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The revamped ASICS Novablast 6 should remain a beloved, do-it-all daily trainer, especially with its new springier forefoot.
Every runner’s shoe quiver needs a do-it-all daily trainer in it, and for the better part of two years, the ASICS Novablast has been a very reliable one of those in my quiver. It has been the best-seller among ASICS shoes, and the most-tagged shoe on Strava in 2025 for a reason. When a shoe carries that kind of momentum into a sixth iteration, the easy move is to leave well enough alone—tweak the colorway and call it a day.
That’s not what happened with the Novablast 6. ASICS blew up the midsole. The Novablast 5 rode on a single slab of FF Blast Max—soft, forgiving, a little sleepy underfoot if we’re being honest. The 6 keeps that same FF Blast Max foundation but drops in a trampoline pod of FF Turbo Squared right under the forefoot, the same propulsive foam doing work in the Megablast and Sonicblast. Same stack, same 8mm drop, same easy-to-love shape. But the toe-off? That’s a different conversation now.
Does that mean the Novablast 6 is jumping categories to a shoe intended for speed training days? No, not based on my 60 miles of initial wear-testing. Instead, it’s an everyday trainer with a little bit more energetic pop in the forefoot. It’s probably what was needed, given how other everyday trainers have become speedier after up-leveling with more lively midsoles.
Price: $155 (women / men)
Approximate Weights: 7.6 oz. (women’s size 8); 8.9 oz. (men’s size 9)
Heel-Toe Offset: 8mm 41.5mm (heel); 33.5mm (forefoot)
What’s New: The Novablast 6 is a significant departure from version 5—not a refinement, a reinvention. The key change is a dual-foam midsole setup: FF Blast Max in the heel for cushioning and shock absorption, and a forefoot pod of FF Turbo Squared, ASICS’ most responsive foam, for a lively, propulsive toe-off. A wider sole platform adds some passive guidance. The upper gets a lighter mesh—thinner in the forefoot, heavily padded in the heel—and there’s a rather lofty $15 price bump to $155.
Fit/Feet/Ride: The fit of the Novablast 6 runs slightly short, probably due to the extra heel padding. That’s something worth flagging for runners who are true to size in the 5. There is otherwise room for the toes to wiggle and splah laterally. The heel collar is heavily cushioned, which most runners will love immediately and heel-sensitive runners may find excessive. The forefoot mesh is thin, light, airy and durable.
This midsole is where the Novablast 6 gets interesting and a little complicated. The forefoot FF Turbo Squared pod delivers a genuinely bouncy, lively toe-off—the best the Novablast series has felt up front. The heel, however, reverts to a big of a vague transition that plagued the Novablast 4—a step back from the smooth, buttery heel-to-toe flow that made the 5 so beloved. The two foams create a contrasted, almost bipolar ride: soft, shock-absorbing and a bit monotonous at heel strike, and energetic, springy and fun at toe-off.
Why It’s Great: The Novablast 6 earns its place in my rotation on the strength of its dual-foam midsole—a combination of FF Blast Max cushioning in the heel and a FF Turbo Squared pod up front that delivers one of the most propulsive, energetic toe-offs the Novablast series has ever produced. It feel light and protective at the same time, offering the kind of cushioning-to-weight ratio that used to cost you $180 or more.
Why You’ll Love It: this is the shoe for the runner who wants one pair to cover most of the week—easy days, long runs, the odd pickup-the-pace fartlek session—without needing a rotation. It’s forgiving enough for someone stepping up from their first running shoe, and it’s got enough bounce to keep a marathoner’s legs fresh deep into a long run. If you’re chasing PRs at 5K pace, this still isn’t your shoe — that’s what the Superblast and Megablast are for. But for the 80 percent of your training that happens at conversational-to-moderate effort, the Novablast 6 is a very good tool for the job. Not exceptional, but very good.
Why You Might Not Like It: The Novablast 6’s biggest liability is its heel—the transition at heel strike is stiff and slappy in a way that feels like a regression from the smooth, buttery ride that made version 5 so widely loved, and heel strikers in particular are going to notice it immediately. The outsole’s wide lateral forefoot flare also creates a subtle medial push that not every runner will notice but some will find distracting.
Pros: I’ve run miles in every Novablast since the line started, and this is the first version where the forefoot actually serves up some significant pop. Through a variety of runs—easy 6-milers, a tempo session or two, one longer effort pushing 12—and the pattern holds: soft landing, lively exit. ASICS also finally addressed the one real complaint that’s dogged this shoe for years. Wet traction. The 5 turned into a liability the second the roads got slick. The Novablast 6 swaps in ASICSGRIP rubber up front, and so far, grip hasn’t been an issue once.
Cons: This is a daily trainer that got faster—not a fast shoe for speed training. The new forefoot pod adds pop, but if you’re chasing race-pace efforts regularly, the ASICS Superblast or Megablast will still out-run it.
Contributing editor Brian Metzler is the Content Director for UltraSignup.com, who has raced every distance from 5K to 100 miles. He has wear-tested more than 2,000 running shoes and is the author of “Kicksology: The Hype, Science, Culture and Cool of Running Shoes” (2019) and “Trail Running Illustrated” (2021). He has raced just about every distance from 100 meters to 100 miles, but he’s most eager to share stories about his experiences pack burro racing in Colorado and riding trains to run trails in Chamonix, France.
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