My new exoskeleton
[intro]I've been using Adidas' new 'performance apparel', Techfit, on my sporting escapades. Has it transformed me into a potential Krypton Factor
[intro]I’ve been using Adidas’ new ‘performance apparel’, Techfit, on my sporting escapades. Has it transformed me into a potential Krypton Factor champion?[/intro]
There are many ways to enhance sporting performance. Old school wisdom prescribes scoffing a Kendal mint cake, while more recently athletes have tended to go for a nice cup of nandrolone. But now Adidas has come up with a wholly more legal idea with its new Techfit clothing.
There are two pieces of Techfit Powerweb clothing, as you can see above. Both are supposed to be worn as tight as possible, so the elastic ‘Powerwebs’ can follow the contours of your muscles. This means you do, of course, look like a complete idiot, although luckily the kit can be worn underneath other clothing.
You can wear Techfit for any dry sports, but I used it for running and six-a-side football. So does it help? I did feel an extra spring in my movements, and did seem to get a little less muscle fatigue than usual. Of course, a lot of this may have come from the psychological boost wearing this gear gives you: if Adidas stuck its logo on some Tic Tacs and said they’d help me run a mile further than usual, I’d probably find I could.
That’s not to say there isn’t any tech wizardry at work. The idea of compression (i.e tight-fitting clothing) does seem to support your muscles, and feels particularly beneficial if, like me, you’ve got an annoying muscle twinge. On the other hand, I think the Powerwebs – whose elastic apparently controls muscle oscillations to help them conserve energy and shave a second off your 100m time – only really benefit proper athletes who actually have some muscles to control.
Techfit is available now from £45 – for more info head over to this link.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
