You used to show up to basketball practice with a pair of shoes. When you ran up and down the court, you knew the rhythm of your own heartbeat, and you could tell when you had reached your zone.
But the game has changed. From pro athletes and fitness professionals to the elementary school bitty ball team, wearable technology is changing the landscape of sports and fitness.
Now professional sports teams are using wearables during training and practice to measure, monitor and improve performance, and perhaps most importantly, mitigate the risk of injury. The data from these devices is much accurate than, say, holding your finger on your pulse, and they spit out real-time results, ensuring each athlete’s time is maximized.
Traditional tracking companies like Garmin that have recorded sleep, steps walked, etc., for years now are key players in the wearables game. As an example, Garmin recently released its most advanced fitness wearables yet – the Eix, Fenix3, Vivoactive and Vivofit 2 offer fitness enthusiasts and adventure seekers the most innovative technology in wearable watches. Familiar brands like HTC and Under Armour are also partnering up to make their own products.
But the real innovation is coming from startups, here in Chicago and in many other pockets across the globe. They’re the ones shaping how professional athletes train and improve their game with more than just a watch on their wrists. These companies are developing wearables to gather more data and help athletes learn more about their bodies than ever.
An example is Catapult Sports, whose U.S. headquarters are here in Chicago. Catapult is emerging as one of the biggest names in football training, with its GPS tracker and chest harness currently in use by over a quarter of the NFL franchises, as well as 10 college football teams. Worn on a player’s back, the small GPS tracker and accompanying chest harness allow coaches to monitor key data during practice and games. This information helps determine players’ work rates, game rotations, practice schedules and injury rehabilitation.
Another sport-specific wearable, ShotTracker, uses a wearable sensor in combination with an app to help basketball players track their shots. The sensor clips onto the basketball net while the wristband or compression sleeve monitors shooting motion. Disregarding other movements, like dribbling, passing and pirouetting, the gear can identify errors in skill and show players how to fix them, giving basketball players the whole coaching experience, including stats, goals and workouts.
There’s no doubt wearables are changing how we engage in fitness, especially for professional athletes. From monitoring the way athletes train to helping provide feedback on how to recover, there’s almost no limit to what fitness wearables can do.
And hey, here’s my plug: Want to learn more about wearable technology and sports? Check out We Are Wearables next Monday, March 16, at 1871. Doors open at 6 p.m. You’ll hear more from Brian Koop, Catapult Sports’ president of North America, about how professional football players are using technology to amp up their game. Plus you’ll get to try on wearables in the demo area.
