ASICS Men's GEL-Excel33 Running Shoe Review

Customer Ratings:

I have owned several brands of running shoes and I have been stuck with Asics for a long time. I was a heel striker and I evolved to the mid-foot strike seen on Kenyan marathon runners. I don't want to tell you a big story here but, when I saw these shoes, they looked like what I wanted. I don't believe in this minimalistic hype where people tend to run with almost no protection. Do respect their ways though. I believe that our feet are not made for pavement and I was searching for a cushioned and flexible shoe that can mimic the motion of my feet. I gave the Excels a shot one size larger (I have a bunion and these tend to be narrow) and bingo!!! I am a pronator but, with the running technique I use, I don't need any support gadgets. I took them out of the box for a 12KM run and I felt that I was running on nano-pillows (my pace was a bit faster too). I saw in another review that they said that the outsoles are not durable. If you are a heel striker and tend to push yourself forward, they won't last but, I barely touch the ground, using the force of gravity to keep me going forward. After that run, there was 0% of wear in the outsole! The heel zone was like new but just dirty. For mid-slightly forefoot runners, this is a great choice and, they are not as expensive as others. I have the more expensive Cirrus 33 and the Excels beat them by far. The Cirrus are over-cushioned and heavy (too much soft cushion slows you). The Excels have a plastic insert that they call Propulsion Trusstic. This device makes the shoe a bit stiffer and it does mirror the foot better. These are simple, with just the right cushioning and flexibility, long lasting for those with a good gait cycle and definitely good looking! Anyone who buys these, won't be disappointed, especially those who know how a long distance runner stride to glory

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Chose this shoe as a transition to a more minimalist shoe. I've been using Asics for years and these fit better than expected. The shoe feels very light and the lower heel drop is noticeable, but not drastically different from standard running shoes. I'd recommend these for anyone looking to move away from a heel striking style of running.

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This is a good overall running shoe. The cushioning in the forefoot is nice, not too much, not too little. Maybe just a bit spongy, but the shoe is pretty well balanced, meaning that the cushioning in the midfoot and the heel make the shoe feel as if your foot is much flatter than the 10mm heel to toe drop would suggest. That's good, b/c it helps to facilitate mid foot strikers being able to maintain the form to which they've become accustomed without a big cushy platform heel getting in the way. In other words, this shoe has a 10mm heel drop, but when you're wearing it, it feels like your foot is more flat than that. The shoe has some road feel to it, but not a whole lot. The heel was slipping a bit at first but that stopped after the lacing was adjusted. I can't tell if that trussic system actually does any good or not, so I guess I don't have much of an opinon on that particular "technology". I think the shoe is pretty light and comfortable, the lacing system needed some personal adjustments though. I had to parallel lace the shoes b/c the laces were digging into the top of my foot. (I have a high arch and this is a fairly common occurence for me in many different types/brands of running shoes over the years. After I got the laced adjusted the heel slippage wasn't much of an issue either. The shoe (sole and upper) has worn pretty well for me over the past month or so, not a ton of miles on it, but I'm still recovering from a fairly signficant calf strain when I went too quickly into training with the 4mm drop "minimal" Kinvara 3 my fault. Needed to take it much slower getting into those shoes, and I rushed it, and I am paying the price now. So having this shoe still allows me to work on a more natural running form without the risk of overdoing it (i.e., injury) in a "minimal" trainer like the Kinvara. So overall I'm pretty happy with the shoe and would recommend them for training runs of 10 -12 and for use during various types of cross training workouts b/c the shoes feel pretty stable on your feet. As an afterthought, if it's important to you, they're one of the best looking trainers that's i've ever owned.

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These shoes are my second pair. I don't like them for treadmill running as I do my Vibram 5 fingers but love them for long distance pavement running.

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I've been sized and measured as a 12 but this shoe is easily a half size too big. For a transition to a minimalist style shoe which is what I expected, this shoe has more cushioning, or a softer cushioning, than my previous more traditional shoes.

Hard to comment on other aspects since the shoe is too large to be comfortable.