Hyperice has made plenty of compression boot models under their Normatec line, all of which are designed to massage the legs for improved blood flow, reduced swelling, and faster recovery periods. They’re some of the best recovery tools out there. Despite being called “boots,” though, compression boots have always been used with the user sitting down (or lying down), since they’re not the kind of boots you can comfortably walk around in. The Hyperboot by Nike x Hyperice changes that.
Billed as a tool that “revolutionizes warm up and recovery,” these compression boots are, basically, shoes. As in, you can walk, run, and skip while wearing them, instead of forcing you to sit in one place like traditional compression boots. Unlike regular shoes, of course, it incorporates the air compression tech from Hyperice’s Normatec line, which provides massaging sensations to help accelerate warm-up and recovery. This allows you to start doing warmup work for your feet and ankles even while you spend the time getting breakfast, having coffee, or just playing a gacha game on your phone.
The Hyperboot by Nike x Hyperice isn’t designed to be worn from the foot all the way to the upper thighs like many compression boots in the market. Instead, it’s clad in a footwear form factor, so it looks just like a wildly-designed, laceless high-top sneaker with a whole lot of things going on with it. Of course, it does have a lot of things going on with it, which is what makes it such a unique product.
While you wear it on your feet like a pair of sneakers, the boots can be set to deliver both heat and air-compression massage. Dual air bladders on each boot provide the massage using preset compression patterns, with the same bladders evenly distributing heat through the entire upper. According to the outfit, you can set it to any of three heat levels (44, 48, and 52 degrees Celsius) and three compression levels (50mmHg, 130mmHg, and 210mmHg), with each boot getting their own individual controls, so you can change the settings on one foot of it needs more work than the other. You can turn off either one, by the way, in case you only need to use either the compression or the heat.
The Hyperboot by Nike x Hyperice can be controlled either using the physical buttons directly on the shoes or the accompanying Hyperice app over Bluetooth, so you might want to bring your phone with you if you don’t like bending down to change settings. Each show has its own battery, too, with the outfit listing a rating of anywhere from one to 1.5 hours, depending on the levels of heat and compression you choose to do. Do note, the shoes are only IP54 rated, which means they can handle splashes and dust, but not full on water immersion.
Do note, all that compression, heat, and electronics onboard means this thing weighs more than your standard shoe. The men’s size 8 to 10 model, for instance, weighs 3.7 pounds, so it’s like wearing a small weighted rig on your feet.
The Hyperboot by Nike x Hyperice comes out May 17th, priced at $899.
