I’ve tried a few Hokas. They were surprisingly different, none bad, but the one that stands out for my middle-age-approaching usage with my ankle arthritis that can really limit my mileage, is the Bondi 6. I think that shoe captures a lot of what Hokas are about - MAX cushion. It’s really noticeable, even compared to their other plushy shoes from Hoka.
It does weigh more though, so if you aren’t like me with the ankle issues, lighter shoes might work well.
In my experience ranging from full-out barefoot/ultraminimalist for 2 years, to the latest 2 years of full Bondi6 cushion, and decades of shoes in between of varying cushioning, the cushioning helps REDISTRIBUTE and SMOOTHEN joint impacts. So for me, it takes a lot of the high pounding forces that would go first to my feet and ankles mainly in minimalist/barefoot, and redistributes them with less of a maximal force spike to my knees and hips. My knees and hips are pristine, so that’s great for me, but I’m not sure that would be as good for someone with knee or hip arthritis (which is apparently 10x more common than ankle arthritis.)
These cushiony shoes cannot eliminate impact - all the studies on shoe forces validate that the forces have to go somewhere, but they can move forces around away from your limiter, whether it be a joint or a muscle group that fatigues fastest.
I will add that running in the Bondi6 is an (obviously) very different experience from barefoot - with barefoot/minimalist, my achilles and calf took most of the load, to the point that my quads would almost never feel sore, even on big run days and only mildly so (but my calf/achilles needed rest.) In contrast, with Bondi6s, it’s almost like cycling where my quad muscles get really sore after a big push day since the forces are moved up to the quad rather than the lower leg.
Also, in my n=1 nonscientific experience, I did notice that I had a smoother stride and better form with minimalist, since it makes you run forefoot and use a smoother stride. As well, my fastest Oly and sprint tri runs were during minimalist running; I do think from experience that the bike hits the quads, and the minimalist hits the calf, so you have less x-over fatigue off the bike, but that’s just my n=1 (although it was very noticeable to me.)
It is a LOT harder to get adapted to big mileage with minimalist than cushiony. I don’t think it’s just a matter of background training - I think it’s much easier intrinsically to get an overuse injury by pushing too hard with minimalist shoes which force you to respect the buildup rather than go hog-wild with a 18 mile run with no base.
