What is the return of energy in running shoes?

If you are runners, surely in recent months you have heard more and more talk about the “return of energy” in this or that shoe: a new concept that is the result of research in the field of sports technology and which, of course, benefits us the runners. But what does it mean that a shoe has a good return of energy? We’ll explain it to you below.

First of all we must remember the phases of the tread in the race. During the landing phase and during the support phase, the foot of the runner comes into contact with the ground, creating an impact against the pavement . This impact is partly absorbed by the shoe with which we run and another part returns to the runner. That’s where energy return technology comes into play.

What is the energy return of a running shoe?

We have already seen that we generate a quantity of energy during the landing and support phase at each stride: the challenge was to make it possible for the largest possible percentage of that energy to return to the corridor to help propel it into the boosting or take-off phase.

And that is what has been achieved with the investment in sports technology: different materials, including foams and gels, that are inserted in the sole of the shoes and that favor that return of energy to facilitate the athlete’s career. They are materials of great elasticity that quickly recover their shape after the compression they undergo in the stage of landing and support: first absorb that kinetic energy that we generate and then return it to the runner.

In this way, using these new materials have been able to create shoes with a good cushioning, a great stability and that are also very reactive: a very complete footwear and suitable for all type of runners.

Have you tried a shoe with this type of technology? Have you noticed a big difference from previous models that did not have it?