Inov-8 F-Lite Max Performance Review

If you’re part of the functional fitness world, chances are that you’ve tried on a pair of Inov-8 training shoes. They’ve got a rich history and continue to deliver some really awesome trainers each year, such as the recent F-Fly that our team enjoyed.

The shoes we’ve tested from Inov-8 over the years have tended to either be minimalist training shoes (perhaps ahead of their time given how companies like Vivo Barefoot and Xero Shoes have grown) or to have at least veered much closer to the minimalist world than premium models from the big boys like Nike, Reebok, and Adidas.

So, it was quite intriguing to get a shoe from Inov-8 with “Max” in the title…as any number of running shoes we’ve tested led us to wonder if we were in for a giant, thick stack of foam under our feet with all the extra cushion the name implies.

In perhaps the strongest year of new training shoes this decade, does the Inov-8 F-Lite Max fit right in? Or does it miss the mark?

We’ve got the answer for you below, thanks to the folks at Inov-8 who sent over a couple of pairs for us to test. However, the company had no involvement in this review, didn’t receive an advance look at it, and has not attempted to influence it.

Please note that while Inov-8 sent us pairs of the Inov-8 F-Lite Max, the company had no involvement in this review, didn’t receive an advance look at it, and has not attempted to influence it.

How do the Authors Train?

Arune Singh (age 43, 5’11”, 210lbs): Trains daily with functional fitness programming provided by Deadboys Fitness, founded by Colby “Seth Rollins” Lopez and Josh Gallegos, along with logging 30-40 miles of running per week. He also has a medical history of Sleep Apnea and Myasthenia Gravis, meaning Arune’s focus is on lean muscle mass.

Drew Whitcomb (age 42, 6’6″ 195lbs): Trains daily with a focus on running, strength training, and mobility. He writes the majority of our running shoe reviews and runs a lot of miles due to testing needs and his growing affinity for long-distance races. He regularly competes in marathons, half-marathons, 10k, and 5k races. His strength training and mobility regimen center around maintaining flexibility and lifting heavy to build power as a counterbalance to all the running he’s doing. His number one focus is staying injury-free so he can keep up the sweet gig of reviewing shoes for a living.

What is the Inov-8 F-Lite Max?

Inov-8 describes it as:

“F-LITE MAX – BUILT TO BE BOLD”

“Designed for those who dare, the F-LITE MAX is our most technical training shoe ever. Built bold, this next-generation all-rounder is ready to take your sessions to the max. 

“Blending the very best of heralded F-LITE history with innovative new designs and technologies, it delivers the ultimate combination of performance, comfort and versatility. Lift heavy, run fast and gain control in a shoe that raises the bar.”

The Inov-8 F-Lite Max has a 6mm drop and weighs 11.9 ounces.

Training

Arune: Drew and I don’t do a lot of talking about our testing experiences before we write the reviews, but I did tell him one thing that I think summarizes the Inov-8 F-Lite Max:

“This is everything the Nike Metcon 9 wanted to be.”

I’ll save you all from me further beating up on that shoe (just read the review by clicking the link above for my thoughts) and will instead say that the F-Lite Max is a really incredible training shoe that embodies the best of Inov-8 (after you get through the break-in period, as we’ll discuss in the Comfort section).

The first thing I noticed with this shoe is the stability, due to both the surprisingly wide toe box and the most effective integration of a TPU heel stabilizer that I’ve experienced in a training shoe. Doing heavy squats in these shoes felt incredible, and I set a new PR in my training.

There isn’t any of the instability I’ve experienced in other shoes when I go ass-to-grass. The POWERFLOW MAX midsole cushion compresses quite comfortably underfoot but never causes the instability of, say, the Project Rock 6, which made my knees shake like a nervous teenager.

But it’s not just a good shoe for more controlled movements like squats or deadlifts – it also performs excellently with explosive movements like snatches or burpees. I won’t pretend that it didn’t take a few warm up sets over a few days to get used to the added weight on my heel, but it’s a fairly straightforward adjustment if you truly use those early sets to focus on form.

Credit also goes to a very flexible upper, as the engineered air-mesh moves with your foot instead of fighting it. The gusseted tongue is a welcome addition too, helping keep your foot secure along with laces that actually stay laced.

There is one area where the shoe caused concerns for me multiple times, and that’s the outsole grip. The specs sheet touts “renowned INOV-8 RUBBER”, but I found my feet slipping a lot during some incline bench press sets…which isn’t something I can recall happening with other shoes during that particular exercise. I think this was caused due to some dust underfoot, but this is one area where Nike (see, I can say nice things!) may have the edge on everyone else. That Metcon 9 outsole grips every type of floor like a champ.

Whether you’re doing functional fitness or traditional training in the gym, the Inov-8 F-Lite Max is a pretty great training partner.

Drew, did you have a similar experience?

Drew: The word that comes to mind for the Inov-8 F-Lite Max is dependable. Someone wearing them in the gym is there to get work done efficiently and effectively. The F-Lite Max has a heel that’s a bit too inflexible for me, but for olympic style lifters that don’t want to change into lifting specific shoes, the F-Lite Max is pretty perfect.

I didn’t have any slippage like Arune did and felt that pushing into the ground delivered every bit of power transfer that I wanted. The power came up through my feet – which were locked into place on the platform via the TPU heel stabilizer – and into whatever muscle I was pushing too hard that day.

For a gym goer that also wants to throw in lunges, agility ladder, and various other, more movement-based exercises, the heel stabilizer may get in the way. To me, the Inov-8 F-Lite Max falls more into the weightlifting side of the equation and won’t be the ideal choice of many more casual gym goers.

Cardio

Arune: The marketing sheet we got from Inov-8 claims, “Designed to do it all, this shoe craves cardio”, and, as someone in marketing, I get why the claim would be made. It’s even one that I think is fairly defensible…

…except that was not my experience at all.

