Saucony Endorphin Trainer Review: A Super Trainer That Falls Flat

Introduction

The Saucony Endorphin Trainer is essentially the replacement for the Kinvara Pro, and it also fills the gap left by the discontinued Endorphin Shift. It merges elements of both into one all-new high-stack trainer with premium foam, a carbon plate, and a super trainer price tag. The intent is clear: give runners a do-everything uptempo trainer. The execution, unfortunately, does not fully deliver.

Who This Product Is For

Saucony positions the Endorphin Trainer as an uptempo shoe, but the numbers tell a different story. At around 11 oz (310 g) in a men’s size 10.5, it is on the heavy side even for a daily trainer. This is not a shoe for tempo sessions or race-pace work. If anything, it suits runners who want a tall, plated trainer for easy and everyday miles, provided they accept the price and the underfoot feel described below.

Upper and Fit

The upper is a fairly standard engineered mesh with few overlays, letting the mesh itself provide structure. The tongue is nicely padded without being overly plush, it is gusseted, and the collar padding does its job with no heel lift. One small gripe: the flat ribbon-style laces are annoying to tie and feel like a step backward.

Fit is true to size for most testers, with one finding it a little roomy in their usual Saucony size. The overall fit feel is reminiscent of the Endorphin Speed’s newer fit. The insole uses PWBA PowerBun material and adds a nice touch of bounce and comfort right under the foot.

Midsole: Great Foam on Top, Dense Foam Below

The real story is the midsole sandwich. On top sits Saucony’s new IncrediRun foam, a high-performance, soft, bouncy, energetic PBA-style foam. In the Endorphin Elite, this foam sings: it firms up and changes character as you pick up the pace. Here, it delivers a nice step of bounce initially, and landing feels noticeably softer than last year’s Kinvara Pro.

But underneath sits a thick slab of PowerRun foam with a 3/4-length carbon fiber plate and SpeedRoll technology to encourage roll-through. The PowerRun layer here is unusually dense; you can barely compress it, and it feels closer to older, firmer foams than the PowerRun PB used in the Ride or Guide. By mile three or four, the initial IncrediRun bounce wears off and you are left running on a firm, somewhat clunky, brick-like base. The geometry is a high 42 mm heel / 34 mm forefoot stack with an 8 mm drop, so you might expect a max-cushion feel; instead the ride comes across as blocky.

Ride and Performance

The sum of these parts is frustrating because the ingredients should add up to a super trainer. Instead, the dense PowerRun base sucks the life out of the IncrediRun layer, and the shoe ends up feeling like a basic daily trainer with a heavy price tag. At $180, it competes directly with established super trainers that combine a premium foam top layer with a more forgiving base and get the balance right.

The comparison that stings most is within Saucony’s own lineup: the Endorphin Speed costs $10 less, and most runners would take it over this shoe any day. Even Saucony’s own Ride arguably has a better underfoot feel. Given how well the Endorphin Speed already covers the everyday-plated-trainer role, it is hard to find the scenario where the Endorphin Trainer is the better pick.

Outsole and Durability

Saucony added some rubber, referred to as MaxTrac-type traction bits, to the outsole for grip that the Kinvara Pro lacked. That said, most of the outsole remains exposed, lightly rubberized material, so you are not getting a great deal of rubber coverage. It is probably fine for dry roads, but wet-weather grip is not a strong point here.

Things to Consider Before Buying

There is real potential in this platform. The IncrediRun foam is excellent, and a version of this shoe with a softer-tuned PowerRun PB base, or even a plateless premium-foam trainer in the style of a super cruiser, could be something special. As released, though, the trade-offs are hard to justify:

• The dense PowerRun layer dominates the ride and drains the energy from the top foam
• At 11 oz / 310 g, the uptempo positioning does not hold up
• The $180 price puts it against super trainers that execute this formula better
• The Endorphin Speed does most of what this shoe aims to do, for less money

Buying Advice

If you find the Endorphin Trainer heavily discounted and simply want a tall, stable, plated shoe for easy miles, it can work as a plain daily trainer. But at full price, skip it. Choose the Endorphin Speed for a plated everyday trainer, or look at rival super trainers if you want the two-foam-plus-plate formula done right.

Conclusion

The Endorphin Trainer has the right ingredients and the wrong recipe. IncrediRun foam on top is genuinely good, but the dense, lifeless PowerRun base turns what should be a lively super trainer into an ordinary, blocky one. Scored on form, fit, and function, it lands at a 6 out of 10, which barely qualifies as yellow on a red-to-yellow scale. Unless Saucony retunes the base foam, this is a shoe most runners can safely pass on.