There is nothing new about whole body vibration technology, the Russians started using it back in the 50?s and 60?s to train their Olympic athletes and their cosmonauts. Dr. Vladimir Nazarov was a member of the soviet gymnastics team and chair of sports and biomechanics at the State college in Minsk. Dr. Nazarov started testing vibration technology in competitive sports and realized the benefits in developing strength and power.
This technology has been around in many forms for quite sometime but only now has the fitness community started to develop vibration machines that are becoming fixtures in Gym?s and homes all over the world. The Power Plate is one example of vibration technology that I have been using for the past six months. At first I must say I was a little skeptical but now I am noticing the differences in flexibility and strength and for those little morning aches and pains it helps tremendously.
These machines create instability in the human body, and force the body to perform reflexive muscle contractions. The result is an improvement in force production, or strength and power. It is becoming a wellness solution for all ages, lifestyles and physical abilities. For athletes in any sport I think this vibration technology is the real thing and encourage you to try it out.
For more information go to www.powerplate.com.There is nothing like fathers day weekend for a little golf. The US Open is on and we can all watch the best players struggle on a golf course that is so tough it makes even Tiger look a little average. All of us arm chair commentators can watch and reflect on how we could shoot 80 or 90 like the pros. Not so soon my friend if you want to feel a little US Open tech this weekend get your putter out and try putting or chipping on the ceramic tile in your kitchen because that is what a US Open green is like.
If you want to go high tech then log on to www.usopen.com and follow their live webcasts during the event. They have stats and all kinds of cool information that you can't get from the television coverage.
During the telecasts watch for NBC's 300 frames per second camera that is so good it can show you every little detail of a players golf swing. They are also employing some 3D animation of the greens to give you an idea of what happens to a golf ball when it hits the green. Have a great golfing weekend all you Dads.
Now this sounds to good to be true, imagine wearing a hat that gives you feedback on your golf game and the ability to tell you the yardages to the flag stick.
Advisor golf caps and visors have built in to the brim of a standard golf cap or visor a sophisticated set of electronics, allowing what appears to be an ordinary cap to function as a complete Golf information system. Controlled completely by Speaker Independent Voice Recognition, this cap allows the golfer to get yardage data, enter and track scores, pace of play timing functions and many other capabilities.
Inside the head band of the cap is a high quality specialized microphone that picks up audio directly from verbally spoken sound waves, sound is picked up from bone conduction. This makes advisor completely insusceptible to wind noise and side chatter as it only "hears" the wearer.
Combined with state of the art sophisticated Speaker Independent Voice Recognition, the ADVISOR continually monitors the user?s speech and acts accordingly. All commands are prefixed with the word "advisor" to discriminate normal speech from commands, so to get yardage to green, the user may simply say "advisor distance" and a pleasant voice responds with yardage information or other helpful details as requested.
Using GPS, real time positioning information is continually tracked against a detailed map of the users selected golf course, and distances to green leading/center/trailing, water bunkers and fairway boundaries are calculated. By using an easy to learn set of voice commands, anything from simple green distance to a full explanation of all in range features can be listed.The only question I have is, can you wash it? and what happens when your playing in the rain or there is cloud cover. Stay tuned for more information as I try to get my hands on one of these and put it too the test.
The Suunto G6 is a cool gadget for those golfers looking for some help with their swing. PGA tour star Davis Love III is just one of many tour players that have used the G6 to measure things such as tempo,rhythm,backswing length and clubhead speed according to suunto.
The watch uses miniaturized sensors called "accelerometers" to measure various aspects of your golf swing. From takeaway to contact the watch records some 200 plus measurements during your swing.
I have used the G6 and it definitely has some benefits, the clubhead speed numbers are the only ones that I have a problem with, the watch is on your wrist so how can it possibly measure clubhead speed, it is more like hand speed. I do however like the tempo and backswing length calculations.
SportsCam
The Worlds First Portable High-Speed Point and Shoot Camera, designed for Sports
The SportsCam is a bit of a break through when it comes to high speed camcorders. You may have seen these cameras on television when they show you in super slow motion a golf ball being hit by a golf club, or a baseball making contact with the bat. Until now these camcorders have been way to pricey and are used mainly for biomechanical analysis and research.
