Article by Matt Kolat & Matt Crehan
Puma MagMax Nitro ($180 / €190)
Pros:
Very stable; Matt K,Matt C
Huge cushioning, not taxing on joints; Matt K, Matt C
Good value; Matt K, Matt C
Best outsole on the market; Matt K
Orthotics friendly; Matt K
Cons:
Honestly, none: Matt K
- I noticed a little achilles pain - should be no reason from the drop - but something I had after every run in the shoe and very much could be personal to me: Matt C
Introduction
Matt K: For many years runners used to overlook Puma as a serious running brand and there was a good reason for it, the brand used to focus on introductory models for runners who are only dabbling in running, weekend warriors as such. No longer so now!
Those times are now long gone and Puma has become one of the most serious running brands out there. Now famous for its Nitro supercritical foam now in all performance running shoes, and for its PumaGrip outsole, which hands down, is the best outsole on the market, the brand in my opinion focuses mostly on Daily Trainers and Competition shoes. Today we will have a closer look at a model representing the first category - MagMax, their most highly stacked and cushioned shoe to date
Matt C: I’d agree with Matt mostly with his regard to Puma often being overlooked by runners, though I’d caveat that by saying ‘distance runners’, as sprinters and then the wider athletic scope of field eventers have always taken Puma rather seriously, Usain Bolt anyone, and Puma still sponsors Bolt two Olympic cycles post his retirement.
Of the more recent crops of mega stars of track and field to wear Puma, Karston Warholm and Mondo Duplantis are house hold names. But for the distance running world, Puma for a long time now has very much as Matt K says been an afterthought, possibly for the more fashion-conscious runner.
With its current generation of shoes, which arrived in a timid and quiet fashion due to the Covid pandemic and a delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Puma has turned heads, gained medals and become huge sellers in independent specialist running stores and the like.
I first got to the initial iteration of this lineup of shoes back in the Summer of 2020 when no one was talking Puma for distance running, but with a strong and historic brand name, pricing that beat out the rising prices from competitor brands and some big names heading towards them for the delayed Olympics, I could see a shift on its way.
And Molly Seidel for me is the runner who got the attention of the distance and specifically marathon running world, when she took the bronze medal in Tokyo wearing Puma’s first generation of super shoes, at a time when there weren’t many shoes getting on podiums outside of Nike. Obviously, everyone has a shoe now competing, and I’d say the ‘super shoe wars’ are over and the focus is back on who can build the best daily training shoe, and we’re seeing that max stack height, non-plated battle beginning to take place, and for Puma the MagMax is that shoe!