The Perch Blog

In January, 2019, a Cambridge startup called Perch sold the Louisiana State University football team on a new weight training system that uses video cameras and artificial intelligence software to boost athletic performance. One year later, the Tigers won the national championship of college football.

Jacob Rothman, a first and third baseman at MIT, herniated a disc in his back while doing a warm-up set of squats during the summer after his freshman year. Though that helped end his baseball career, it helped launch a new technology. He and two fellow MIT students started working on Perch in 2016. With Rothman’s own physical therapy and...

An MIT-developed technology is helping a growing number of players and coaches – including those in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, and Power Five conferences – improve overall performance in the weight room and on the field. Named Perch, the device uses a combination of cameras and machine learning to monitor movements during exercise and enhance...

How can athletes return to play safely? Learn how athletes can return to a safe and competitive atmosphere with weight room tech and VBT.

How can coaches monitor training frequency for safe return to play? Keep athletes healthy, strong, and competition ready with VBT.

Lifting heavy is necessary, so how do you lift heavy weights safely while developing strength? Learn about safe lifting with VBT.

Technology like Perch allows coaches and athletes to determine the speed of movement in real time and adjust the weight or exercise accordingly. "Using the velocity-based system we have, Perch, we knew all of the sets and all of the reps and all of the velocities the guys were doing before we left."

How can we track long-term athlete progress? See how VBT baseline tests and athlete profiles can help you better understand your athletes.

Join Perch for a velocity based training research review. We will dig into some of the best and most recent VBT research articles!

Prescribing the intensity of a workout has never been easier with VBT. Find out how coaches can return athletes to play without the guesswork.

Discovering a baseline for each athlete—whether it's an incoming freshman or a returning player—is just another way in which the Perch technology will help LSU in the coming weeks as it attempts to get its players back in shape. What Perch allows is for strength coaches like Moffitt and Jacobs, as well as each individual athlete, to find the...

Profiling and assessing athletes is important for tracking progress and programming training. Learn how VBT is used to build athlete profiles.