The short version: the Adipower Weightlifting 3 is the lighter, quicker shoe and the better buy for most Olympic lifters. The Nike Romaleos 4 is heavier, has two straps instead of one, and locks the foot down harder, which suits bigger lifters and anyone whose training leans towards heavy squats. Both are narrow. If you have wide feet, neither of them is your shoe.
This is the comparison I get asked about more than any other, and it has been running since the Adipower and the Romaleos 2 were the only two shoes anyone in the warm-up room owned. The models have changed. The argument has not.
Adipower 3 vs Romaleos 4 at a glance
| Adidas Adipower Weightlifting 3 | Nike Romaleos 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Effective heel | 22 mm | 20 mm |
| Weight (UK 9.5 / US 10) | 17.6 oz, about 499 g | 20.1 oz, about 570 g |
| Straps | One, over the midfoot | Two, midfoot and forefoot |
| Upper | Canvas and ripstop | Mesh with synthetic overlays |
| Heel material | High-density TPU | TPU heel and midfoot |
| Fit | Narrow | Narrow to medium |
| Sizing | True to size unless your feet are wide | Half a size up for neutral or wide feet |
| Best for | Snatch, clean & jerk, fast feet | Heavy squats, bigger lifters, maximum lockdown |
Heel height: 22mm vs 20mm, and why it barely matters
Two millimetres. That is the whole difference, and it is less than the thickness of a pound coin. I have watched people agonise over this and I have never once seen it change how someone lifts.
What a heel actually does is let you keep your torso more upright in the bottom of a squat or a catch when your ankles will not dorsiflex far enough on their own. Both of these shoes do that job. If you genuinely need more heel than either gives you, that is an ankle mobility problem, and the shoe is a plaster rather than a fix. The old Leistung 16 II was the tall option in this category and it has been discontinued for years.
Weight: the Adipower is the lighter shoe
Here is where there is a real difference. The Romaleos is about 71 g heavier per shoe, so roughly 140 g across the pair. That sounds trivial written down, and for a squat it is. For the split jerk it is not. You are moving those feet fast and under fatigue, and the Adipower feels noticeably more willing to go where you put it.
If most of your training is the classic lifts, this is the single strongest argument in the Adipower’s favour.
I wore Adidas Adipowers back in the day, and the current Adipower Weightlifting 3 is the direct descendant — same tall, planted heel, and what I'd lift in now.
Check price on AmazonStraps: one versus two
The Romaleos has two straps, one across the midfoot and one across the forefoot. The Adipower has one. More straps means more lockdown, and under a genuinely heavy squat the Romaleos holds the foot like nothing else in the category.
The cost is faff. Two straps is two things to undo every time you take the shoes off, and if you are the sort of lifter who loosens everything between attempts you will notice. I am firmly in the one-strap camp, but I accept that is preference rather than performance.
Fit and width: this is the real decision
Both shoes are narrow. The Adipower’s toe box in particular is tight, and if you have wide or flat feet I would not spend the money on it at all. The Romaleos is marginally more forgiving, listed as narrow to medium, and the usual advice is to go half a size up if your feet are neutral or wider.
That is not a tie-breaker so much as a gate. Width rules more people out of this comparison than heel height or weight ever will, and it is worth measuring your foot before you spend anything. If both are too narrow for you, the wider options are covered in our main shoe guide.
Which should you buy?
Buy the Adipower 3 if
- You snatch and clean & jerk more than you squat
- You want the lighter shoe and faster feet under the bar
- You have narrow or neutral feet
- One strap is plenty and you would rather not fiddle with two
Buy the Romaleos 4 if
- You are a bigger lifter and want the most lockdown available
- Your programme is squat-heavy, or you train powerlifting alongside the classic lifts
- You have had shoes feel unstable under a maximal squat before
- Your feet are neutral width and the Adipower has been too tight in the past
One small thing to watch when you go looking: Amazon’s Romaleos listings are a jumble, and a few of them are filed under completely the wrong product name while showing the right photos. Check the title actually says Romaleos before you put anything in a basket.
The two-strap alternative to the Adipower. Heavier and more locked down, which is exactly what you want under a maximal squat and slightly less so when you need fast feet in a jerk. Runs narrow, so go half a size up unless your feet are on the slim side.
Check price on AmazonWhat about the Romaleos 2 and 3?
The Romaleos 2 is the shoe most people actually mean when they say Romaleos. It came with two swappable insoles, it was built like a tank, and a lot of lifters still rate it as the best the line ever got. It has been gone for years. The Romaleos 3 is also out of production and hard to find.
If you see either going second-hand in your size and the sole is not delaminating, they are still perfectly good shoes. Just do not pay collector money for them, and do not assume a pair that has sat in a garage for a decade has a heel worth trusting.
Are either worth it over trainers?
Yes, and it is the least controversial thing in this article. A running shoe has a compressible foam sole that is designed to absorb load, which is the exact opposite of what you want under a heavy clean. Lifting in one is like pressing off a mattress.
You do not have to start with a two-hundred-pound shoe, mind. Flat soles work, and so does the cheaper end of the market. We cover that in the Adidas shoe guide, where the Powerlift sits as the sensible budget entry.
The verdict
For most people reading this, the Adipower 3. It is lighter, it is quicker under the bar, and the single strap is less to think about. That is the shoe I would buy.
The Romaleos 4 is not the loser here, though. It is the better shoe for a heavier lifter who squats a lot and wants to feel welded to the floor, and the second strap earns its place for exactly those people. Pick on your training and your foot shape rather than on the spec sheet, because on paper these two are closer than the argument suggests.
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