Altra Olympus 5 | I Was Shocked (Altra Recommended This Shoe To Me)

Whats up my wild friends?

This is my honest review of the Altra Olympus 5 running shoe. When I was training for the Run For Europe running challenge, I started having some pains in my Achilles Tendon. As I was a big Altra Fan and had been running in these shoes for years, I did not want to switch to another brand and reached out to Altra, asking for help. They recommended the Olympus 5 to me for Trails. When I opened the box, I was very surprised to find quite a maximal running shoe. I am used to having quite minimal footwear from Altra.
But this pair saved my Project, I ran 20 Trail Marathons in them and enjoyed every step.

If you are wondering what the minimal Index of your shoe is, just comment below and I'll get back to you!

Thanks for watching!
Stay Wild!

00:00 Intro
00:32 Minimal Index

[timmo]

Olympus 5 has been a revelation to me. I’ve had it all in the last year or so, shin splints, planter fasciitis, all sorts of toe problems. Allowing my toes the space to splay out or whatever the heck is going on has been a godsend.

[jeremystiltz]

1.5yrs of Plantar Fasicitis and this shoe not only got me on the trails again but it seems to have allowed me to heal. Coming from Hokas which not only made it worse but created new issues in my knees.

[dylanbarrera]

Best video for someone new into Alta… thank you just got mine!

[christopherbrand]

This was a thoughtful review and that is an interesting framework for classifying shoes. You mention that big shoe changes can lead to increased injury risk. Like any other kind of stress, the capacity to handle a wide variety of shoes is something that can be built up to over time. I rotate my shoes daily, never running in the same shoes back to back. I also run both road and trails regularly. This requires the investment into a range of shoes and also being sensitive to how much each shoe is stressing my body. But it seems to have resulted in good resilience to injury.

[tenzin]

Hi there. I’m owner of Olympus 4. I use them in daily walk, easy runs and target is for hiking. Couple years ago I decided after watched so many PCT trail videos leave hiking boots and swop to running shoes. Make story shorter- I never be back to hiking boots again. Now is the question. Should I try Olympus 5? Or simply keep 4? I tried Lone peak but for me they to flat. On rocky grounds I had heel aches etc. After tried Olympus 4 I fall in love. After so many hikes they still working great for me. Best regards from UK. Tom

[jamesl]

Really good review from a professional runner. Thank you for this detailed info.

[Neoma]

Force on the achilles and calfs sounds way better than on knees and hips in my opinion.

[RunomaticDe]

Very interessting video. Never heard of this index before.

[kogeisan]

Thx for this review and the explanations about minimal index. I'm running in Altra since some years (Escalante and Superior) and with my recent recovery... I discovered pain in the ankles and calves ;p so I'm going to add an Olympus to alternate with my other shoes!

[plastikmaiden]

Thanks for the overview. I'm currently wearing LP's in wide. It's a shame they don't make the Olympus in wide. Yes, the Topo Ultraventure would be a good alternative. But it isn't available in my country :(

[EmelieBoss]

Love the Olympus! The Lone Peaks are too minimal for me but the Olympus has replaced every single one of my shoes, I have both the normal ones, gore-tex and Via.

[Mysterios]

I’ve been an Escalante Racer runner for a long time. I got a pair of Torins last year, and they gave me shin splints for the first time in probably 12-15 years. If you’re not a neutral runner then a more plush, higher stack shoe won’t help. The Racers used to be the highest stack in my shoe lineup, and they’re a more dense and energetic foam than the Torin.

[TristWallace]

How did you feel about the Via Olympus for the road? I’m in the Torin 7 currently and sometimes get Achilles and calf pain especially when I wake up in the morning after running the previous evening. Would the higher stack help, or did you find it to be a bit too heavy as well?

[Bartvds]

Surprising that you would get achilles pain. It is something you hear with altra and I always thought it was bad form or heel striking

[Shootingstarcomics]

Where do you find a specific shoe’s minimal index?

[bev]

New subscriber here, 'cause I just realised I've actually appreciated quite a few of your videos, and this one too is very useful indeed!! I've slowly but surely massively increased my volume and distances over the last 2 years, I'm so proud to have surpassed 5000km for this year just last Sunday!!😃🏃🏻‍♀💪🏻 I'm almost about to click on a great deal I found for these but now the wet weather is upon us here, I'm struggling with the slippery mud on steeper trails and mossy stones too, though I don't want all-out mud shoes either as I always do quite a bit of road to and from and even between the trails and I want comfy shoes for long days on all surfaces. Would you recommend these for those conditions please Rapha?? AND how is the sizing too please, I should get my most usual size? Many thanks!!

[g.b.]

None of this means anything unless the shoe actually fits. Altra touts the qualities of the Olympus, but doesn't offer it in widths. So then a sales person will guide you to one of their narrower shoes, like the Timp, but it is an entirely different shoe. Being old enough to remember when it was normal for shoes to come in widths, modern shoe companies have dispensed with that inconvenience, as if it is irrelevant rather than vital to a good shoe. If Altra offered at least their lead models in widths and addressed their durability issues I might come back to them.

[Tokoroegao]

I am not a runner, I am heavy, I want to hike. Would you recommend this shoe?
I walk around a lot in more minimalistic shoes, my feet are not completely untrained. But due to my weight, they do need some help if I'm going to walk 20+km for a number of consecutive days.

[udin_agan]

Hey! Good content and very informative. I usually use Bedrock Sandals for shorter or less than 2 runs on simple trails. And use Hoka SpeedGoat 6 for longer than 2 hours run or for technical trails. Can sandals still fall into some minimalist index?

[BoredInIt]

Planning to run first ultra trail next year. Run first road marathon this year and majority of training I use Boston 12s. Would AO5 be good to add to rotation or should I actually go more minimal? Would AO5 be good for 50M ultra trail (non technical)?