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"I'm going to be careful I don't want to damage the carbon fiber" 5mins later *saws through it*

Those tests... Oh, man those tests. The scientific method was murdered.

jumps twice in a pair of shoes: "Now that is a lot of data"

Respectfully, your conclusion is wrong. Hi, my name is Ethan I am an Aeronautical Engineer with a degree in Mechanical Engineering along with a Masters in Systems Engineering and Design. There is a mechanical advantage because of the carbon fiber structural piece running through the length of the shoe. The term spring comes in all types of forms. What we have here is a cantilever beam type of spring (similar to that of a diving board at a pool)(also known as beam stiffness or bending stiffness). Bending stiffness. The bending stiffness ( ) is the resistance of a member against bending deformation. It is a function of the Young's modulus , the area moment of inertia of the beam cross-section about the axis of interest, length of the beam and beam boundary condition. In other words if you flex the shoe while running or jumping it will want to return to its center (flat) orientation. It is doing this because the carbon fiber is acting as a beam. That return of it's flat orientation helps your toe's not have to apply as much force to result in the same work output. Now, if the carbon fiber was very very thin I would agree that it would not have an advantage....but your cross section view (cutting the shoe in half) showed us that the carbon fiber piece has some thickness to it. This results in material grains being stretched on the bottom half of the carbon fiber piece and material grains being compressed at the top half. This is what causes the spring effect. It's also important to note that all shoes have this to some extent with whatever material they are made out of. The difference is that most materials shoes are made out of do not have nearly the beam stiffness that carbon fiber has. My final opinion is that I do not believe it should be banned because technology has always taken us to new heights (figuratively speaking), why stop now.

"You won't believe what's inside!!" Foam and a carbon plate? Pretty sure that's in every ad for these shoes.

hey nick, I was a researcher in a biomechanics lab and I've worked extensively with carbon fiber on quite a few projects, maybe I can answer some questions regarding the nature of the foam and plate combination. When you put force through items stacked on top of each other (in series) the modulus (bendyness) is proportional to the parallel combination of the moduli of the layers (A*B/A+B). because the resultant modulus of the parallel combination will be much lower than the sum of the moduli of the underlying substrate, the carbon fiber needs to be very firm to act as what we call a detent spring whereby the plate is very rigid to account for the foam. I have some theories on the manufacturing techniques and methods for the foam that they may use to increase elastic rebound but I can't exactly test them and I'm not in a position to drop 250 like that. Anyway the plate does in fact deform elastically under load, and it's that resistance to deformation that results in the springynes you see. as far as if it should be cheating, I don't think so, it's just an advancement in materials to me.

Showing us what an aglet is like we didn’t watch phineas and ferb

*Does 1 trial* "tHaT's A lOt oF dAtA"

12:45 You’re welcome.

You should’ve ran on different days to get a more accurate reading

guy, that's a box knife. far from a scalpel

my ap stats teacher is rolling in his grave over these tests

A-G-L-E-T! Aglet! Don’t forget it! If you know, you know

That Nike store is my favorite store to visit whenever I'm back home in Eugene. I cried inside as you cut them open.

I love how we are watching him destroy a pair of shoes for which most of us would die for.

Doesnt want the carbon fiber damaged, saws it in half.

"Go go gadget trampoline shoes" lmao

There's literally no way to prove that you used more energy when putting the shoes on because your brain wanted them to be better

I think the biggest advantage for your test was that you were going from a 9.4 ounce shoes to a 6.4 ounce shoe that has the same amount of cushion. Also, I think Nike's foam is the main advantage with the carbon plate creating support.

Great job Nick, enjoyed your commentary .......Keep it up!

From what I've gathered, the zoomx foam is what gives the bounciness, and the carbon fiber plate does the same thing that a spike plate does for a track spike. The stiffness of the plate reduces energy costs.

I feel like the difference in the jumps could've been chalked up to you getting used to the actual motions of the jump you were doing. Regardless, thanks for dropping 250 so we could see the autopsy!

I subscribed to your channel because of this video. Finally a Quality review and completely unbiased. Nice one!!

Great video man, keep up the good work

The difference grew the further you ran. Probably would be more noticeable in a longer distance test.

That was painful to watch, but really cool! Thanks for this!

Thanks for the in depth analysis

Educational. No BS vlog! I adore you!

Awesome video. For a 1-1 test between shoes, it would be best to do each test in reverse, so with the NIke shoe being tested first, and then the Hoka Clifton just to have a side-by-side comparison of the results since your body does get a little bit of a chance to warm-up between the first test of the shoes and the second test with the second pair of shoes. Thanks, Nick!

Nick: I'm gonna be careful with this carbon plate. Also nick: sawing off the shoe.

You just got yourself a subscriber. Been watching couple of your videos and good job

subbed just for the excellent content oh and because Nick is awesome!

All shoes have a mechanical advantage. That's why we wear them.

When you run slow like me it won’t matter what shoe lol.

Keep it up Nick, keep it up!!

Love the effects. - so cool.

2:41 Who else thought there were two nicks?

imagine eliud kipchoge saw this test, he will run full marathon in tears.

Thanks so much for info n investigative report for vaporfly Nike Sneakers very impressive!

great video, Nick.

imagine returning those shoes

10:03 " I don't want to damage the Carbon Fibre Plate" 12:25 Cutting through the Carbon Fibre Plate with a Saw 😂😂

Great review

yo i love it when you fast forward it shows that ppl can glitch too

Wow - there's literally nothing in the construction of these shoes. A few dollars worth of foam, synthetics and an inexpensive plate of carbon fibre. Regarding the plate/spring effect, it's probably due to the composite behaviour of the material. the carbon would be good at spreading the load into the foam, so you get to use more of the foam across the sole as a spring. As well as compressing the foam under it, the shearing forces as the foam is squeezed out the sides would also be available as rebound. Neat design, excellent marketing, fantastic profits.

