Mechanical Doping For Enhanced Sports Performance

Mechanical doping is the uncomfortable intersection where athletic performance, technology, money, and rulemaking collide. Marty Gallagher’s essay looks at super shoes, swimming suits, and powerlifting gear through the eyes of a strength athlete who has already seen one sport warped by equipment that can add performance without adding actual human strength.

Mechanical Doping - Running and Swimming Get Their Very Own Pandora’s Box

Behold the carbon-fiber Vaporfly 4% (above)

One of history’s most amazing athletic feats occurred in 2019 when Eliud Kipchoge became the first man to run a 26.2-mile marathon in under two hours. Eliud ran a mile every 4.6 minutes for 119 straight minutes. Incredible. Unprecedented. But wait! No sooner than the feat occurred than controversy ensued. Knowledgeable observers insisted Kipchoge was using secret prototype shoes that enabled him to run faster than he was capable of without them, aka mechanical doping.

It seems that Eliud was wearing a revolutionary shoe, a shoe so sophisticated that it improved long-distance running times by 4%. Which doesn’t sound like a lot. The longer the distance the more the 4% matters. And this is just the beginning.

Now that super-shoes have a toehold, the equivalent of the nuclear arms race is about to break out. Shoemakers will work within the rules and, over time, that 4% could increase. Trust me. I have personal experience witnessing technology pervert and damage a noble sport through mechanical doping. This raises a larger question: why should any type or kind of footwear or apparel be allowed that improves performance?

Nike, the corporate monolith, put their best shoe scientists and designers on the super shoe project: create a shoe that, when worn, would indisputably improve running times. The result was the Vaporfly 4%. It cost $250 and in 2019, 31 out of 36 of the world’s best marathon runners wore the Vaporfly 4%. That the shoe worked was proven; the question is: why should it be allowed?

The prototype Vaporfly that Kipchoge wore had three ridged and embedded carbon fiber plates. These ran the length of the shoe. The carbon fiber plates absorbed the downward energy of the runner’s bodyweight and provided an amplified rebound with every stride step. The hyper-bouncy foam cushion shoe slashed times by absorbing and amplifying a runner’s surface rebound, like a parkour expert landing and rolling to absorb energy.

One easily envisions shoes constructed to maximize sprint speed: a shoe that improved 100-meter dash times by even ½ second would upset the world order. Lesser runners with better shoes can defeat better runners with lesser shoes. Shoe technology breakthroughs could be kept secret to give a country or organization an undeniable competitive advantage.

Critics in the racing community called the cutting-edge shoe prototypes “mechanical doping” when they first showed up at the 2016 Rio Olympics. “Running is not supposed to be about who has the best technology.” Runner’s World opined. Amen to that.

Swimming’s Mechanical Doping Lesson

The first time mechanical doping appeared in an Olympic sport was when the Speedo LZR Racer Suit showed up in swimming in 2008. 98% of swimmers that won medals at the Beijing Olympics wore the elastane-nylon and polyurethane singlet. In 2008, 23 of 25 world records were broken by suit wearers. Michael Phelps promoted the suit.

Eventually, FINA, which administers international rules for water sports, banned the ultra-slippery sharkskin suits. “The Speedo LZR Racer suit rotted the sport from the inside out because it was no longer accessible to all.” Truer and more prophetic words were never spoken.

Powerlifting and the Mechanical Doping Explosion

The sport of powerlifting was “rotted from the inside out” by mechanical doping. The 4% boost the Vaporfly 4% provides is infinitesimal, a pipsqueak increase in performance. Powerlifters routinely increase their maximum lifts by 40% to 60% by wearing supportive gear: in the bench press, a canvas shirt, a “bench shirt,” enables the shirt-wearer to lift 30-50% more than could be done without one.

“Geared lifting” enables men barely able to bench press 400 pounds “raw” — no gear — to routinely bench press 550-600 pounds simply by putting on a restrictive, expensive canvas bench shirt. The seduction is that, when used, poundage-handling ability skyrockets.

A lifter with a legitimate raw 300-pound bench press buys a bench shirt and suddenly is bench pressing 400 without increasing strength one iota. When asked how much the 300-pound bencher benches, guess what he answers? “400!”

A “bench shirt” is so restrictive that one common cause for disqualification is that a lifter wearing a bench shirt is unable to get an 800-pound barbell downward enough to touch the chest, this despite pulling downward with all their might on a barbell already loaded to 800 pounds. Imagine the coiled spring action this type of restrictive tension has when released on the concentric?

• The biggest raw bench press numbers are examples of what the man can do without supportive gear.
• In raw, no-gear bench pressing, records move upward slowly because actual human strength improves slowly.
• In shirted bench pressing, the equipment can create a science-fiction performance jump.

