When we decide to buy running shoes, it is normal to opt for those that provide us with greater cushioning, explosiveness or lightness. What would you think if a sports brand launched a shoe on the market that makes it difficult for you to train? Adidas Grit are 3d printed sneakers that pretend to make you run on the sand.
Adidas Grit and its resemblance to sand
There are many athletes who take advantage of their vacations on the beach to introduce explosive routines on the sand. Running between mounds and uneven terrain makes your training a real torture and the resistance helps you improve speed; and starting from this idea this shoe was born.
Adidas and the Art Center College of Design from Pasadena, in Los Angeles, have designed the shoes that they simulate the effort that a runner suffers when running in the sand.
How do you get to imitate the exercise of an athlete running across a mound of sand? If you look at the sole design (wonderful, by the way), you'll find a complex series of rubber lattices that provide support where it is needed and avoid it when it is not needed. This indirectly forces the athlete to expend more energy as he moves.
Arish Netarwala He is the designer of this shoe and created several prototypes until he achieved a final design. He started with soles that had small pockets filled with magnetic sand for added resistance. The problem is that the sand was very unstable and risked increasing ankle injuries.
So he internalized how sand moves when we run on it and created a lattice to 3D print.
Adidas Grit is made up of two different parts: the outer part made of rubber and plastic, and the inner part with a sock.
Although it is not known when they will go on sale, or even if we will actually see them on the market, Adidas wants to create a new concept of shoes. It seeks to improve sports performance by approaching it from another perspective. Until now, all the shoes have focused on being light or with great cushioning quality, but none offer the possibility of being a "ballast".