Unser Chat » I disagree with the statement

I asked this question in my first post on the Adidas ZX 700 Femme Brooks PureProject, but it’s worthy of repeating – enhanced performance and decreased risk for injuries compared to what? Brooks’ other shoes? Their competitors (e.g., Saucony’s www.charleedrew.co.uk Kinvara, Mirage, Cortana, and Peregrine – hmm, four shoes…)? Barefoot?

Regardless of the answer, statements like this mean nothing unless backed up by published data that can be read and evaluated by consumers if they so wish. Brooks is by no Nike Air Max 95 Mujer means unique in making statements like this (even barefoot proponents do it), but frankly I’m tired of reading statements about performance and injury risk without seeing hard data to back it up. Brooks released a PDF describing some of their IDEAL technologies and included some graphs based on lab data, but there is very little detail provided so it’s impossible to judge the meaning of this information (sample sizes, statistical significance, etc.). Interestingly, much of the information they report compares the PureProject shoes to “standard” running shoes, and points to the PureProject shoes as being better in a number of ways. That begs the question – which shoes were they compared against, and which performed worse? Are they still on the market?Publish your research in a peer-reviewed Nike Air Max Classic BW Femme journal. Fund a controlled trial of Adidas NMD Dames your shoes and publish it regardless of the results (to Brooks credit, this may be happening, just hope we get to see the results – see this news release). Show us the data!There is one specific point I’d like to make about the PDF that Brooks published on the PureProject IDEAL technologies. In the document they tout the fact that their inverted Nike Air Max 270 Dames heel design moves Nike Air Max 270 Mujer the point of ground contact forward“The Ideal Heel is an innovation that shifts the ground contact point forward. The runner lands with more ground clearance right under the middle of the heel rather than on an edge behind the center of the heel. This lets force vectors travel closer to joint centers and decreases lever arms and moments, leading to reduced internal stress and enhanced performance.”“Landing more forward and reducing the lever arm also provides a smoother Nike Air Vapormax Mujer transition for the runner as they spend 10% less time in the braking phase wearing PureProject? shoes. We also found that the shoes were able to shift the landing zone forward by 3cm, which is very similar to where runners hit the ground in the barefoot running condition. This encourages the foot to land under the Nike Air Max 270 Femme body’s center of mass creating alignment of force vectors through the ankle, knee Nike Air Max 90 Femme and hip joints.”So if this is a good thing, why continue to design shoes with a more traditional style heel? The statement implies that the traditional heel increases internal stress and reduces performance!I should also note that Dr. Joseph Hamill (who is doing some work for Brooks), just published a nice little study showing that running barefoot reduces loading rates compared to three iterations of shoes, all of which had a 4mm heel lift. All of the PureProject shoes have a 4mm heel lift. In their technology PDF Brooks points out that PureProject landings are still on the heel (albeit further forward), and there is very little discussion of running Nike Air Presto Womens form anywhere in association with the product launch – I’m hoping that this will come later. I disagree with the statement about the similarity in landing location as compared to the barefoot condition, and Dr. Hamill’s study indicated Nike Air Max Classic BW Dames that the likely reason for the reduced loading rate in the barefoot condition as opposed to that in the 4mm drop shoes was that barefoot landings tended to be on the midfoot/forefoot while shod landings were on the heel.“Runners shouldn’t have to pay more for less technology. We want to build a better, biomechanically sound product in a lighter package that allows the runner to feel more with less.”Excellent, and I agree once again. Well, the announced MSRP for the PureProject shoes ranges from $90-$120. You can come to your own conclusions on this one. We need more shoes like the New Balance MT101 – great trail shoe at a very reasonable price, and likely a direct competitor for the Brooks Pure Grit.