I Lab Tested 17 Super Shoes - The Results Shocked Me | IMO 38

Matt dives into the results of his recent super shoe testing at Griffith University, comparing 12 of the best Chinese racing shoes before putting the leading models up against some of the biggest Western brands. Using laboratory running economy testing at 17 km/h, the results produced some major surprises - including a sub-US$100 Chinese shoe outperforming several of the world's most established super shoes.
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Email: matt@sweatelite.co
The Anta C202 G9 Edition 2 emerged as the best-performing Chinese shoe, ahead of the Li-Ning Feidian 6 Elite and Qiaodan Feiying Plaid 3.0. Matt breaks down the rankings, the impact price and expectations can have on perceived shoe performance, and just how much difference the right racing shoe could potentially make across a marathon.
Matt also looks ahead to the Sydney Marathon, where he plans to attempt the world record for the fastest marathon run in jeans. He discusses the Australian Championships uniform rules, the maths behind breaking the 2:34:45 record, Sydney's challenging course, and why the record may be considerably harder than he initially expected.
The episode finishes with Melbourne Marathon goals, the Fat Fox Method for managing body weight around marathon training, strength training, HYROX, longevity, an upcoming 5K attempt, and a preview of several upcoming podcast episodes.
Episode Chapters
00:00 Podcast cold open
00:35 Why test super shoes
02:52 Lab testing setup
04:14 Chinese shoe rankings
04:49 Dragonfly hype check
06:19 Price and placebo
08:22 Third place surprise
10:14 Western shoe clues
11:59 Anta wins overall
12:54 Name confusion explained
14:49 Who this applies to
16:40 How big the gains
19:04 Cost and who should test
21:33 My marathon shoe history
23:22 Next race Sydney plans
24:20 Jeans Champs rules
25:57 Record maths reality
27:55 Sydney trip logistics
30:12 Melbourne dreams and Kipchoge
31:09 Fat Fox Method
34:23 Getting leaner safely
36:22 Gym, HYROX and longevity
40:57 Early mornings and wrap-up
42:07 Jeans and 5K prediction
44:14 Next content teasers