Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 vs 19 Comparison Running Shoe Review
The main difference between the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 and the Brooks Glycerin GTS 19 is that the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 been updated with nitrogen-infused DNA Loft v3 cushioning for a plusher and smoother running experience compared to the Glycerin GTS 19's original DNA Loft midsole.
Brooks have stuck with their trusted and reliable 3D Fit Print technology in the upper and set you up with a supportive heel counter to allow your running shoes and feet to move in harmony. They’ve made an ultra-soft ride even softer, while complementing the stability characteristics with a wider platform underfoot and delivering a slightly thinner outsole to save weight.
The feel of the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 more closely emulates rocker sole geometry due to the strategic placement of the flex grooves as Sportitude's running shoe expert Josh Willoughby explains in his shoe review below.
GTS stands for Go-To Support – setting the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 a part from the neutral Brooks Glycerin 20 despite their similarities on paper, featuring the same stack height and heel-to-toe offset.
GuideRails support technology assists overpronated foot types to run more smoothly and efficiently to glide into the zone during your high mileage runs, while multiple width offerings make it easy to find your ideal fit.
Check out the review with full transcript below.
Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude Running. It's shoe review time today and we're going to be talking all things Brooks Glycerin GTS 20. It’s not be confused with the Brooks Glycerin 20.
For those of you trying to figure out why they have two very similar shoes will let me explain. The Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 is a running shoe that's designed for mild overpronators.
It’s for the runners out there that have a tendency to favour that medial side or your instep around your arch as you transition through to midstance. If you’re a heel striker or a midfoot striker and you come across the middle part of your foot as you transition through, the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 is a shoe you could certainly be considering.
It is designed with cushioning in mind, so it is going to be your daily trainer, your workhorse, your shoe that you're going to be using for your long days and your recovery days. It's even light and snappy enough to use for some less progressive runs as well.
The Brooks Glycerin franchise for two decades now has been synonymous with cushioning and nothing has changed, especially with this GTS series. In today's review we’re going to be comparing the Brooks Glycerin GTS 19 from last season side by side with the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 and give you all the information that you need at home to potentially make this your next daily shoe purchase. Without further ado, let's get stuck in.
Upper
It's time to get talking all things engineering and let's start off with the upper, because let's be honest, Brooks make a fantastic upper. That's been the case now for the best part of half a decade. I've really liked where Brooks have gone with their new technologies. They use a technology in this shoe called 3D Fit Print. They've been using it since the Brooks Glycerin 18, Brooks Glycerin 19, and the GTS this year and nothing really has changed.
We’ll start from the back. You have a really solid heel counter at the back. Your heel or calcaneus gets great support on entry and won't get any movement across the X and Y axis.
As you come through to midstance, I think you get enough depth. I did say this in my Brooks Glycerin 20 review that they've made it marginally shallower through that arch area and I feel that was a good thing, but it maybe wasn’t from the get-go because shoes do conform over time.
You can probably be too critical here, but most shoes do fatigue over time. When the Brooks Glycerin GTS 19 got towards the end of its life I found it became a little bit roomy around that arch and had too much give. In the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 they’ve dialled that back a little bit, which is a good thing.
Coming through to the forefoot, you have plenty of breathability. It’s a really nice open, breathable engineered mesh. They’ve touched on that 3D Fit Print, which is a fantastic technology and also it's available in widths. We have a B and a D in the women’s model and in the men’s model we have a D and a 2E, so both genders have a standard width and a slightly broader width on offer which is fantastic.
Outsole
Let’s jump to the bottom of the shoe and talk all things outsole. It’s a very similar concept to the Brooks Glycerin. The Brooks Glycerin GTS has a wider footprint now, although when you compare them side by side it's hard to see with the naked eye.
In the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 they have increased the surface area so you have a little bit more shoe under your body. When you’re thinking about that in context of the whole shoe, essentially your foot has more platform underneath it.
When you're hitting the ground, transitioning through the three phases of your gait cycle from footstrike to toe-off, having a more stable foundation underfoot keeps you on the platform and lets you engage with the right areas of this midsole so you can get all the performance benefits that you need.
The other great thing about this outsole is the fact that it has full-ground coverage, so you have all the high-wearing friction areas ticked off. For heel strikers, at the back the lateral heel unit is taken care of. There is a little bit of exposed DNA Loft v3 at the midfoot, however we haven't seen any unusual wear in that area that is going to suggest any issues with longevity for midfoot runners.
As you come through to the forefoot we have some vertical lines through the front half which is more to do with the performance of that midsole on toe-off. It almost has more of a rocker feel in comparison to what we experienced last year with the horizontal flex grooves through the front half. The reason they have changed the flex grooves is more to do with the midsole performance and the materials in the midsole.
The thickness of the outsole is a little bit thinner in this new Brooks Glycerin GTS 20. We have a blown rubber being used which has been the same technology they used in the Brooks Glycerin GTS 18, Brooks Glycerin GTS 19 and now the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20.
With that being a bit thinner, you can take out a little bit of weight regarding the overall weight of the shoe. This midsole performs really well with this adjustment and the thickness of the outsole, which is great.
Midsole
Let's jump to the midsole. Let's be honest, it's the fun part of most shoe reviews because we all want to experience a nice, cushioned ride and a responsive and stable feel underneath the body. That's exactly what the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 does, and that's exactly what it's all about.
Let’s go back to the reasons why this shoe even exists. It's designed for that overpronator that needs a little bit of medial support as you transition through your midstance.
The GuideRail technology sits up a little bit more on that medial wall. The other thing to note is on the lateral side for the heel striking entry point you have the wall come up on that heel as well. It almost works a bit like a bucket, so you sit inside the shoe more deeply.