The F-Lite Max is by no means a BAD cardio shoe, and the aforementioned POWERFLOW MAX foam is actually quite responsive, relatively speaking, compared to a lot of training shoe midsoles I’ve tested.

But this isn’t the kind of shoe I’m using for any running beyond some programmed sprints – because that TPU heel piece never feels natural running, even implemented as well as it has been here.

And that heel piece is why I wouldn’t be using this at HIIT classes either, as it’s not the kind of shoe that’s going to reward that kind of repeated impact.

It’s wonderful for rowing, airbike, and even a SkiErg, but I otherwise think of this as a training shoe with limited cardio versatility.

Drew: For me, cardio is a no-go in the Inov-8 F-Lite Max. The TPU heel stabilizer piece is just too clunky, and running motions, cycling motions, and even stair climbing didn’t feel natural. Jump rope was ok, as was any movement where I stayed exclusively on my toes; but I still felt the heel trying to pull me down to the ground.

Arune’s right about the foam though. The POWERFLOW MAX foam is good, but the rope guard and heel pieces get in the way of it truly reaching its potential for impact protection, thus hurting the F-Lite Max’s ability to do true cardio beyond a few sprints here and there.

Comfort

Arune: This one took a few sessions to truly break in because I’m not used to such a firm shoe. That firmness coming from the TPU heel piece was new for me.

Luckily, the toe box is wide foot friendly – so much so that I wondered if this is how standard foot folks feel in most shoes. There’s a LOT of space, to the point that I wonder if it’s too much for those with standard or narrow feet.

This isn’t a shoe you want to wear eight hours a day (I did it and regretted it). But for your workouts, you should be great. I’ve trained up to two hours in them and enjoyed it (once they were broken in).

Drew: The classic Inov-8 toe box delivers once again. As a standard-footer, I don’t think it’s too much room. I love spreading my feet while digging into the ground to push weight above my head on shoulder exercises or pulling weight off the floor for my deadlifts. I feel like this simple design element allows me to recruit more force.

And while this design element also works for all-day comfort, it’s counteracted by the stiff heel. It’s a shoe that’s not really fun to walk around in. You’ll feel your heel clomping and every step tells your brain to grab a more smooth-riding shoe. Again, this is a trade-off – and one I’d make willingly if I needed a beastly, rock solid, stabilizing shoe to support me in my gym efforts.

Sizing

Arune: You can very comfortably go with your standard training shoe size – I went true-to-size at my regular Men’s 9.5.

As I noted in the comfort section, this is a wide-foot friendly shoe, so if you’ve got narrow feet then you may find it’s too much shoe for you.

Drew: Lengthwise, going true to size in the Inov-8 F-Lite Max will yield a perfect fit with plenty of wiggle room for those toes. The heel does narrow some, and the rubber rope guards that envelop the lateral and medial sides of the midfoot will feel tighter at first, but they ultimately break in nicely and allow a fairly customizable fit through the midfoot. Just spend a little time messing with the laces, and you’ll be able to loosen or tighten to get a really nice midfoot hug.

Aesthetics

Arune: I got an awesome greyish-blue and black colored pair that was a nice change from the typical colorways of most training shoes – and given it’s not currently on the Inov-8 site, I imagine there are a lot more fun colorways to come. Even now, that bright blue colorway is a stark departure from the standard training shoe look, and I’m all for companies adding some vibrancy to footwear (as TYR has done so excellently with the CXT-2, for example).

While the Inov-8 F-Lite Max screams “Gym Shoe”, this is still a shoe you could easily transition to the grocery store after the gym or wear to the airport for something comfortable, yet not too out of place with the bevy of ON shoes you’re sure to see on the feet of your fellow travelers.

Drew: I’m gonna disagree with Arune. There’s no way I’m wearing these outside the gym. You can see the colorway I received in the images, and though it’s in line with fashion trends, the Inov-8 F-Lite Max looks like a weightroom shoe. In my experience, there’s not really a way to dress it up either. It’s a shoe that looks serious in even the most meathead gym, but it’s one you should just take off outside of your gym of choice.

Price

Arune: The Inov-8 F-Lite Max is priced at $150, and that’s basically the median price for training shoes these days.

Given how much I loved the performance across categories, I think that’s a more than fair value – especially given how it stands toe-to-toe with some of the best training shoes out there at the same price point.

Drew: Arune’s right. The $150 price point is right in the middle of the gym shoe price band, and the Inov-8 F-Lite Max delivers enough value to justify it. If your use case trends more toward weightlifting and olympic lift heavy, you’ll easily get your money’s worth.

Inov-8 F-Lite Max Final Verdict

Arune: This won’t be a training shoe for everyone, given the divisiveness of the giant, firm plastic at the heel, but the Inov-8 F-Lite Max does everything Nike and Reebok have been trying to do with their premium trainers…and it does it better in so many ways.

Despite the “Max” nomenclature, this isn’t going to be the super-cushioned shoe you might expect. So I highly recommend trying these on and anticipating that it might take a few sessions for your feet to adjust.

If you have been using the Nike Metcon 9 or something similar and want a higher performing version, I think you’ll find a lot to like here.

Drew: The Inov-8 F-Lite Max is a solid shoe for anyone who wants to be rooted to the floor as they attempt to throw up huge amounts of weight on Olympic lifts. It’ll also perform well for all the accessory lifts done to prepare for PR attempts. It’s built for people that de-emphasize cardio while looking to build serious strength in the gym. 

And, while the Inov-8 F-Lite Max requires the wearer to have a different shoe in the bag for harder cardio sessions, if gaining muscle through a regimented weightroom program is the number one goal, not many shoes will work better.