Fastecimaging brings us the SportsCam, a portable high speed camcorder that can film up to 500 frames per second. This is pretty serious stuff when you consider a basic camcorder films at 30 frames per second. This new bread of camcorder can easily capture thousands of images with the push of a button, review them on the built-in screen and save them to a Compact Flash card or download them via USB 2.0 to your computer system for review.
I like the fact that once you turn the camcorder on it is always filming the action and storing it in a buffer inside the camcorder, you just decide by the push of a button when you want to review something and save it. This way you never miss that sporting moment, it truly is the ultimate sports analysis tool.
At a starting price around $4000.00 these cameras are not cheap, but in the world of high speed film try finding a portable 500 frame per second camera for less. For more information visit www.fastecimaging.com.
One of the biggest problems with working out is tracking our workouts and also making sure we do the workouts correctly. It is not the quantity of weight we lift or the amount of time we spend in the Gym that gets us in better shape, it is the quality of the workout and making sure we are doing the exercises correctly.
The Progio Training Companion is a compact, rugged hand-held device that provides complete workout instruction. It is purchased online from Progio.com or a Progio Content Provider. Progio workouts are complete with step-by-step exercise instructions, so you always know what exercises to do and how to do them.
With a variety of workouts available for download to the device, you can jump between strength and cardio workouts - to flexibility and functional training - to sports-specific workouts - quickly and easily. Progio records your workout and then it syncs to Progio.com so you can measure your success! I have used the device and must say that I am impressed with the quality of video and the menu structure. It fits comfortably in your hand and can sit by itself for you to review during your workout.
You can get more information at www.progio.comSports analysis software has been around for a while, it is basically software that allows you to compare and analyze any sports motion. You can capture your video to the hard drive of your computer via a firewire or USB 2.0 port and then use the software to measure performance of a specific motion. Most sports analysis software packages give you a variety of tools from graphics to multiple windows in order to compare one video clip to another, some software packages have more advanced features allowing for more in depth analysis via the internet between a coach and their student.
I like the swiss based company Dartfish, they have software that will work for any sport and have really done a nice job of capturing the necessary tools that you need for analysis. They have several different versions of their software available and have a very good online training program that allows you to learn the features of the product from the comfort of your own home.
Some other companies that make similar products to Dartfish are Astar Learning Systems, JC Video Systems, Cswing, V1golf, Quintec and Swing View Pro. You can google the different companies for more information on their line of products.
Always make sure you check the companies website for the minimum requirements that you need to run the software effectively on your computer.
Sports Tech ? Will highlight technology that can be used in sports performance at any level. If you?re a weekend warrior looking for the latest high tech training aid or a coach looking for that performance edge for your team, then this blog is for you. We will show the latest technology and how you can use it to attain an advantage in any sport. From Golf to Baseball we?ve got you covered stay tuned for the latest Sport Tech from around the globe.
Not available in the USA yet but showing up all over Europe and even China, is the N93i golf edition phone from Nokia. This is a smart phone with golf specific analysis software called Prosession golf.
You can film a golf swing with the phone and then use graphic tools to analyze your swing. It comes with some reference swings so you can compare your swing to that of a golf professional, it also has the ability to email a golf swing from the phone to a web service like youtube or to your local golf pro for a lesson. You can even plug the phone into your television via the video out port for an even better view of your swing.
Nokia has not set a launch date for the US Market but hopefully they will see the light and start sending some of these cool applications our way. You could really use the application for multiple sports so this could be the sign of things to come.
Camcorders have come a long way since the old VHS monsters we used to lug around. The last couple of years have brought us DVD and Harddisc based camcorders which is nice, but I have noticed a troubling trend. Camcorders have become so cheap that many companies are taking away some of the features that are a must for filming sports motion. They are dumbing down the camcorders and stealing some of the features that we sports junkies must have for analysis. Whenever filming sports in motion if you want to slow it down and analyze it you must have an adjustable shutter speed. This allows you to see the motion clearly such as a golf swing. If the shutter speed is to low the golf swing is just a blur. Sony camcorders have a sports mode but that is not adjustable and in different light conditions the shutter speed will adjust it self according to the available light. I like the Panasonic line of camcorders as they have manual shutter speed up to 1/8000 of a second which is more than enough to capture your sports footage.
