Asics, the brand your dad proudly calls ‘good for the arches,’ just beat out every hip running shoe in 2025.
Driving the news: A new Strava report found that the Asics Novablast was the top running shoe of choice this year, besting trendy models like the Hoka Cliftons and On’s Cloudrunner. The hallmark of the Asics shoe is its bouncy cushioning, which has proven to be so advantageous for runners that the Ironman contest had to ban them.
These types of springy shoes, which every major brand now offers, allow runners to go faster without exerting more effort.
Experts say that while the extra cushioning takes the physical stress off of runners’ feet and ankles, it can often lead to more serious, long-term injuries in the knees and hips.
Why it matters: The extra speed of these bouncy supershoes feeds into an increasingly intense online fitness culture. Runners are prioritizing setting personal bests that they can proudly flaunt on Strava and Instagram, even if it costs them a hip surgery down the road.
If you aren’t familiar with the lengths some people will go to impress their fitness followers, there is a very real (and growing) group of people who hire so-called Strava Jockeys to go clock impressive runs while using their tracker.
Zoom out: Nike has leaned into this insatiable need for speed in a big way. The company is now developing a motorized running shoe that can reportedly improve a runner's pace by 20%. We’re not here to judge, but if you’re running with literal bionic shoes, you should have to disclose that on your Strava post.—LA