| Re: Want to burn 25% to 40% more calories while walking?
The technology that I have developed is not integrated into shoes yet. What I had built by an engineering firm is a separate product that you strapped on/under your feet. We tested my prototype on a treadmill and compared walking on them at the same speed as walking in standard shoes. Myself and two other subjects used a V02 mask that measured our oxygen intake which tells you how many calories we were burning. Oxygen is needed to turn glycomine or fat into energy for your muscles, so you can determine how many calories you are burning by your V02 (volume of oxygen) intake.
We also tested some other exercise shoes that are on the market. Others people can try, although none of them are very mainstream for different reasons:
- MBTs - rounded sole
- Earth Shoes - negative heel, not of much value
- Fit Flops - sandals
- Chung Shi - rounded sole
- Reebok Easy Tone (only for women) - air pockets on bottom of sole that absorb energy
The MBTs and Chung Shi have that rounded sole. There are two other companies offering shoes with that technology. Skechers is one of them and theirs are called "Shape Ups"
Here is an example of one of our test runs.
Shoe KCal/Minute %
Standard 3.4
Prototype 5.55 63%
MBTs 3.8 18%
So with standard shoes I was burning 3.4 calories per minute, with my prototype on I burned 5.55 calories per minute (63% more) at the same speed (3.2 mph), and with the MBTs I burned 3.6 calories/minute (9% more).
The numbers we got using my prototype in 6 different test runs were 40%, 56%, 65%, 63%, 61%, and 40%. I quote 25% to 40% in the survey because I don't think we will use the same intensity of my technology because 1) it may be too much extra work for people to work that hard and 2) it may not be feasible to integrate the full level of my technology in shoes in an aesthetic and stable way.
The level of extra energy that people will be able to seemlessly integrate into their lives is not yet known. If you're already walking fast to catch the bus, 40% may be too much. But if you're in your kitchen cooking, when your steps are infrequent, a 40% increase may still be a casual amount of effort and less than walking briskly. When we get this technology into shoes and can start testing it in real life situations we'll have a better understanding. I'd love to make it adjustable (maybe 3 settings - off, slight, and moderate extra effort) but I don't know if we'll accomplish that.
We're just getting started on putting this into shoes. It's a costly and risky proposition but I can see a lot of people benefiting from burning these extra calories if we can get this into shoes in a comfortable and fashionable way.
Anyone filling out the survey, especially showing an interest in this kind of shoe, may help make the case for others to invest in completing the product development.
| 
Linear Mode
