So people often ask which shoes I wear to workout. For years now, the answer for me has been the Reebok Speed TR or the Nano series. Recently I've been going solely with the Speed TR. You can order custom colors (which I do) from Reebok if you like. 

These are what mine looked like fresh out of the box, and below is the custom "your reebok" box that the custom shoes come in. Clean stuff :) Reebok makes the custom shoes from scratch, and estimates a 6 - 8 week lead time, but I've done a custom order twice now and received them within the week each time :)
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So you're looking for a few key things in a workout or "training" shoe:
1. It needs to be wide, with a wide toe box. (this is for the ability to maintain lateral stability in the ankles and feet during weightlifting and lateral movements, it's not good for the ankles to lift heavy weights in a shoe that is extremely laterally unstable like a typical running shoe - hello tendonitis.) 
2. It needs to be flat from front to back (to have proper weight distribution during weightlifting. One cannot squat properly rolling between the heels and the balls of the feet in a curved running shoe during the squat)
3. It needs to be light and flexible enough that you can still run for short to medium distance with comfort. (one cannot run with an olympic weightlifting shoe, and it is more difficult when the shoe is heavy and inflexible)
4. Pay attention to the "heel drop." My preference is a low, or a small heel drop. The heel drop refers to the height of the heel relative to the forefoot of the shoe. A 3 mm drop would be considered a small drop, and an 8 mm drop would be more typical of a tennis shoe or many running shoes. 

Shoes with big fat heels have a huge heel drop, and they encourage poor running technique via hardcore heel striking, which is a jarring for the body and a braking force during running. It is easier to run with better technique with a shoe that has a smaller heel drop such, as the Speed TR. This makes it easier to forefoot strike.

The Speed TR meets all these needs perfectly. Great blend of comfort, enough stability to lift weights in, and light and flexible enough to run in comfortably. The shoes weigh 8.5 oz, which is light enough, and they have a 3 mm drop, which is perfect for me.

The shoes hold up well against rope climbs, and I find them excellent and handling shorter interval / track workouts, and they are great at distances up to about 5 miles. 

If you might need a new training shoe, you can shop through the button link below and it will take you straight to the Reebok Page where you can customize your own set of Speed TR's. Go check it out and get creative, or maybe check the standard color options :)  

I often get asked questions about supplements:

As some of you know, I spent a couple years while in school working in that industry at Vitamin Shoppe in Los Altos.. So I learned a lot about what to look for in terms of supplements. I can tell you with certainty that I wouldn't use over 90% of the products out there right now. But there are some great supps out there that can really help you as well, you just have to know what to look for. 

To keep it short:

The Basics - 
1.) Whey Protein Isolate 
2.) BCAA's
3.) Creatine (Ph buffered)

At times I'll use other supps, and in the future I'll post about them, but for this post I'm sticking with these basics, the things I keep on hand the most often. This does not mean I have them ALL THE TIME, but they are things I use regularly. These also aren't blanket suggestions for everyone reading, I'm just communicating what I do and what I think. I'm also leaving out some other supps that I'll post about later for brevity. 

Whey Protein, BCAA's, and Creatine all have decades of research behind them proving their efficacy and safety. These things are non-hormonal and exist in our regular food:

Whey is a protein found in dairy foods, such as cheese and milk. It has very favorable amino acid profiles (very important) and it is also very fast digesting, so the amino acids (building blocks of muscle) can be absorbed and used by your system quickly to help take advantage of the favorable hormonal environment (for muscle building) that results after strength training. Protein is your friend, especially when you are trying to build or maintain muscle mass. 

Any complete protein source has some amount of the BCAA's (branched chain amino acids) further specified as the amino acids (leucine***, isoleucine, and valine)  These amino's have been isolated as some of the most important ones to consume for anti-catabolic effects as well as anabolic effects. Leucine in particular appears to be extremely important, as it stimulates the mTOR pathway, which appears to be a powerful muscle building pathway. BCAA's in research are very effective at reducing or preventing muscle loss during periods of intense cardio activity, or even during long durations of rest. They are your friend if you are trying to avoid losing muscle / building muscle.

Proteins such as steak, have Creatine naturally occurring in them already.  Everytime you eat a steak you are consuming creatine. It is a compound composed of amino acids, and the reason why it works is because Creatine has a lot of phosphates in it.  Your body uses phosphates to replenish ATP during exercise. The result of this is typically increased power output as well as increased max strength. 

Typical BCAA, Whey Protein, and Creatine products that I might have on hand:

All of the above products meet the aforementioned criteria, either NSF or Informed Choice, no fake crap - just quality, well researched ingredients that help. In future post - will get into the weeds about why each one specifically is an excellent choice, and will also touch on other supps that are helpful as well in future posts :)