NOBULL Trainers – Simple Yet Elegant Training Shoes

Erica Arakawa

Hello, this is Erica Arakawa for Engearment.com. I’m super excited to talk to you about NOBULL trainers – and my new pair of Magnolia trainers just arrived. I love these shoes for their gym performance and simple design, and elegance. The beautiful aesthetics and functionality are perfect for my active urban lifestyle. I can easily transition from work to a workout or vice versa.

When I started lifting heavy objects and working out (Functional Fitness), my Coach recommended I wear flat-soled shoes for weightlifting. I immediately started looking for a CrossFit trainer, and NOBULL trainers appeared before my eyes. The shoe comes in many aesthetically pleasing colors and floral and geometric patterns.

NOBULL Trainers Review

I noticed that the construction of the shoe’s upper was unique in that the floral design was uninterrupted – like the upper shoe was molded from a single piece of fabric. Well, I found out that there is a reason for the shoes’ unique look. The shoe’s upper part is constructed in one piece of military-grade material called “Super Fabric.”.

The one-piece upper provides stability, and the “Super Fabric” makes the shoe extremely durable and abrasion-proof, which holds up to rope climbs and burpees – any movement that creates friction. I have a pair of two-year-old Navy Cherry Blossom NOBULL trainers that look brand new. They just have a slight crease on top where my foot bends. I throw them in the wash occasionally.

I have a pair of Rose Gold Cherry Blossom High Tops, which I recently took with me on vacation to Copenhagen, Denmark. I sprained my ankle on the cobblestone sidewalk on my first day in Copenhagen. I was wearing a pair of sneakers that came recommended to me for travel. I was determined that my sprained ankle wouldn’t hold me back from walking around, seeing all the sights, and eating good food. Ok, shopping too. The one-piece “Super Fabric” high top upper stabilized my ankle, and the flat sole allowed me to connect to the ground and gave me stability. I was so happy to have brought them with me.

The shoe is lightweight with a flat sole. It has a full rubber outsole and medial and lateral outsole wrap for durability. I like the flat sole because it allows my foot to expand in the shoe to connect (3-point connection) with the ground. This connection to the ground gives me more stability for my squats, lifting heavy objects, and improved balance during kettlebell swings. With the other pair of sneakers I was wearing. The sole was so cushioned that I could not feel the cobbled ground, and it felt really unstable.

The nubby rubber sole is grippy enough for rope climbs and gives me good traction when pushing and pulling heavy objects along the floor at the gym, but it gives enough so my foot doesn’t jam or stick to the ground causing me to jerk my knee or ankle. It allows me to smoother movement and agility. I use my NOBULL trainers when taking my Samba and Groove dance classes for the exact reasons. The rubber sole during dance class has the perfect give and grip so I don’t get my foot stuck during a dance movement. 

Some people might find the shoes a bit stiff and need to wear them to soften. The high tops are hard to pull on, and I’d recommend adding a tab on the back, NOBULL to help pull on the shoe. I usually wear a size 5, but I found that in size 5, my toes touch the front of the shoe. So they seem to run a half-size small. The size 5.5 gives me a better fit. The shoe is a bit pricey, but I feel it’s worth it as it fits my active urbanite lifestyle – high-end materials, solid construction, functionality, and beautiful aesthetics.

---

 

Erica Arakawa

Erica Arakawa is a first-generation immigrant of Japanese parents. She is a native of Colorado and the first in her family to earn a college degree.

She graduated with a bachelor’s in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado, Boulder. At CU, she continued to take classical ballet classes three to four times a week with her childhood instructor, who trained at the American Ballet Theatre in New York.

She also took Kendo classes at the Rec Center. She traveled through Japan that summer with the American Federation of Kendo, visiting Dojos throughout Japan and stopping to see her grandparents in Tokyo.

She lived in Rome studying Renaissance Art and Architecture, In London studying British art and architecture, and interning at an architectural firm. She traveled thru the UK to Greece to research public squares.

Her passion is traveling. Her goal within the next couple of years is to become a Digital Nomad, allowing her to work from anywhere in the world given an internet connection – something that she feels fortunate enough to do with having found support from her boss at everDriven, where she works as Product Manager.  everDrive provides transportation services for special needs students and homeless children.

In addition to her career endeavors, Erica has many other hobbies that keep her active. She holds scuba certification and loves SUPing (Stand Up Paddleboarding) as well as kayaking – both newly learned activities for her! To keep up with her physical wellness further, Erica trains at Axistence gym multiple times during the week, along with taking Hula and Tahitian dance classes with her ‘dance sister’ community which has become quite important in recent times.

As an interesting footnote – Erica recently took a 23andMe test which came back confirming that she is 100% Japanese!