Several months ago when adidas first started to market their new BOOST midsole material they made a big deal of touting the fact that the sole, which is composed of fused polyurethane Nike Air Max 90 Mens beads, provides greater energy return than traditional EVA. The implication was that this energy return would provide a performance benefit to a runner by improving running economy (i.e., reducing the work needed to be done by our muscles to get from point A to point B).I was very skeptical of this marketing approach Nike Roshe Run Femme since there was no physiological data available from actual runners to back up the claims based on mechanical testing. That data now appears to exist. In the June 2013 issue of Footwear Science is an abstract of a study titled “Running shoe cushioning properties can influence oxygen consumption.” The study was carried out Nike Air Max 90 Mujerby a team from the University of Calgary headed by Jay Worobets.The study utilized a fairly simple methodology. Twelve runners ran both overground and on a treadmill in shoes with the Boost midsole Nike Air Force 1 Mujer and in identical shoes with a sole composed of more traditional EVA foam. While running, their oxygen consumption was monitored as a measure of running economy (increased oxygen consumption at a given pace = lower economy).Results indicated that in both treadmill and overground running the subjects were slightly more Nike Air VaporMax Womens economical in the shoes with the Boost midsole (differences were statistically significant). Here are the numbersThough the differences were significant, the actual differences were quite small between the shoes on both running surfaces. Thus, BOOST improved economy by about 1%.It’s important to keep in mind that the comparison here Nike Roshe Run Dámské was between shoes that only differed in their midsole material, everything else was the same. There is no detail about which Boost shoe was used, what the midsole dimensions were, etc. So it’Adidas Superstar Womens s very difficult to compare economy gained running in a Boost shoe to any other shoe on the market. As an example, previous research has shown that reducing shoe weight by about 3.5 oz (100g) results in an economy improvement of about 1%. So if the shoe used was the 9.3 oz Energy Boost, then it might not be any more economical Nike Air Presto Mens than say the 5.7 oz adidas Gazelle. The benefit would be that you get the improved economy with additional cushioning in the Boost.Having run in the adidas Energy Boost shoe myself a few times I also wonder if there is a certain thickness of midsole material required to provide any actual benefit. The Energy Boost has about 9-10mm more material under the heel than under the forefoot. As someone who doesn’t load my heels much when I run, the Boost did not feel all that different to me than a typical EVA shoe. Nike Air Max 90 Mujer But, if I forced a more pronounced heel strike I could really feel the bounciness that the Boost material provides (you can also feel it when walking in the shoes). My suspicion is that there is simply not enough Boost under the forefoot to provide a meaningful benefit. An Altra Torin or Hoka style Boost shoe would be an www.hijosdelvacio.es interesting thing to try!