When adidas decided to debut the adiPURE Trainer in November 2011, it instantly became a focal point of the brand with its “train raw” motto that has given it definition as its own entity in the market. Having already tested the men’s version of the adiPURE Trainer, I was given the wonderful opportunity to conduct research of the women’s version and in doing so, I was able to turn to a fellow health & fitness professional who also is an associate of creative arts company Sandy Dover Creative (which specializes in the intersection of media and fitness, among other things), and thus was given a chance to closely evaluate the product through the perspective of a researcher of the shoe, having already tested it myself and given it much-deserved rave reviews. What follows is the product description and details of the adidas adiPURE Trainer (per adidas in italics) and the subsequent detailed account of the testing:
These women’s adiPURE™ Trainer shoes by adidas have a flexible fit to let your feet move naturally. Specialized outsole construction and individual toes let you feel the ground as you run, jump, climb and dance.
– Stretch textile upper for flexible fit
– Special engineered midsole-outsole construction enables superb responsive feeling of ground contact
– Non-marking outsole
When my test subject first tested the adiPURE Trainer, she noted tightness across the toes, and also made mention that it could be something unique to her unique metatarsal anatomy. The adiPURE Trainer was worn for an endurance session for three hours, but her usage discontinued because of prolonged discomfort, unfortunately.
The next day, she wore them at her fitness facility and noticed that she was “duck walking” when she wasn’t actively thinking about her gait. Once she corrected her stride, she noticed a huge difference in the way that her ankles felt, that they were more relaxed. Her workout that day consisted of hitting the pectoral and abdominal muscle groups, and communicated that the adiPURE Trainer had great natural traction and feel when she needed it for her cable-based exercises. On the same day, she noted that the toes of the adiPURE Trainer felt much more comfortable, but also took note of what seemingly was a large width of the shoe in general, as it no longer retained the glove-like fit from her initial wear; having thin feet, she noted that it gave her “more free movement” and that it wasn’t a bad attribute of the shoe, but that it was noticeable enough to merit documenting.
In another workout, she did interval training via elliptical machine and with the initial take-off of her cardio routine, the adiPURE Trainer felt “as light as air” and was helping with her momentum in her exercise. There was also no tightness around her knee, which was worth noting because of her past history of having torn the meniscus in both of her knees and having to deal with a consistent discomfort in daily exercise.
Over the course of another day, she noted that they felt like they really conformed to her feet immediately and they were really comfortable at first entry into the shoe. She documented that the adiPURE Trainer had “enough lining to feel silky…inside” and enough sole to keep from feeling as if the shoe was too minimal in its construction. In the same day, she did a rigorous lower-body, leg-specific workout. She was impressed by the fact that she “felt more in control” in her stability exercises, and that she was able to lift quite a bit more weight from wearing the adiPURE Trainer (due to the alleviation of pressure from her knees and ankles, which was afforded to her from wearing the Trainer).
She communicated that during her usage of the leg press machine that she felt like the muscles in her legs “engaged properly to a largely degree, [as if] the muscles were engaged naturally and fully, rather than as an afterthought [effect of the exercise].” She also documented that as a result of wearing the adiPURE Trainer, she tended to place her feet in the correct positions in her exercises without having to think so hard, as if the shoes helped guide her body according to her most natural alignment (and added that she normally has to watch her foot placement consciously because of her unique foot shape and generally lackluster fits of her typical training shoes, specifically when it comes to the lack of heel lockdown). Her lessened leg fatigue was immediately noticeable after her workout, but that as a cause of her muscles being fully activated, that the next day was literally painful because of her muscles’ necessity for a fuller recovery, a result of the adiPURE Trainer allowing her to take full advantage of her muscle activation (her hips specifically were a source of discomfort because of the increased range of motion from the prior day’s activity).
All in all, my test subject was very pleased with the adiPURE Trainer. Though she desired a better fit for her feet (which are narrow, and she noted the shoes as being a bit wide and the toes being a little short), she notes that the adiPURE Trainer is an “awesome” shoe.
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Sandy Dover is a published author, magazine columnist, and communications professional in the arts & publishing and media industries, while serving as a sports product evaluator and also as a fitness & training advisor and journalist in the fitness world. For more about Sandy, go to About.Me/SandyDover/bio.
