Project Amplify: Powered Footwear for Running and Walking
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Nike's Project Amplify introduces powered footwear for running and walking, sparking debate on its usefulness and potential impact on athletes and individuals with mobility issues.
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Yes, I should perhaps be doing strength training, but I have limited hours to exercise and I'd prefer to spend them running rather than training so that eventually I could be running.
Another thing that happens is that your technique gets worse during longer runs, making you more prone to injuries. Maybe a device like this could either support you so you can run longer runs or compensate to make sure you don't hurt yourself.
So if this device helps with reducing running based injuries, I'm all for it
I have an electric cargo bike that I put in one of the lowest settings, if I cycle at the top speed it doesn't help much if at all. But accelerating from a dead stop is nice. This could be similar
That thing will make you sweat.
Shin splints really do suck though, I had some that put me off running for about 12 months.
There are already powered leg augmentations on the market for $3-5k, but these are much smaller.
I'm sure you've already seen https://eu.hypershell.tech
I'm hopeful these get cheaper, smaller and lighter, and more powerful. Would be great to have these accessible to a lot of people.
https://newatlas.com/unpowered-ankle-exoskeleton-walking-eff...
A motorcycle accident interrupted my fitness program and it took quite a lot of work to get back to where I am. During that period there were many times when I was (minorly) injured repeatedly since all my muscles were just not strong enough to do things and I wasn't disciplined about them.
I picked up some persistent tendinitis that is just healing with some physiotherapy. Things like this aren't terribly limiting in life but the primary problem is that a lot of the stuff you have to do is rest the appropriate body part! And to rest it, you need to not do things. I don't want to not do things. I want to do things while resting the appropriate part of my body.
And I bet as I get older, all this stuff will catch up. So anything that will extend mobility to my elderly years (still far away) is great. If I do the right things, my body will function well into my 80s and if the tech is there hopefully I'll walk around with my grandkids. All in all, I'm hoping that material science in batteries, motors, and frames and product design all do a big leap in this in the next 40 years. The market is likely there with our aging population.
0: Here's an example of me using them after I got used to them https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qc5PKbJ3tq4
The use cases I can see for others are “anyone who might find this useful or fun”. To me, that means
1) people with medically compromised joints who would like to engage in experiences that their bodies don’t currently allow.
2) people who want to challenge themselves by making these joint additions add more resistance.
3) people who want more strength and/or power for any reason. “Fun” is a valid use case.
These joint enhancements exist for hips, knees, and with this, now ankles. The logical end for this is a powered exoskeleton (and, after that, power armor).
Not sure I would buy this product, but I see more than 0 use for it.
Have you considered running faster?
But seriously though, I’ve gotten pretty decent at running (3h15min marathon PR) and the difference between hiking a trail and running the same trail is kinda bonkers. These days I can run a trail in 2 hours that took me 6 hours to hike 10 years ago. Hits totally different. The whole dynamic changes.
Hiking feels immensely boring now
PS: If you run fast enough you don’t even notice the scenery.
Instead of running 10km in an hour, I could bike from Silicon Valley to the ocean and back in 3-4 hours, and have views over city, hills, oceans, suburbia, etc.
And medically compromised muscles, nervous systems, etc. I know someone in that situation who loves scooters. They say it's like flying - they finally can move at will, instead of the lifelong difficulty and pain of walking.
They say:
> Engineered to augment natural lower leg and ankle movement
Meanwhile, most people who can't walk/run as they would like have issues from their knees upward.
Worse, having heavier lower leg means more strain on the upper leg.
Yes, there's probably a narrow niche of people with lower leg only issues that can be helped by this device, but most people have issues upward ; and this device have the potential to create issues upward on people not yet concerned by them.
isn't that a time-honoured tradition at tour de france?
So this is straight up false?
Link?
> and Nike will rip you off with the price for "western engineering".
It's the brand more than anything. Nike's brand commands a premium.
I've quite literally never seen a product like this on the market, so as far as I'm concerned if Nike is the first to Western market with the product, and they do a good job introducing it, it's their innovation.
It's like with Nintendo and Apple. They're quite frequently not the first to develop a technology, but they take things and popularize them. Digital cameras, motion control, touch screens, smartphones, tablet gaming devices, ...
Mrwhosetheboss did a video on the new Nike stuff including these
> the power comes from pistons that are filled with a fuel-air mixture, and fired by compression when the user puts his or her full body weight down into the boot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_boots
https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/these-gas-powered-bo...
These Amplify are pretty complicated:
https://youtu.be/Nz2Y0e7SgFY?t=404
I could see this doing the same for older runners if the tech gets good enough.
