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by Sam Portland, guest writer. Having played around with the Bar Sensei now for a few months I feel I’m quick getting my feet under the table with regards to the product. Sitting here now I wish I had purchased the Ballistic Ball, but I am sure I will at some point. For me personally I like to be able to quantify training quite easily with a good degree of accuracy. As a consultant strength and conditioning coach for teams, using the Bar Sensei is a real practical and transferable kit piece with a very reasonable price tag.
Using the Bar Sensei to map out a Force Velocity Trace
The reason why I purchased Bar Sensei is because I feel that velocity based training (VBT) is an essential driver towards optimising athletic performance. I think its common-sense to presume that if you are looking to make meaningful change in the athlete’s program, then you need to understand transfer of training. What I have found also using the Bar Sensei is being able to manage more closely the training-load response with my athlete. I am actually giving less and getting more, which is perfect.
The great thing about Bar Sensei is that is it small enough to fit in your pocket and ridiculously simple to get going. I love the fact that you can export all your own data to run analysis and track trends. As a pre-release customer I have had the pleasure in seeing the platform develop with the recent upgrade and I feel that the software is going from strong to stronger.
Sam Portland is a Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach who consultants via Sportland Training and Fitness. Sam has previous experience working with Wasps Rugby, Rosslyn Park & Brunel University and currently works track and field and semi professional rugby union. Follow Sam on Twitter @SPORTLAND_TNF
During an Athletic Development clinic (Hammer Clinic -- Rocky Mountain Regional, hosted by NSCA) we had the opportunity to experiment with 3 distinct VBT products – Bar Sensei, GymAware, and Push. The goal of this informal project was to use the products together in a typical S&C environment (applied setting), and see how the feedback compared.
We were fortunate that a Gentleman (who is a Powerlifter) attending the clinic brought his personal GymAware, so we took the opportunity to collect some data on the Squat to share. Below you will see some data sets of bar speed feedback, PK and AVG (over varied bar speeds) of the Bar Sensei and GymAware.
This below video shows the set-up we used at NSCA. The Push product (app shown right side & sensor on lifter's forearm) was not part of this experiment. Bar Sensei is on the left, with GymAware in the middle. The Bar Sensei module is fixed to the barbell, whereas the GymAware hooks to the bar end with a string that feeds into the sensor box (which sits o the floor). All 3 products report instant feedback during the squat movement, an important feature for auto-regulation. The 2 smaller boxes on the Bar Sensei A2P SPORT app show POP-100 (left box - click to learn more) and Distance (right box).
Here are the Squat results:
Faster bar speed
PK Bar Sensei GymAware AVG Bar Sensei GymAware
1.87 2.02 1.07 1.20
1.89 1.93 1.18 1.27
1.97 1.98 1.15 1.24
Photo of the Peak oututs for each rep. Please see the Bar Sensei bar graph (yellow) and the GymAware right side column. (side note: the Bar Sensei grey bar graph represents eccentric speed)
Photo of the Average (mean) outputs, see the GymAware left column
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Mid fast bar speed
PK Bar Sensei GymAware AVG Bar Sensei GymAware
1.57 1.56 0.91 0.97
1.49 1.53 0.87 0.97
1.50 1.54 0.88 1.00
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Mid bar speed
PK Bar Sensei GymAware AVG Bar Sensei GymAware
1.28 1.32 0.75 0.85
1.15 1.16 0.68 0.72
1.23 1.26 0.76 0.82
1.16 1.17 0.72 0.74
1.25 1.23 0.79 0.86
Peak, for each rep
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Slower bar speed
PK Bar Sensei GymAware AVG Bar Sensei GymAware
0.77 0.72 0.57 0.58
0.77 0.76 0.53 0.56
0.85 0.82 0.59 0.59
Average, for each rep.
We get calls and emails asking, how to you compare with such and such product. This is such an open-ended question, as there are many variables. It is important to keep in mind that each one of your VBT technology options may have positive aspects along with drawbacks to your situation. And, also consider, your situation may call for a mixed-use environment.
My goal with this informal exercise was to offer some results, let you see some side-by-side information, vs relying on a lot of non-factual messaging that gets kicked around in the industry circles. Each company in this space goes through development challenges, but the good news is there is a big positive trend happening right now.