Being generous and assuming an 1100-pound shirted bencher could bench press 700 pounds without a shirt — doubtful — a 700-pound raw bench presser putting on a shirt and benching 1100 represents a 58% increase in performance. Insane.

Imagine if a shot-putter, a man with a 50-foot best throw using a 16-pound ball, could put on a special shirt or pants and throw the 16-pound ball 79 feet, a 58% increase, shattering the current world record.

What if Nike invented a sprint shoe that could make you run 58% faster? A high school runner with a respectable 11-second 100-meter dash time could post a 6.38-second 100-meter time. Hell, a shoe wearer with a 6.38 100-meter could beat Usain Bolt’s 9.58 running backwards.

How about a new carbon fiber pole that could launch a decent 17-foot pole-vaulter 37 feet into the air? This makes Vaporfly’s 4% increase seem insignificant. In bizzaro powerlifting world, the all-time best shirted bench press record exceeds the all-time deadlift record. Sick.

The Super Shoe Arms Race

The track and field world should take a hint from swimming and ban super shoes. Take it from a man whose sport was ruined, rotted from the inside, by mechanical doping run wild. Nike squeezing a 4% improvement from a shoe is akin to smoking weed; powerlifting gear adding 58% is akin to a five gram a day meth habit.

There is no such thing as slightly pregnant. If mechanical doping is allowed any toehold, it will, over time, spread like cancer. I would advise the runners strangle super-shoes in their crib. Otherwise the lid on Pandora’s Box is opened ever so slightly.

At the time this essay was written, the Vaporfly 4% had been approved for use in the Tokyo Olympic Games and the world governing body had issued shoe construction rules. The shoe arms race was officially underway.

The shoe construction guidelines specified an upper limit of 40 millimeters for a shoe’s sole height and allowed for one rigid embedded plate. Good news for Nike: the sole of the then-current Vaporfly used a single carbon fiber plate running the length of the shoe, while earlier variants had used three carbon fiber plates. Brigid Kosgei used a triple-plate prototype shoe to break the women’s all-time marathon world record.

As the powers-that-be will discover, over time, and with research and money, shoemakers will figure out how to improve performance dramatically — to an unacceptable degree — all while staying within the legal limits of the established rules. The restrictive rules of today are child’s play for the technology of tomorrow.

Future technological breakthroughs used for mechanical doping could create single carbon fiber plates no more than 40 MM in height that will have spring and rebound lightyears past today’s limits. I can’t wait for the sprint shoes. I might get me a pair.

Training Equipment Notes for Human-Powered Performance

The larger point is not anti-equipment. Athletes need equipment. Runners need shoes, swimmers need suits, lifters need bars, benches, plates, racks, and training space. The real question is whether the equipment measures human output or artificially magnifies it beyond recognition.

For training facilities, schools, tactical spaces, home gyms, and commercial gyms, performance tools should support the athlete’s work rather than replace the athlete’s work. A quality treadmill, including self-powered curved options such as the AssaultRunner PRO Self Propelled Curved Treadmill, the TrueForm TRAINER Non-Motorized Curved Treadmill, or the AssaultRunner ELITE Human Powered Curved Treadmill, can create a demanding conditioning environment without pretending to be a magic shoe.

The tool should help the athlete train. The tool should not become the athlete.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is mechanical doping?

Mechanical doping is the use of equipment or apparel that provides a meaningful performance advantage beyond the athlete’s own physical ability. Marty Gallagher applies the idea to running shoes, swimming suits, and powerlifting gear.

Why were Vaporfly running shoes controversial?

Vaporfly shoes were controversial because their foam and carbon-fiber plate design appeared to improve running economy and race times. Gallagher’s concern is not that technology exists, but that improved technology can begin deciding who wins.

How did the Speedo LZR suit affect swimming?

The Speedo LZR suit became controversial because many medalists and record breakers used it in 2008. Gallagher presents it as an early Olympic example of mechanical doping, where the suit itself became a major performance variable.

How does powerlifting gear compare to running super shoes?

Gallagher argues that powerlifting gear is a far more extreme example. While super shoes were discussed around a few percentage points, bench shirts and supportive gear can add enormous poundage to certain lifts without a matching increase in raw human strength.

Is all performance equipment unfair?

No. Sports require equipment, and not every tool is unfair. The key question is whether the equipment helps reveal the athlete’s ability or distorts the result so much that the technology becomes the real performer.

What is the main warning of this article?

The main warning is that once performance-enhancing technology is allowed a foothold, it can escalate quickly. Gallagher’s powerlifting experience makes him wary of any sport letting mechanical advantage quietly redefine legitimate performance.