tough and won't wear down after miles of running or rucking.
You Have 3 Arches in Your Foot... Not Just One.
And dynamic movements tax the hell out of all three of them.
3X SUPPORT™ = 3X STABILITY
When sprinting, running, and rucking— forward and laterally — you land on the outside of your heel (supination) and then as you roll into midfoot stance your tib/fib and ankles rotate so your knee is in line with your femur as your toes splay out (pronation). Your plantar fascia (which supports your arches) stretches, becoming a spring as you move to the propulsion phase. If you don’t have enough support, over time in an unforgiving world, your plantar’s gonna get overworked. Plantar fasciitis is simply an inflammation due to excessive, unsupported work.
When loading the body with a barbell or a sandbag, your tib/fib and ankles rotate, encouraging your foot to roll inward (pronation). That’s why people say you should point your toes outward and knees straight. But if there’s not 3X Support under your arches, you have a tendency to crash inward with your knees. This creates not only greater injury risk, but a loss of power. You do not want to lose power. Or get injured.
3X Support™ = 3X Stability
Hence 3X Support in your Ballistic Trainers™
A-B // Anterior Transverse Arch
B-C // Lateral Longitudinal Arch
A-C // Medial Longitudinal Arch
Stability + Mechanical Advantage
Stability + Mechanical Advantage
FOR CLEANING, SNATCHING + SQUATTING
Let's Talk Drop.
People talk about a zero drop heel lift — which basically means the whole shoe is flat with no support (0mm) — and they talk about minimal, 4mm drop as if they’re good. They’re not.
They forget to talk about the discomfort and the injuries, and how you can’t wait to take your gym shoes off when you’re done. Some pain in life is good, zero drop pain is not.
For reference, weightlifting and powerlifting shoes are ~20mm because there’s a mechanical advantage to greater drop — but you can’t move in them at all — that’s a problem. Running shoes are 12mm drop because you need more support to reduce strain on the achilles, especially as you extend your legs and heel strike — but running shoes aren’t stable for any kind of lifts — that’s a problem.
From 20mm to 12mm and then came zero drop, a new fad harkening back to a time when the footwear industry didn’t even know how to create a performance shoe with drop, so that’s what lifters wore. The best way to deadlift is barefoot because you’re closer to the ground, so the second best way must be with a zero drop shoe … and boom! The marketers had their hook and everyone was sold. But then comes life and you have to move — that’s a problem.
Zero drop and minimalist shoes are insanity unless you weigh 100lbs soaking wet and grew up jogging barefoot on 10 mile trails to school and work your whole life.
If that’s not you or if you ever pound the pavement, literally, you need more support.
Ballistic Trainers™ proudly have an 8mm heel-to-toe drop. It’s more than the others in the space. Ballistic stability puts less strain on the achilles tendon during lifts, with additional heel stability to support your full range of motion when running, and moving, and living, and the forefoot knit fabric is different than the Ballistic nylon because when you need to flex, you need to flex more.
And no matter what, you always have 3 arches in your foot and you need to support all three. We built the Ballistic Trainers™ functional fitness shoes with this in mind — 3X Support™ and 3X Stability across all dynamic movements.
Optimal Flexibility + Cushioning
Optimal Flexibility + Cushioning
FOR JUMPING, SPRINTING + ROPE CLIMBS
Developing the Ballistic Trainers™
Sure, the Ballistic Trainers™ are built to perform inside of a CrossFit box. You can do snatches and cleans and jerks. You can do squats, you can do heavy lifting in them. But the real challenge was to make these the most versatile and functional shoes for training in the real world. You're not always at a box. You're not always at a gymnasium. You are out in the world training, doing weighted ruck activities, doing sandbag workouts in dirty environments, environments where you need better traction and environments where you need more support. We took each portion of the shoe and scrutinized it — built it and rebuilt it over and over to ensure they will support you no matter what you're doing or where you're doing it.
The foundation of our approach was similar to creating MACV-1™ — begin with supporting the foot and human body as it goes through dynamic movement. In footwear development, biomechanics is all about keeping the body balanced and in alignment with your center of gravity. If you're carrying weight or doing dynamic loading of the body, whether it be from a squat, clean, or snatch or anything with a ruck or sandbag — you want your body to be in a neutral state for peak power output. Proper biomechanics means your body has the best chance to stay healthy and you get to train harder without injury.
The versatility and performance of the Ballistic Trainers™ is unlike any other product out the market — with the science to prove it.
Paul Litchfield, Shoe Dog, inventor of the Reebok Pump (and 160+ other patents)
The perfect shoe for doing the work. I use them for rucking, conditioning and weight training. Durable, lightweight and breathable; a great multi-purpose shoe.
Cadre Ragnar, Special Forces
They're comfortable — secure and snug, but with good room in the toebox. They provide both a supportive platform and great flexibility.
Blayne Smith, Special Forces
3X SUPPORT™ = 3X STABILITY
Work Harder + Smarter
0% of this makes you stronger, or faster. And it definitely won’t make you happier. Find some friends and do the work for that. But with 3X the support and stability from Ballistic Trainers™ — for all three of your arches — you can work harderand smarter.
GORUCK Footwear Compared
Ballistic Trainers™
Functional Fitness Trainers with 3X Support™ and 3X Stability for All Three (3) of Your Arches
The new standard in functional fitness shoes with a focus on stability, backed by proven science of proper under foot support. Breathable and flexible in the forefoot, tough and stable in the midfoot to heel.
UPPER // Ballistic Nylon + Engineered Knit
MIDSOLE // Gradient Density™ EVA
OUTSOLE // Triple Compound Rubber
HEEL-TOE-DROP // 8mm
PROFILE // Low Top Trainer
FIT // About a half size larger than other athletic trainers (big-brands tend to run narrow).
Rough Runner™
Versatile fitness trainers with a stable platform that supports high mileage and heavy weight training.
The Rough Runner™ have added stability, laterally around the ankle and under foot to let you do more, to include heavy weight training, running, and ruck running.
UPPER // Lightweight Mesh + Reinforced TPU
MIDSOLE // Gradient Density™ EVA
OUTSOLE // Dual Compound Rubber
HEEL-TOE-DROP // 10mm
PROFILE // Low Top Trainer
FIT // True to size with a wide toe box
MACV-1™
Rucking Boots for Combat, Travel and Anyone Who Lives on Their Feet
Classic leather boots - inspired by Vietnam-era jungle boots, modernized to be lighter and more supportive for today’s all-terrain requirements of traveling, training, rucking - and assaulting. Made for people who demand a lot of their feet.
UPPER // Challenge Leather™ or Suede
MIDSOLE // Lightweight EVA
OUTSOLE // Dual Compound All-Terrain Rubber
HEEL-TOE-DROP // 13mm
PROFILE // 6" or 8" Boot
FIT // True to size with a wide toe box. Same fit as Jedburgh™.
