Will the Nike motorized shoes permanently change training?

It will fall in 2026 to a young man from Sandnes, Norway...

Flowberg will go sub 2, and let's run will Wonder why anyone cares about such a bad hobby jogging time.

You mean when we moved to EVA shoes and the times reduced?

or when spikes were invented and the times reduced?

Jakob will be healing from achilles surgery in 2026.

Would help if you linked to the article. Or do you not link to Guardian articles on principle?

This is absolutely crazy because I just saw some crappy ad the other day for some kind of springy insole and I was thinking "when am I gonna get motorized shoes?" I guess sooner than I imagined!

I would love something like this. I'm old and slow and would love to be able to accompany my daughter on training runs. If they can build me something that speeds me up a few minutes a mile that would be just great.

Next step after this is a full humanoid robot pacesetter

I would absolutely terrorize neighborhood strava segments with these, even more than I normally do. Local OTQ guys would get a lot of uh oh notifications.

Interesting. I watched a couple of videos in slow motion. The device works by applying plantar flexion to the foot upon/just after impact, resulting in a push off. We can do that normally, but the calf muscle tires out. This device has great merit for the military when troops have to move with ruck packs at a jog for miles.

wow this is the part where i quit forever

Surely you see these are not same thing.

Difference that if you look at running output as closed system then even with those advancements all power came from the runner. Sure they help with energy return to runner and such, but none additional power added to system beyond work done by this runner.

With this shoe nike introduces battery and motor. That produce actual energy added to system beyond what athlete can produce. Even with drugs, athlete still must do all work.

I guess our DUI hire secretary of defence will keep his fat troops with shoes that run for them. It may help the few recruits available finally pass PT.

Theres a lot that can go wrong with these. If people are blaming super shoes and super spikes for injuries, this “innovation” will f up all kind of joints. E-bikes make sense in helping the elderly or less fit adults head out their door and have some assistance within the frame of cycling. These shoes are not that. As silly as Zuckerberg and his glasses.

I agree with all your points. Plus, the weight of the device itself is going to mess up running form when you're not wearing it. A more practical application would be mountain hiking with a backpack.

However, you're misunderstanding my point. A fully kitted out foot soldier will carry 60 pounds of gear... some will carry over 100 pounds of gear. Have you ever tried to carry 100+ pounds without stopping? It's pretty hard to do. We did farmer's carry with 140 pounds at my gym and I could only make it 40 yards or so.

In the future, some soldiers will wear entire body exoskeletons to assist them in moving heavy loads. They won't be running, at least at first. It'll just be moving faster and longer than they could unassisted. Right now, the limit is on the weight of the battery, but that will probably change. I expect we'll see exoskeletons being using in some capacity in the military in the next 10-20 years.

I think there are obviously a lot of potential injury points from this kind of device but the thing that would concern me most is if the battery went into thermal runaway. Imagine a Tesla battery fire except it is on your foot (which is also surrounded by flammable materials).

Why does it have to be humanoid? I’d take a cheetah, or R2D2, or a xenomorph

Spikes were invented in the 1800s by a British cross country club who cared about traction, not times.

And why did they care about traction, you reckon…?

This sounds good. Nike is a little reckless since some of their earlier technologies made more injury prone strides.

What's the point of a human being in the above scenario? Why not drones, or humans riding in vehicles, or other similar solution. Based on current trends there is no reason to think that automation OF ALL TYPES won't simply dispense with the human element entirely.

Also, it's obvious that providing a plantar flexion boost at the soles of the human foot would add weight to the overall system, increase loads on joints and connective tissue and early benefits would likely turn into harms very quickly.