Running Shoe Heel Drop Chart – Asics, Brooks, Altra, Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Under Armour…

Today, we’re giving you a running shoe heel drop chart of some of the most used running shoes.

But first,

What is Heel Drop?

The heel-to-toe drop is very simplistically the measurement of drop from the heel to the toe of the shoe giving the running shoe a possible forward angle.

The heel-to-toe drop is measured in millimetres typically from 0 to about 14 on the high end. It’s also commonly called heel drop, drop, heel-to-toe offset, offset, gradient, pitch, differential…

One thing heel drop should not be confused with is stack height. Stack height is the measurement of the distance from your foot to the ground usually based on the amount of foam under your foot. 

There’s two stack heights in every shoe, a heel stack height, and a forefoot stack height. So, the difference between the heel stack and the forefoot stack height gives you your drop measurement.

Related:

Best 12mm Drop Running Shoes
Best 10mm Drop Running Shoes

Running Shoe Heel Drop Categories

There are typically four categories in drop…

• • Zero Drop: 0mm
  • Low Drop: 1-4mm
  • Mid Drop: 5-8mm
  • High Drop: 9-14mm

Running Shoe Heel Drop Chart

Asics Heel Drop Chart

Nike Heel Drop Chart

New Balance Heel Drop

Brooks Heel Drop

Adidas Heel Drop

Related: Adidas vs Puma

Saucony Heel Drop

Hoka Heel Drop Chart

Altra Heel Drop

Mizuno Heel Drop

ON Heel Drop

Skechers Heel Drop

Under Armour Heel Drop

Related: Are Under Armour Shoes Really Good For Running?

Reebok Heel Drop

Topo Athletic Heel Drop

What kind of drop should you consider?

The main question here is what drop should you pick for your next pair of running shoes.

If you’re new to running, don’t get caught up in trying to figure out what drop is perfect for you. But as you progress, you will notice different shoes perform differently for you.

If you’re a beginner, what I would recommend is find a pair of shoes that’s comfortable to you, which is usually for beginner runners a shoe with a drop of 8 to 10 millimeters.

And then from there, you can start experimenting and playing with different drops.

I’m going to break these shoes into two categories, low drop and high drop running shoes instead of four just for the sake of this section.

Lower Drop Shoes (0 – 6mm)

These shoes are better designed for runners who are forefoot strikers and midfoot strikers.

Lower drop shoes give your knees and your hips a little bit of relief.

Also, trail shoes tend to be lower-drop shoes because of the varied terrain out on a trail, run you need to be able to balance a little bit quicker and you need to be able to react to the different terrain on the fly. So, lower-drop shoes do have a slight advantage in the trail arena.

7 – 14mm Drop Running Shoes

As for the higher drop shoes, these shoes are really a little bit more ideal for the heel strikers meaning people landing on their heel that roll through their gait.

Also, these shoes tend to put a little more stress on your knees and your hips.

So, if you’ve had knee or hip problems in the past, these shoes do put a little more strain on those parts of your body. So, beware of that.

One other thing that the higher drop shoes are better for is if you’re someone whose gait starts to flatten out on long distance runs, it really does help to have a slightly higher drop shoe as you start to flatten on your transition.

Although low-drop shoes are good for some types of runners and high-drop shoes are good for other types of runners, one variable in this, of course, is stack height.

Stack height can influence how the shoe performs underfoot. There’s high stack height shoes with low drop and there’s low stack height shoes with high drop.

But are manufacturers still making 14mm drop running shoes? Well, the only running shoes I can still see on Amazon and the shoe that people are still buying is the New Balance 1064.

So, there’s a lot of things to consider here, but ultimately, that’s the breakdown between lower and higher drop shoes.

Let’s talk about specifically how these shoes impact you as a runner…

Benefits Of Lower Drop Shoes

Before I get into this, if you’re changing your shoe drastically, let’s say from a 10 millimeter to a 4 or 2 or 0 millimeter, that’s a pretty big change and your body’s going to notice.

So, we really want to urge you to take it easy when you change your shoes especially if you’re changing the drop in your shoes significantly. Your legs are going to take a little bit of time to get used to the changes whether you’re going up or down. So, ease into it.

Drop your running schedule and drop your pace a little bit for the first few runs just so that your body can adjust to the new platform underfoot.

So, some of the benefits of lower drop shoes is they…

• Speed up your cadence a little bit,
• Promote midfoot and forefoot strike,
• Can help with IT Band issues, knee issues, hip issues…

Benefits Of Higher Drop Shoes

As for the higher drop shoes, they…

• Slow your cadence down a little bit, but that can be good for heel strikers,
• Have some extra padding for heel strikers,
• Can help with Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles problems, and calf issues…

One interesting fact is people who run in shoes that are more minimalistic are 9.2 times more likely to run on their forefoot and midfoot than runners who are running in a higher stack or more maximalist type of shoes.

However, 70% of those runners in minimalist shoes are still heel strikers, which is super dangerous and can lead to a lot of injuries. So, if you are going to a lower stack or a lower drop or a minimalist type shoe, you really have to focus on how you’re running and what your form is like because not all these shoes are designed well for every type of runner.

We’ve also got big a stack height in the Brooks Caldera with 4 a millimeter-drop and we’ve got minimal shoes with very low stack height with a 4-mm drop.

So, a maximalist shoe and a minimalist shoe both have a 4-millimeter drop, which is very interesting.

As you can see, there’s a lot of variabilities with amongst all these shoes. So, you really have to test them out, figure out which ones work best for you, figure out which ones lead to different pains or alleviate different pains before you find the type of heel drop that works best for each individual runner.

Obviously, one thing we didn’t talk a ton about are the new super shoes that have carbon plates.

Oost of them tend to be about 8 millimeters in drop, but they have really high stack height, a really bouncy platform to run on, and they’ve got a lot more rocker underfoot.

Again, more variables to think about when you’re buying running shoes. It’s not just about drop.

Overall Conclusion

Overall, there’s no one perfect shoe for everybody. Research doesn’t say that zero-drop shoes are better for everyone. It also doesn’t say that 12 to 14 millimeter-drop shoes are better for everyone.

I know most of you out there have probably read Born To Run and most of you would probably think running in a zero-drop shoe or a minimal issue is the way everyone should go.

However, that’s not really true. It can lead to injury if it’s not the right type of gait.

If you’re a heel striker, a minimal shoe can be a detriment to you. So, be careful if you’re buying those kind of shoes based on the hype that you’ve heard.

Habitual motion path research says you should find the shoe that fits your style running rather than trying to find a shoe that fixes your style running because you think it’s wrong.

Obviously, the right shoe can solve a lot of problems. The right drop can alleviate some pain like we talked about and the wrong drop can exacerbate some pain.

So, make sure that you’re trying out a variety of shoes before you just pick one because you think it’s going to be the right shoe for you.

I hope you like today’s running shoe drop chart and I hope you’ve learned something new today.

Happy running.