GymAware has a new website
For all the latest information, tips, articles on athlete power monitoring go to http://powertool.gymaware.com
The GymAware sensors calculate all the output parameters based on first principal determination of displacement and a quartz crystal time base. From time and displacement, velocity can be calculated and then acceleration. Then if weight is entered, force, work and power can be calculated.
Validation Studies
Naruhiro "Geish" Hori and Warren Andrews from WAIS and ARUWA
The reliability of countermovement jump.
The paper is titled "RELIABILITY OF VELOCITY, FORCE AND POWER OBTAINED FROM THE GYMAWARE OPTICAL ENCODER DURING COUNTERMOVEMENT JUMP WITH AND WITHOUT EXTERNAL LOADS."
Abstract
"The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of peak velocity, force and power obtained from a GymAware optical encoder (Kinetics, Canberra, ACT) during the countermovement jump (CMJ) under three different external load conditions: wooden pole (0.7kg), weightlifting bar (20kg) and Smith machine bar (24.5kg)."
The full article can be read by logging in online at the Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning Association
Drinkwater EJ, Galna B, McKenna MJ, Hunt PH, and Pyne DB.
Validation of an optical encoder during free weight resistance movements and analysis of bench press sticking point power during fatigue. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. In press. Comments from the author We simultaneously measured squat, bench press, or bench press throw with Gymaware and video analysis and found differences of not more than 3%. For most sport scientists, a CV of 1-3% across several different lifts should make them happy.
We also used the GymAware to assess power changes during 4 sets of 6 repetitions of fatiguing bench press training, particularly the mean power (decreased by 55%) and the lowest power output during the phase known by lifters as 'the sticking point' (-40% after 5th repetition, >-95% in last two repetitions of the workout). The graphical interface and the capacity of the GymAware to store many repetitions of many athletes allowed us to easily identify the sticking point of each repetition using enough athletes to develop statistical power.
John B.Cronin, Raewyn D.Hing and Peter J McNair.
Reliability and Validity of a Linear Position Transducer For Measuring Jump Performance.
Download here [PDF - 55KB]
More to come GymAware is being used in many research studies ranging from the effects on nutrition on the elderly to optimising recovery in elite athletes.
Other Studies Using GymAware
Kristie Taylor AIS et al. (20009)
THE EFFECT OF AN EXTENDED WARM-UP ON DIURNAL PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCES IN LOADED COUNTER-MOVEMENT JUMPS.
Click <here> to read the abstract
CHRISTOS K. ARGUS,1 NICHOLAS D. GILL,1 JUSTIN W.L. KEOGH,1 WILL G. HOPKINS,1 AND C. MARTYN BEAVEN 1,2
1 - Institute of Sport and Recreation Research New Zealand, AUT University, Auckland 1020, New Zealand; and 2 - Health and Food Group, HortResearch, Hamilton, New Zealand.
CHANGES IN STRENGTH, POWER, AND STEROID HORMONES DURING A PROFESSIONAL RUGBY UNION COMPETITION.
Click <here> to read the paper.
Presentations referencing GymAware
David Buttifant (PhD) (ASCA 20009)
"Monitoring key power characteristics in elite Australian Rules Footballers"
Click <here> to read the presentation.
Compared to a force plate
Shown is a comparison between the GymAware system and a Kistler force platform. The results show that the sensors are comparable for monitoring purposes.
Some key points:
- The GymAware trace contains less data points while still representing the force curve, this makes it viable to store and analyse many data sets over long periods.
- Because the force plate measures reaction force at the ground, while the GymAware sensor measures resultant movement at the bar, some losses will occur due to elasticity of the human body.
- The GymAware sensors are a fraction of the cost of a force plate and are very portable
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