By Scott Damman During sport performance training, descriptors like explosiveness or starting strength are often loosely used to express an important athletic quality. And, Coaches use various training methodologies to develop or improve this quality. Velocity Based Training (VBT) using a barbell, bar speed training, is an accepted and emerging means to train speed and power. I’d say the intended purpose of VBT is to transfer this speed and power training to the field and create a more explosive athlete, right? If this is the case, what metrics are being used today to baseline & track progress, and what metrics may be missing?
Feedback tools, like the Tendo or the Myotest, have existed to put numbers to Velocity Based Training. These tools can display a bar speed (meters per second) or display the athlete’s power (watts). These instant measurements take into account the full range of motion of the movement, like a squat or a high pull. But, if you study the sport science, you will find arguments that these full range of motion measurements (whether they are expressed as peak or average outputs) may not fully represent what the S&C Coach really needs to see to assess explosiveness. Actually, metrics such as RFD (rate of force development) or impulse may be what the Coaches are asking for, whether they realize it or not.
Based on my experience and professional conversations, the term RFD has been tossed around in the Coaching circles much more in the past 4 years. This is a good trend. Coaches understand the importance of what RFD represents, but have not had a means to efficiently get as this important training information. Enter POP-100™.
The Bar Sensei includes an innovation metric called POP-100 to get at what has previously been an elusive yet important training quality to capture – RFD, impulse, explosiveness, starting strength, or whatever term you chose to use. POP-100 is displayed as the max speed (meters per second) the athlete hits at the 100 millisecond mark of the concentric phase of a movement. It’s a short distance! So, not only will you still get the full range of motion feedback (peak or average speed), the Bar Sensei now offers the POP at the start of the lift.
We created the POP-100™ metric as a simpler way to express the concept of RFD. Further, since the POP-100 has a defined start and end point, it makes for a clean metric to baseline and track change (whereas RFD can be a bit of a moving target). It is not my goal, or place, to write about what are the best outputs to use; rather, to point out that the sole use of peak speed or power may not be cutting it to get at what we really want to see. The goal with the Bar Sensei advanced metrics, like the POP-100, is to expand the conversation and provide the feedback to get to the intended training results.
Original post February 2016
By Scott Damman Headed back home right now after a lap through Florida, reflecting on the Ballistic Ball conversations over the past 4 days. The goal of this trip was not to focus on demoing to prospective customers; rather, it was to visit with the existing Assess2Perform customer base, spend time talking about the Ballistic Ball & Bar Sensei use and application. There is plenty to discuss for each product, but since bar speed / VBT is an established methodology, the emergence of the smart medicine ball made for fresh conversation. The momentum is building.
MLB is leading the way of market acceptance with the Ballistic Ball, and visiting our customer teams before camp broke to talk BBall was the primary reason for this mid-February trip. I also spent a few hours with one of the thought leaders of modern day medicine ball training, Vern Gambetta. In fact, the book Vern co-authored with Steve Odgers (The Complete Guide to Medicine Ball Training – 1991) is my read on my return flight right now.
The discussions this week covered a lot of ground, from the macro to the micro. One of the main takeaways related to practical application was using the Ballistic Ball as a measureable tool for the athlete to express power. I did not say develop power. Coaches have numerous tools, strategies, and methodologies to develop strength and speed (with the result of power). This training balance, knowledge, and execution is the art of coaching. But, at some point it all needs to be tied together and expressed by the athlete.
Enter, Coordinated Power. The steps to examine this are actually quite simple: identify the movement, add the appropriate resistance, execute the movement, view the Power (watts) and Speed (m/s). Let me explain the concept of Coordinated Power in the real-world.
Take a 10 pound 12-inch diameter Ballistic Ball, do a triple extension overhead throw. Focus on exploding up & landing the ball behind you just a bit, not “arming it” way back for distance (the days of “how high” and “how far” are over). This assessment combines the lower extremity power with the timing & transference to the upper body and arms to coordinate a powerful throw!
Take that same 10 pounder and complete a chest pass. Do some reps with a countermove and some reps non-countermove / static. Football Coach, is your S&C programming creating an offensive lineman who can express power (think blocking technique) and be explosive with a 10, 12 or 20 pound static Ballistic Ball throw?
Take a 3 KG 9-inch diameter Ballistic Ball, do a rotational throw. This validates whether (or whether not) all of the vertical performance training you have been Coaching, along with the mechanics of the movement, result in a coordinated effort to express rotational power gains! Piles of sport movements fit into this category.
Coordinated Power, something to think about.
