Dream Works
Men's Health UK|September 2017

Close to the historic city of Nuremberg, elite scientists are at work on some of the most innovative training solutions the sporting world has seen. To lift the curtain on the tech revolutionising your fitness pursuits, MH travelled to Germany for an exclusive exploration of the Adidas Future Laboratory 

Mark Bailey
Dream Works

On the secluded site of a former Luftwaffe airfield, close to the old Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, the headquarters of German sportswear brand Adidas occupies a secluded 39-hectare site. It is dominated by a futuristic, sevenstorey operations centre named ‘Laces’, after the walkways that criss-cross its 30m-high glass atrium. As befits a brand of its heritage – and one that reported a revenue of £17bn in 2016 – the campus is professional and inviting, appearing to have based its working culture on the giants of Silicon Valley. Outside, on its rolling lawns, a small group of its 3000 employees are playing volleyball, while inside, others sit down to lunch in one of a number of high-end campus restaurants. On today’s menu: a healthy chicken curry devised by the German football team’s Michelin-starred chef, Holger Stromberg.

But MH’s visit has nothing to do with participating in employee sports matches nor sampling bespoke baltis. Hidden in a far corner of the facility – and protected by rigorous security – is the portal to the Adidas Future Lab, an innovation hub where an elite group of 40 researchers, biomechanics and scientists are hard at work in the race to pioneer game-changing sporting equipment that will help you run further, score more goals and shatter your marathon PB. The tools at their disposal include advanced robotics, state-of-the-art sensors and highly-tuned machinery vetted by NASA, making this the vanguard of athletic progress. Today, MH has been afforded a rare glimpse of the future of fitness.

Changing Pace

This story is from the September 2017 edition of Men's Health UK.

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This story is from the September 2017 edition of Men's Health UK.

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