MEASURING RESISTANCE AND MUSCLE STRAIN DURING TRAINING
Resistance training is a major component of almost all major sports. But how do we measure resistance?
In a lot of cases, coaches capture resistance load by multiplying repetitions by load (lbs or kg). For example, an athlete lifting 75% of their max weight 5 times is taking on more load than someone lifting 50% of their max 5 times. But what tool are they using to see the actual muscle strain and what are they using when they find themselves outside of the weight room?
STRIVE can provide objective and quantifiable insight into resistance-based load accrued by the hamstrings, quads, and glutes of an athlete. This enhances the load quantification of athletes that have a lot of resistance demands. For example: American football athletes, rugby athletes, and even basketball athletes when game demands include a significant amount of boxing out, or setting screens.
GPS, accelerometry, and HR monitors are fantastic tools for measuring free movement and cardiovascular activity, but where is the measurement for musculoskeletal strain? Quantifying muscle strain is too often left out of the equation.
Take this quick example. If an athlete pushes against a wall as hard as they can for 20 minutes, the GPS and accelerometer will provide an estimated load that is close to zero. Their heart rate (HR) may increase, but it won’t give a telling picture of what’s going on with muscle output. STRIVE provides a measurement that more adequately represents the amount of work accomplished by the athlete.
But hold on…isn’t muscle load an internal load metric? Why are we comparing it to external load monitors?
STRIVE provides an internal view at how the muscles handle stress. But STRIVE also implements accelerometry as part of our offering. GPS and accelerometry metrics provide a good estimate of an athlete’s external load. By comparing this to our internal load metrics, we can analyze the relationship between these types of loads, thus revealing insights into the fitness-fatigue relationship.
Why measure muscle activity specifically?
There are limitations on load insights that can be included in the decision making process (time budget, financial budget, compliance).
From a data value perspective STRIVE’s shorts consist of six sensors (left hamstring, right hamstring, left glute, right glute, left quad, and right quad). The value of load has already been discussed in detail, now let’s cover how the sensor’s positioning adds additional value.
- There are sensors on the left and right side for each muscle group. If an athlete uses their left leg more than their right leg, the data will clearly display this as an imbalance. If he athlete is doing an activity that should be bilaterally equal (straight line sprinting or two foot jumping) then this implies that the athlete is either creating different amounts of force between legs or that they are not accomplishing the task in a bilaterally equal manner (mechanically speaking) or the left and right joint angles are not equal).
- In another example, the athlete may be in a game where they are required to plant on their left leg and move right at a much higher frequency than performing the movement in the opposite direction. Both of these pieces of information can provide important insights, and can work as very valuable trigger points for further investigation into the individualization of the athlete’s training and recovery plan.
- The sensors measure three different muscle groups. Quantifying load of specific muscle groups has not been possible up to this point. Recall that the purpose of load monitoring is to guide decisions about the training process regarding the appropriate amount of stimulus.
When muscle specific load measurements are paired with biomechanical knowledge of how athletic tasks are performed, along with considering the etiology of injuries, the capacity for precision in the decision making process increases.
For example, if an athlete is being exposed to large amounts of stimulus on a consistent basis, data will probably suggest that the athlete is safe to continue this exposure. Provided that adequate recovery tactics are interspersed. However, if all of those large stimulus loads are majorly quad dominant, and then a similarly large stimulus load is introduced that is hamstring dominant, this is relevant to a practitioner’s decision making process. As a stimulus that is introduced at too quick of a rate increases injury risk factor.
Additionally, if the work done by the athlete was externally similar (i.e. the drills and exercises were the same) the fact that the athlete has deviated from their normal method of accomplishing these tasks is an important insight to be aware of. Especially as a practitioner trying to make the best decisions to guide athlete training. Remember, the goal of training is to increase athlete performance and decrease the injury risk factor.
To summarize, load monitoring is a very broad term for any quantification of the stimulus that athletes are being exposed to. Quantification of load, when collected and considered correctly, will lead to better decision making in training. This is because it empowers practitioners to set informed goals, and with those goals in mind, monitor each athlete on their way to accomplishing these goals.
STRIVE can complement traditional external load monitoring tools by providing insights to resistance based load as well as serving as a physiological measurement that provides insights to neuromuscular fatigue. STRIVE also empowers practitioners by providing muscle activity measures from six sensors that can be used to analyze symmetry discrepancies as well as muscle specific (quadricep, glute, and hamstring) discrepancies.
Oh, and one last thing…
We’re not here to diminish external load variables. STRIVE recognizes that these provide extremely valuable insights to training. This is why STRIVE has included an accelerometer in its system. If practitioners don’t already have an external load monitoring tool in place, we want to provide one. This way we can give an estimation of external load and analyze that along with muscle load. Comparing these side-by-side reinforces the core belief that these two types of measurements reveal insights into an athlete’s fitness-fatigue relationship. This is because at STRIVE, we see this as the foundation of physical performance.
Traditional units located on the upper thoracic spine are prone to noise as the upper back can move separately from the rest of the body (i.e bending at the hips). However, STRIVE’s placement of the pod at the waistline reduces noise and provides more applicable accelerometry data. This does not diminish the importance of GPS specific metrics at all. They are still extremely valuable and work well as external load metrics that can also be paired with STRIVE’s muscle and accelerometry data as spoken to previously. STRIVE completes the picture, and provides a complete story to what is going on with your athletes’. Because as we all know, no one likes to read just the first chapter.
