A possible ‘secret weapon’ for Great Britain’s Olympic cycling team this year may be their training aid Adidas “Adipower” pants. The pants have been dubbed ‘Hotpants” or “hot pants” and the concept is to keep an athlete’s legs warm during warm-ups so they are ready to go come race time.
“Hotpants,” According to techdigest.tv, “the custom-fitted trousers are battery powered and are designed to be worn after an athlete's warm-up. Heated filaments in the trousers direct heat to the core muscle groups in the legs, maintaining an ideal 38C temperature, meaning that Team GB's legs should be limber before each event even if they've had a lengthy wait between their warm up session and the competitive races. There are even quick-release zips, letting the athletes get the Adipower kit on and off in seconds.
British Cycling, Adidas and Loughborough University remained tight-lipped about the training garb until the eve of the Games. It took four years to develop the technology, and there has been a ton of buzz around the added boost these pants could give athletes. In an interview published on guardian.co.uk, Great Britain cyclist Victoria Pendleton said of the technology, “They heat up almost instantaneously, they're just amazing”…”You really feel the temperature on your quads and hamstrings and it really makes a difference. You have to work with cooling. But for me, as a sprinter, I've got lots of short events spread out during the day so it's essential that my muscles maintain temperature." Unfortunately for Pendleton, the pants cannot warn the athlete of a potential rule infraction...such as overtaking too early. Ref. dailymail.co.uk, guardian.co.uk, techdigest.tv Pic. Ref. dailymail.co.uk
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