It's a progressive support system, meaning it's not heavy, it's not intrusive, it's just there and it complements your running style.
For the best half of a decade a lot of brands have addressed how they can execute arch support. When Brooks introduced their GuideRails technology way back in the Brooks Transcend and when they rolled it out in the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 19 from the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 18, it was a new technology. There was a few people that were rather nervous which is probably fair to be honest. When a running shoe changes so much, we all get a little bit nervous.
However, over the last five to six years this support is getting better and their engineering it better. It used to be two pieces put together, but now the midsole is one complete system which means that the softness and the support all works really well together.
Touching on the midsole, the technology or the foam cushioning system is the DNA Loft v3. It's not new to Brooks. They rolled it out in a shoe called the Brooks Aurora around about 12 months ago in the front half of 2021. The Brooks Aurora was never meant to be a shoe that was going to have a following. It was a shoe that Brooks could launch to show off their new midsole technology and give you a little bit of a taste to what's coming with their performance shoes, being the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 and the Brooks Glycerin 20.
The stack height in the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 is the same as the Brooks Glycerin 20. I wouldn't expect it to be lower or higher. It’s pretty consistent to the neutral version of this shoe. It features a 26mm heel drop and 16mm forefoot drop for a variance of 10mm.
It's the exact same as last year, the same heel-to-toe drop and the same GuideRails technology. However, it's been executed slightly differently which is more due to the different densities of foam or the different technologies.
Last year the dimples on the lateral side were there to complement this shoe with a bit of extra compression. It was pretty soft once you ran in it a little bit. It probably started off a bit firmer than what you would find with the new series which is pretty good from the get-go. I found when I took the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 out of the box and took it for a jog I get the right amount of cushioning.
As I touched on in the intro, I feel the best part of this midsole is more to do with the release. With your everyday mileage shoes, you want them to be cushioned. We don’t always find these shoes to be snappy on toe-off, but the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 certainly is.
It's a really smooth, consistent transition through the whole gait cycle, but you also get a really nice pop out of your toe-off phase, which is great.
Similar Running Shoes To The Brooks Glycerin GTS 20
Let's put some context around other shoes in the market to compare side by side with the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20. I have to pay respect to Brooks, I don't think there's a lot of shoes out there that compare like for like. However, there's certainly a category of shoes that has been born over the last three to four years which have blended progressive arch support systems.
We’re looking at your Asics Gel Kayano 29, especially now with their new LiteTruss arch support. It is a really similar shoe to the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20.
I would also throw in the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 22 which is from the same brand. It’s pretty similar regarding its overall support with a 12mm heel-to-toe drop. If you're looking for a lighter, maybe more of a cushioned and snappier feel you should put yourself into the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20.
The other one to consider would be the New Balance Fresh Foam Vongo v5 which has a progressive blended arch support system. The New Balance Vongo is a slightly more cushioned shoe to be completely honest, with the Fresh Foam technology providing a little bit more forgiveness underneath the foot.
If you're looking at a shoe to give you some mild arch support, these mileage daily trainers being the Asics Gel Kayano 29, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 22 and New Balance Fresh Foam Vongo v5 are worth your consideration. If you’re checking out any of these three running shoe and you're looking into another shoe to complement what you’re trying on, I would certainly suggest the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20.
The Wrap Up
In summary, we have a very cushioned and stable running shoe from Brooks. I really like what they have done with their new midsole technology, the DNA Loft v3. That nitrogen-infused foam has been very popular over the last 12 months or 24 months to be fair, when they started rolling it out with the Brooks Hyperion Tempo and Brooks Hyperion Elite in that lightweight racing category.
When we saw it in the Brooks Aurora we got a real taste of where this brand was progressing and where they were taking their midsole technologies now and into the future. I really need to tip my hat to Brooks. I feel that they’re really kicking goals with their shoes.
There’s a reason why they're #1 in America for run speciality stores and that's why they are #1 in Australia at this moment too. They make a great array of running shoes and they make an accessible selection of running shoes. When I say accessible I’m talking about widths.
Virtually every one of their stable neutral or arch support shoes is available in widths and that makes life easy for us, the shoe fitters out there to identify what type of running shoe is best for you. If you're someone requiring bit of arch support and you happen to have a broader foot type, we can still have a conversation around the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20. As I touched on, it’s available in a D width and 2E width in the men’s model and a B and D width in the women’s model to make it accessible. I really like that.
That's a wrap for my review on the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 and my comparison of where it has come from with the Brooks Glycerin GTS 19.
If you have any questions about this shoe or if you've been a Brooks Glycerin GTS 19 wearer I'd love to know your thoughts. Contact our Sportitude running shoe experts, we’d love to know if you've had the luxury of running in the Brooks Glycerin GTS 20 and how you've gone with the overall performance.
Let us know if you have any comments around the Asics Gel Kayano, the New Balance Fresh Foam Vongo or if you're thinking about purchasing this shoe. We'd love to help you out with all of your shoe selections wherever you are in the world. Whether you’re in the northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere, Sportitude Running is here to help.
Until next time, stay safe, be kind to one another and happy running. See you on the road. Take care.
FEATURES
- Support: Stability
- Upper: Mesh
- Midsole: Brooks DNA Loft v3
- Heel Height: 26mm
- Forefoot Height: 16mm
- Offset / Drop: 10mm
Men
- Weight: 266g / 9.4oz
- Width: D (standard) and 2E (wide)
Women
- Weight: 201g / 7.1oz
- Width: B (standard) and D (wide)
Brooks Glycerin GTS 19
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