A tear almost fell whilst watching this

Loe your videos. Great quility and production and informative.

Great analysis

My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach from watching this lol

Next video: "Cutting Open Nick Symmonds (You won't believe what's inside!!)"

Great information. Super cool idea to cut the shoe open. Loved that!

cool video Nick....thanks!!!

4:41 dang that's a pretty fast heartbeat

That isn’t the patent for the Vapor Fly NEXT% shoes. That is for the Alpha Fly shoes that aren’t publicly available.

Love this video!

Thank you @Nick Symmonds this video help me to add my data to make another design of the shoes. Cheers.

the shoe patent you downloaded was for the alphafly unreleased shoe use in 1:59 challenge. Those shoes have the air pockets. you took apart the next% which where release last year.

Who else learned what aglets were from watching Phineas and Ferb

I love this very unconventional review!!! BTW, congrats on your time in the marathon, I am trying to be under the 4 hours but it's not an easy task!

Nice demo...thanks.

I am sure somebody could use your method and “prove” exactly the opposite. You did prove that Nike has a better marketing organization.

I'm here just to make sure there is actually a carbon plate as advertised. Thanks man!

Thanks for cutting that thing up and sharing

Good Commentary. Very informative Nice.

Eluid Kipchoge’s shope had an air poket. The pacers ran in the standard version.

After running these shoes for a few months, it’s pretty clear they have some sort of mechanical advantage. The easiest way to tell? Bend the toe of the shoe back and let it go. It feels like it has some progressive spring effect. It definitely helps your foot “push off”. They aren’t my favorite shoes or my most comfortable but they are my fastest.

Great video Nick! I cut out the Nike Air Max rear air pocket back in the early 90s, and cut a recess for them in my Brooks basketball trainers, haha. Did the same as you and got the scalpel out and got cutting away. Was fascinating. Plus I played basketball in one-of-a-kind trainers!

Thanks for this!!!!!

It would be interesting to see Stryd power meter data. Especially leg spring and form power

Great video! Even if you didn't find anything fishy, this shoe helped break so many records easily. It helped you run and jump better. I don't know if you can say it is still a legal shoe.

So cool you’re working at Nike store and in walks Matt Brody!!!!! Two gold medals!!!

Great Video!

That “rigid” plate of carbon IS a spring. With each step the weight of your body flexes the plate inside the sole. The energy stored up in the bent plate releases into your legs as it unbends, instead of mostly being absorbed by the ground, helping propel the body forward.

You literally "*Took Flight*" right there lmao

The carbon fiber acts like a built-in mini-pole vault pole in every step. It acts as a leaf spring, storing energy from compression in the heel and midfoot, bending, then it straightens back out and adds push off from the ball and toe. That is also how those VKTRY carbon fiber inserts work.

Hey Nick i’ve been binge watching all of your videos! I’m no athlete but I do love the sport so I really enjoy watching people run and train and all that stuff. My favorite athlete is definitely Sydney Mclaughlin and i’m from the Bahamas so I also love my very own people Shaunae Miller and Steven Gardiner!

Nick you were once a great runner but when it comes to physics you really don’t know what you are talking about. The carbon fiber plate acts a lever instead of a traditional spring. The zoomX foam definitely acts as a spring as well but the combination of the elasticity of both components is what makes them so great.

"I don't want to ruin the carbon fiber plate"... whilst totally annihilating the entrire shoe LOL.

Great info

Very good video. Keep going.

Nick, I thought when you busted open the shoes some RunGum was going to come out-then I’d really believe the shoes were performance enhancing!

This was a GREAT video!

Oh mann.. Damm.. Your every video put smile on my face😂😂.thanks

Wonderful awesome fantastic marvelous video good information well done keep it up

Hats off to Nike, as he is still wearing his RunGum hat. 😆

As interesting as it was to watch you cut this shoe apart. I am having an extremely hard time trying to find these shoes to actually run in for retail price. People want double the retail price and I cannot pay that 🙃

Great video. Many people learned from this. Thank you for educating us. I won't wear even a Nike t-shirt though!

Nice video man!! I wondered what hocus pocus they had under the hood. I agree, no mechanical advantage there, just a well made pair of trainers :)

nick: "roadmap" Me: "does are the alphafly not the next%'s lol!"

Could the difference in bpm be due to the fact that the first mile functioned as a warm up for you? Just like in a workout.. the 2nd set is often easier than the 1st.

Amazing technology. Well done.

cool...great shoe review....i'm gonna buy em

And also, you’re looking at a breakdown of the alphafly - that’s why there are no air pockets - you’re cutting the vaporfly open

11:27 My man forgot he was an Olympian haha

Awesome video man, I agree that it's a very good shoe but it's not magical.

Love the personality and realization that this is FUN, not some scientific proof... Do you remember fun? Unbelievable the amount of haters and negative people in the world. They need to go find something they agree with and comment on that.

Would Alberto Salazar recommend this for someone not on illegal PED’s?

You seriously used a vertical jump test as a means of testing running shoes?

I find your approach interesting -- I'm a scientist at heart and a data-junkie -- subscribed! I have a wider forefoot, how would you rate the Vaporfly Next% for wide feet applications? Great video btw!