Anyone have any thoughts on Mo’s new Adidas sprint suit??
The hype behind it is that Adidas works w/ the University of Calgary (Canada) Human Performance Lab to design new equipment (Adidas Germany). They have wporked on spike shoes previously… concentrating on footplate rigidity & the effects on sprint times.
The new suit claims to help the athlete support muscular distribution & maintain ideal posture, allowing the athlete to build on the momentum already coming from their legs. They used electromyography (measuring muscle activity) showed 2 of the 3 major muscles in the thigh exerted 80% less movement wearing the suit. They say that minimizing the muscle vibration will maximize muscle elasticity.
Interestingly, Mo can’t wear it in Athens as the USA works w/ Nike. Kim Collins will be wearing it at the Olympics.
It kind of sounds like compression wear taken to a more specifically applied level. Even if a lot is psychological… the 100m has a lot to do with confidence at that level.
Any thoughts?
Sounds interesting, any pics of this suit? Price? Is it available to the public yet?
I’ll try to scan in the pic later (have to go train in a minute). Any pics from the 100m USA trials will show you it but I don’t know the links off hand.
It is available only thru Adidas Germany not US or Canada Adidas. Contacting the head office in Germany may give you some answers.
A few other tidbits from the lab: they claim the result of the muscular efficincy being improved is a saving of 1.7% less oxygen required when wearing the suit. They claim nearly 2% over 100m is 2 metres. They state "muscles contract like a spring & if you can use apparel that contracts in the same direction, you can exert more energy. Kim Collins used a prototype in his 2003 World Championship win.
To me, all of this makes more sense from a sprint standpoint than the whole hooded “aerodynamic” suit. The first real point of the aerodynamics is 100km/hr. This is more beneficial to the luge, skeleton or alpine ski racer (IMHO). But to make the body work more efficiently is interesting. Just from what that does to the mind of the sprinter could be helpful… maybe Mo wishes he could wear it in Athens???
Cathy Freeman wore a similar one in Sydney - was she an Ekin?
i.e. Was she sponsored by Nike or adidas?
she was with nike
Just remember that this same lab (the University of Calgary Human Performance Lab) worked with Ato and his shoes for the 2000 Olympics. They said that the Olympics would be decided by the shoes claiming that it would increase his overall performance by 3%. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!? 3% for a guy that already runs 10 flat or below! Let’s say he comes in ready to run 10 flat. Just by putting on the shoes he’s shaving 3 tenths of a second. 9.7! No wonder the Wicked Witch of the West wanted Dorothy’s shoes so damn bad! She knew all along! Now just imagine the combination of this ‘suit’ and the shoes?! That’s 5% without any synergy between the 2 products! That’s 5 TENTHS of a second! Who do these lab rats THINK they are! Maybe they spent too much time in the ‘THINK TANK’ without enough Oxygen!
(Note: this is not to drag Ato down in anyway. I think that he’s a terrific athlete that has performances to back it up that weren’t do to his shoes or his sunglasses or any other attire he might have been wearing during competition.)
I remember back in 1988 Olympics when some guy went 9.79 easing up at 80m in JUST a singlet and shity shoes (by today’s standards).
ahh…the Evolution of Sport Science…always behind the times!
Reminds me of the Budwiser commercial during the NHL playoffs with the steaming cup of coffee. “something 3000”…“Science…working so you don’t have to!”
I love that commercial.
Hey, I’m just relaying what the quote was… I was not backing up or endorsing the claim.
Like I said… if it works on the mind, it’s worth it as that is the biggest obstacle in an athlete’s way short of injury or crap genetics.
I have worked in the race suit industry in the past few years & if an athlete is ready, a paper bag probably wouldn’t slow them down BUT if they need to feel that they go to the line with the best on their feet or bod (or better yet, their competitors think someone is in it & they are not) then it can help.
It will be interesting to see who is wearing it in Athens?
No shit Sherlock! Some of these scientific wonders might want to pull their heads out of their “labs” and have a gander at the real world. Has anyone working on these suits ever been to Athens? Last time I raced there it was 47celcius! (No, that’s not a typo!)
I have worn the new bodysuit and the old bodysuit from speedo and they used the technology to reduce body vibration. good stuff but three %? Good points GOAT and charlie…funny stuff!
Either way it looks very funky!!! I’d wear it.
maybe they can add a tiny air conditioner??
Maybe in the next Olympics we can have the fastest 100 meter man being pulled by elastic tubing. How much crap do we need to do in order to run fast? Whatever happened to working hard and training smart? Whatever happened to adjusting training plans and peaking runners?
Its really unbelievable
Dan
I heard from a friend of mine that Pietro M…ea (I wish I could spell) from Italy wore just briefs (speedo type of undies) during training? No idea if this is true but maybe Charlie might know? I’m sure you’ve seen it all in your experience. Any good stories you might share?
And a small drink dispenser- but then you’d lose one of those two tenths the scientists claim you’re supposed to get. Of course, everyone’s missing the most obvious performance enhancing technique, which would be to place all these big mouth scientists directly behind Mo’s lane and let them brag during the race, creating a strong following wind in his lane only.
forum review Pakewi? What about a comic view CD of Charlie on stage! This stuff is great!
Charlie… are you sure you still wanna coach, cos if you ask me you could get money performing at seminars, or Vegas, but you’d have to get a suede track suit for that… but then again, Adidas could probably make a special suede track suit that is designed to get you a 20% improvement in laughs
If they could design a 20% reduction in waistline, I’d go for it. Problem is, anything that would work would probably leave me unable to breath, let alone joke.
Stop, you’re gonna make the salad come out of my nose!!!
LMAO, that was great!