“Athlete” != “professional athlete” the word encompasses a wide range of people and abilities.
> * If you have a body, you are an athlete.
Electric pedal assist bikes are best suited for commuting and running errands, i.e. using the bike as a transportation tool, not a recreation tool.
As other commenters posted, it gets even more people out on the paths who wouldn’t normally be able to keep up or might feel self-conscious, and I think that’s a really positive thing.
Less gatekeeping, more celebration: imagine being Pogi and being able to crank 300 watts for hours on end. It would make touring the countryside a joy!
It's true that the moment-to-moment intensity is lower, but lowering intensity is some of the most common advice given to people struggling to get into a sport without their body rebelling, and the challenge as often as not is that they're bored at the beginner's pace and want to push more.
It's the same concept as assisted pull ups or knee pushups. Sure, you can build up from scratch by just doing a fraction of the duration, but that's boring and frustrating. Being able to actually move your body the full distance with less effort is a much more engaging way to build up the physical capacity you need to do it without the assist.
In my experience, those on e-bikes are older and less fit in general, so it's not a matter of them making up for the work in volume; it's more that they couldn't do the climb at all without the assistance.
Also, your assumption about them providing half the work is surely wrong. Even basic ebikes provide 250W; some models provide double or triple that still. The rider provides probably 125W at most, so a third or less of the total power.
I don't own one but there have been plenty of times in my life where I go somewhere ina car that's in biking distance but don't because maybe there's a decent hill on the way and I don't want to arrive sweaty.
The easy ride an ebike offers opens up more opportunities to ride.
More rides, for more distance. The integrated effect is more energy expended.
Also, making educated guesses, it may be a non-issue. Most of the e-cyclists in my area seem to be divided into two categories: 1) What I would call adult beginners, who had bikes but didn't ride them much before they got e-bikes. 2) Practical uses such as commuting, transporting kids, etc. And recreational use of e-bikes seems to have peaked while basic transportation use continues to grow.
The commuters pass me at a high speed, but they're also in good control, and polite. The beginners tend to ride at the same speed as conventional bikes, or even slower.
The real problem that e-bikes solve is not faster horses, but whether someone wants to get around on a bike at all.
I have degenerative disc disease that's severe enough to prevent me from running without causing neurological problems or pain. I miss being able to run (I'm in my early 40s), I haven't done it in 8 years. If something like this could lead to treating my problem, it would open up new worlds for me.
I personally love hiking. I love going into nature, seeing new places, and being away from people. But there are times where I go for a slightly easier course instead of the one I actually want to do, because that few extra hours would absolutely wreck my body, especially since I'm often hiking in different places for several days. A little boost would be nice.
And with e-bikes, they're great for commuters and people just riding around their neighborhood. Lots of people ride them in my town for doing shopping trips. More affordable than a car, better for the environment, better for your health, and people who otherwise would take a car because they can't deal with pedaling uphill or long distances have a great alternative. I imagine powered shoes will be the same. People who feel like they're too old/out of shape to walk long distances often opt for cars, but if powered shoes give them the confidence to walk, it's far better to take an electronically assisted walk than to sit in a vehicle.
The people I know who run all do it for the exercise, not because they like the running. Why would you want to extend it?
That sounds like torture. Why would you voluntarily practice a form of exercise that you actively dislike, when there are basically infinite options to get the same benefits in different ways?
Believe it or not, many people who stick with running do it because they enjoy it.
But I do like the effects of running, which I don't seem to be able to emulate any other way. I can't say it's torture - it should never be nor feel like torture otherwise you're doing it wrong - but it was certainly a learned taste of sorts.
It's more like this human body has been shaped to do this by aeons of evolution, and over time it feels immensely rewarding after the fact when done properly for a given fitness level.
You don't have to like running, your body does already (but might have forgotten)
If there are other, more enjoyable, ways to get a similarly cardo-intensive workout that are equally convenient I'd love to hear them.
I like cycling. But in practice it is difficult to get my heart rate as high in a sustained way - at least, where I live. A similar level of workout takes a lot longer.
So yeah, hit me with some of these infinite possibilities please.
The people I know who stuck to running long term like it.
Nike's plans to put the swoosh back into its sales
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/23/just-redo-it-i...
> rechargeable cuff battery that seamlessly integrate with a carbon fiber–plated running shoe
Absolutely disgusting nonsense. Get off my lawn, robot hippies
Pair with some power gloves to catch your fall and maybe I can learn to skateboard as my mid life crisis activity down the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MU5MgRV6U
Also. Would this change strain put on e.g knee joints, ankles, hips or spine?
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