Brooks has launched the first Glycerin Max – the most comfortable road running shoes in the market. This blog post will highlight it’s featured technology and examples of who can benefit from the Glycerin Max. But first, let’s quickly refresh what it means to be MAX.
You may feel like you only ever hear about Max shoes and carbon plates these days. They are the click-bait equivalent of running shoes thanks to their promise of comfort and performance respectively. At Brooks, we are leading innovation in the MAX ecosystem, but I wish to highlight that for clinicians and patients that will benefit from tradition, our classics still exist to fulfil all of those traditional needs. Shoes like the Ghost, Glycerin and Adrenaline maintain a traditional stack height and continue to deliver reliability for those that don’t need to enter the max landscape of footwear.
Our Max shoes have 3 unifying principles:
- Assisted transition
- A low offset
- A large stack height
These principles intend to protect the user from pain and discomfort by accommodating for mobility restrictions and tissue vulnerabilities. Max shoes should exist to protect. That is their primary purpose. The assisted transition means that the shoe is doing more of the work to get you from initial contact to toe off. This relieves the plantar flexors of excess load. The low offset reduces strain on the plantar fascia and enhances the effect of the rocker. The increased stack height assists in offloading joints and tissues that are overloaded.
In Glycerin Max we are not only launching a new shoe, but we are also releasing our most innovative cushioning technology yet. DNA Tuned.
DNA Tuned is the next evolution of our nitrogen infused midsole technology. Typically, a shoe will be either be really well cushioned or more responsive. DNA Tuned has been hailed as a game changer due to it’s ability to combine the most plush and cushioned experience available in any shoe with a responsive and propulsive experience in the same shoe.
How have we been able to do this? Dual sized cell technology.
The midsole in Glycerin Max features targeted areas of large cell foam designed for high displacement to absorb and mitigate impact. Other areas of the midsole have small cell foam that have been strategically placed where high rebound and propulsion is required. The result is a midsole that offers immense comfort at ground contact paired with electric, propulsive toe offs. The true magic of this technology is that this dual cell technology is achieved without adhesives. The marvellous manufacturing process at work in DNA Tuned allows the midsole to exist with different sized cells while all being one piece. This gives the shoe a more natural feel underfoot with less weight and more consistency. It is this attention to every minute detail that sets Brooks Glycerin Max apart from other brands.
The question of why does this matter is a fair one. In running shoes lot’s of clinicians raise the idea that going to soft is actually a bad thing. Excessive softness can comprimise stability, longevity and biomechanics through inconsistent compression of the midsole. The problem is that there is an enormous desire from consumers for said softness. How can a brand create shoes that are both desirable and also runnable? The answer is with innovative technology. DNA Tuned isn’t just a new midsole that is another step down the path of arbitrary softness. It is delivering innovative technology to realign the concept of cushioining to be beneficial AND desireable. DNA Tuned is redefining running shoe cushioning.
Let’s talk about the shoe itself. Here are the key specifications:
Midsole stack – 35:29mm
Total stack – 45:39mm
Offset/Pitch – 6mm
Weight – M 297g W 266g
AU RRP – $349.95
NZ RRP – $389.90
Glycerin Max features a full length DNA Tuned midsole with a triple jacquard engineered mesh upper. Not only is it our best midsole ever but it has a brand new upper textile. The shoe is built on a straight last that allows it to accommodate for a variety of foot shapes and fitting considerations. More than that, the broad base offers inherent stability. Stability is always important but particularly so as stack height goes up and as shoes become softer. Glycerin Max is very stable despite having a high stack and incredibly cushioned midsole.
The final feature to highlight in the Glycerin MAX is the Glideroll rocker. As described earlier, the purpose of a max shoe is to protect the runner. Part of that protection is reducing the workload of tissues that are commonly overloaded. The glide roll rocker effectively protects structures like the achilles tendon and plantar fascia by assisting in the transition from initial contact to toe off therefore offloading and reducing the work load of these structures. We are extremely confident in it’s effectiveness because it is the same rocker concept that we have utilised in Ghost Max 2. The Ghost Max franchise is our most referred to shoe by allied health practitioners in Australia and New Zealand. We know it is effective at reducing pain and discomfort in a wide range of pathologies so the Glycerin Max will be effective to this end too.
Glycerin Max with DNA Tuned is redefining what cushioing is in a running shoe. In Glycerin Max you are getting a shoe that provides unforgettable comfort and is thrillingly responsive. It gives you a tool to refer to if someone needs a shoe that can effectively offload painful structures without compromising on performance. In one sentence: Glycerin max delivers an experience of ultimate comfort and ease. Shop Men’s and Women’s Glycerin MAX today at Brooks.
