Paralysis by Analysis
Weight room technology and all the data that is derived from it can be daunting to set up and to sift through. This can cause paralysis by analysis. Coaching time is valuable and limited so it is best to limit the amount of energy and time spent on setting up and evaluating velocity based training (VBT).
We have a few ways that can help you not get bogged down by velocity based training. In this post, we will go step by step to shed some light on simplifying the data collection process. Check out some ideas for avoiding paralysis by analysis with weight room technology here:
EQUIPMENT SET UP
Keeping setup and tear down of equipment minimal will only help streamline your program when it comes to velocity based training. Some traditional methods of applying VBT are a little bit more involved than they ought to be.
There are three main methods to measure bar speed: linear position transducers (LPTs), wearables or accelerometers, and camera based systems. The problem with most linear position transducers (LPT) is that they have to be placed in just the right place in order to get an accurate reading. That position then changes depending on the exercise performed. Changing the position of LPTs in a weight room setting can be a laborious task even with a large staff.
Using devices that only need to be installed once, or are on the user themselves makes it a lot easier to get moving. But accelerometers can also be cumbersome if every user needs one, or every barbell needs one. There is much greater room for error or missing reps if athletes aren’t compliant. And often athletes don’t want to wear yet another device.
Camera based systems, like Perch, stay mounted on your weight rack. There is no need to change the position of the unit, ever. With Perch, the camera is on a motor and can adjust positions as you adjust exercises. This means more time for coaches to focus on coaching and less on equipment set up and no take down at all (unless you want to).
EXPORTING TRAINING DATA
Collecting data is great, but unless you are managing it, it is hard to make great use of it. There are still many VBT devices that have no way of exporting training session data out of the unit and storing them for coaches. Coaches have to monitor the velocities during the session and try to record the ones they see. Otherwise coaches can rely on athletes to record it, but compliance is not always 100%. This eats up precious time that could be spent coaching athletes.
Cloud based systems are ideal for managing data. With Perch, you can send all training session data to the cloud for storage. The cloud will store unlimited data for unlimited users. Coaches can then view or export the data to monitor trends longitudinally. This not only is great to have for current training sessions, but also for looking back to previous sessions to see improvement.
EVALUATING TRAINING DATA
Coaches know that making sense of many athletes training data after a session can take a long time. In order to streamline this, the process must be integrated. Choosing a VBT device that has the capability to take the training data from sessions, store it, and make it easy to understand and manipulate is pivotal. This makes evaluating and presenting the relevant data much easier than ever before. Perch can provides some in app visualizations of workload metrics for your athletes, but it also can export every data point associated with a training session. Picking a VBT device that can do this will make data collection and analysis incredible easy. And will help you avoid paralysis by analysis.
Often, the shear quantity of data can seem daunting as well. VBT is still somewhat new, so understanding velocity zones and some basic principles of programming with VBT can be helpful to start. But then simply collecting data, combining it with subjective data points (“how are you feeling today”) will help illustrate how helpful VBT can be. Just getting started can clarify a ton of mystery around data.
EXTRA HELP
Ultimately, weight room technology should work for coaches, not the other way around. Technology needs to be seamlessly integrated to be utilized most effectively. It needs to provide relevant data, not excess noise. And it needs to make that data easy to manipulate and visualize.
We always recommend evaluating different technology to find the best solution for you. With all this said, Perch is always here to help! We have specialists on staff to help you if you have a question, or are completely lost in the process. Check out our contact page for more information, and never hesitate to reach out!
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Further Reading
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