Glycerin Max 2 vs Wave Sky 9

The Glycerin Max 2 is Brooks going all-in on soft, tall, protective cushioning. This is a max-cushion daily training shoe built for one job: swallowing up easy and recovery miles so your legs feel fresh the next day. With a 42.3mm heel stack and dual-density DNA Tuned foam underfoot, you sit high off the road and the landings are pillowy rather than snappy. At 305g it is a heavy running shoe, and it never pretends to be quick. There is no carbon plate and no pretence of speed. What you get instead is a big, forgiving platform and a smooth, rockered roll from heel to toe that keeps long slow runs comfortable well past the hour mark. In our view it sits at the plush end of the daily-trainer market, up against the Hoka Bondi 9 and Nike Vomero 18. If you want cushioning first and pace last, it delivers.

The Wave Sky 9 is Mizuno's plush, max-cushion daily trainer, a soft running shoe built to soak up easy miles and long runs rather than chase pace. With 44.3mm of stack under the heel and a moderate 6.2mm drop, it plants a deep, protective platform between your legs and the road, and that is exactly where it does its best work. At 295g it is a substantial shoe, so nobody will mistake it for a tempo tool. That heft is the trade-off for the comfort. If you want a neutral cushioned trainer to protect tired legs across a marathon build, or a plush recovery-day cruiser, it earns its place. If you already run in the Asics Gel Nimbus 28 or another pillowy daily trainer, the Wave Sky 9 sits squarely in that same comfort-first bracket, and we rate it as an honest, dependable option rather than a flashy one.