As a coach or trainer, you know how crucial it is to streamline your athletes' workouts while still ensuring optimal performance and progress. That's where Output Sports comes in. With our innovative Workouts feature, you can easily program and prescribe personalized training sessions to your athletes, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. Let's delve into the details and see how Output Sports can improve your training approach.
1. Output’s ‘Workouts’ Feature
The Power of Workouts - Capture App (Athlete App)
A Seamless Workflow for Athletes
Our Workouts feature is seamlessly integrated into the Athlete and Mobile Capture App. It allows your athletes to complete assigned workouts, testing sessions, and readiness protocols with ease. No more navigating complex exercise menus or deciphering complicated instructions. Athletes can now focus on their training, step by step, guided by custom instructions and notes tailored to their specific needs.
Precision Prescriptions for Optimal Performance
With Workouts, you have the ability to prescribe weights, reps, target velocities, and Velocity-Based Training (VBT) guidelines to your athletes. This level of precision ensures that each exercise is performed at the ideal intensity, maximizing strength and power gains. By individualizing workouts based on athletes' 1RMs, you can tailor the training to their unique capabilities and goals, optimizing their progress and minimizing the risk of injury.
Tracking and Feedback for Continuous Improvement
The Workouts feature goes beyond just prescribing exercises. Athletes can log their perceived exertion and add custom notes, providing valuable feedback to the coach. This feedback helps the coach understand the context of each training session and make informed adjustments, if necessary. Furthermore, every completed exercise is marked, providing a volume score that allows both coach and athlete to track progress over time.
Unleash the Potential for Coaches with Workouts on Hub (Desktop Platform - Coach)
Creating Customized Programs
Output Sports' Workouts feature extends beyond the Athlete and Mobile Capture App. On the Hub (desktop platform), coaches can create and prescribe repeatable exercise protocols and training interventions. The platform offers a vast library of over 200 sensor-based exercises, ensuring a wide range of options to suit various training goals. Moreover, you have the flexibility to add your own custom exercises, tailoring the program even further to meet your athletes' specific needs.
Tailoring Workouts to Perfection
Workouts on the Hub allows you to customize your program based on individual athlete requirements. You can set parameters such as 1RM percentages, target reps, and target weights, providing precise guidelines for each exercise. Additionally, you can add custom instructions at both the workout and set level, ensuring clarity and consistency throughout the training session.
Efficient Program Building and Allocation
Workouts has a user-friendly interface that makes program building a breeze. With simple drag and drop functionality, you can quickly create workouts, duplicate them, and assign them to individuals, teams, or groups. The multi-coach organizational structure further streamlines the process, enabling coaches working with specific subsets of athletes to create workouts tailored to their needs.
2: The Athlete’s Workout: A Closer Look
Let's explore a sample workout to understand how Output Sports' Workouts feature can be applied in practice. Rían's workout highlights the versatility and effectiveness of the Workouts feature.
- Mobility - Hip Internal and External Rotation: Before diving into squats, Rían begins with hip internal and external rotation tests. The sensor is attached to the front of the shin to capture accurate data. By sitting with the hip and knee flexed 90 degrees, Rían performs internal and external rotation tests. The sensor records the range of motion achieved by Rían and holds that position for a specific duration, usually around two seconds. This data is crucial for tracking Rían's progress throughout the rehabilitation process, providing insights into hip mobility and allowing the coach to tailor the training accordingly.
- Strength Endurance - Bodyweight Squats: As a warm-up for the main squat pattern, Rían performs bodyweight squats. This exercise not only prepares the muscles for the subsequent work but also enhances proprioception (i.e the body's ability to perceive its position in space). By engaging in bodyweight squats, Rían improves proprioceptive awareness, which is essential for maintaining balance and stability during more demanding exercises. Additionally, the Strength Pathway/angular velocity metric is used to guide Rían in finding the ideal squat depth and range of motion for the training session. This ensures that Rían performs squats at the appropriate intensity and technique.
- Velocity-Based Training (VBT) - Barbell Back Squat: The barbell back squat is a fundamental compound movement that targets several major muscle groups, including the quadriceps, glutes, and adductors. In Rían's workout, two sets of barbell back squats are performed. The VBT metric is employed by attaching the sensor to the barbell. This setup allows for the collection of essential data points, such as mean velocity (m/s), relative mean power (W/kg), and relative mean force (N/kg). These metrics provide valuable insights into Rían's performance, enabling both Rían and the coach to track progress over time accurately. By monitoring these metrics, the coach can adjust the training program as needed to optimize strength, power, and muscle hypertrophy development.
- Mobility - Shoulder Internal and External Rotation: During the warm-up for the main upper-body pressing movement, Rían performs shoulder internal and external rotation tests. To conduct these tests, the sensor is attached to the back of the wrist, while the shoulder is abducted to 90 degrees, and the elbow is flexed to 90 degrees. Rían then moves through internal and external rotation, assessing the range of motion achieved in each direction. This test provides valuable information about shoulder mobility, which Rían aims to improve in order to achieve the target range of motion with comfort and ease. By quantifying range of motion, the coach can identify any limitations or improvements in Rían's shoulder mobility over time and adjust the training accordingly.
- VBT - Barbell Bench Press: The barbell bench press is a classic upper-body compound movement that primarily targets the chest, triceps, and anterior delts. In Rían's workout, two sets of barbell bench presses are performed. The VBT and strength pathway metrics are employed to monitor Rían's performance accurately. Two sets were recorded where the athlete aimed to keep the reps in the 0.75 and 0.5m/s zone in order to develop strength-speed (for more information on VBT zones, download our Introductory VBT Guide here). By working within these specific velocity ranges, Rían focuses on developing strength-speed, which is a priority goal in his current training block outlined by his coach. Additionally, the strength pathway metric is utilized to ensure that Rían achieves the target range of motion throughout the exercise. This assessment provides feedback on technique and intensity, enabling Rían to optimize exercise execution.
- VBT - Romanian Deadlift: The Romanian deadlift (RDL) is an effective posterior chain development exercise that primarily targets the hamstrings and glutes. In Rían's workout, the VBT tool is used to drive intent and performance. By attaching the sensor to the bar and providing auditory feedback, the coach motivates Rían to surpass previous velocity scores, resulting in increased output and improved performance. This dynamic approach to training not only enhances strength and power but also promotes muscle growth and development in the targeted muscle groups.
- Strength Endurance - Chin-Up: Chin-ups are a challenging bodyweight exercise that primarily targets the muscles of the upper body, including the back, biceps, and shoulders. In Rían's workout, chin-ups serve as a test of strength endurance. The Output Sports platform quantifies the reps performed based on the target range of motion. By setting specific standards for chin-up execution, the coach can track Rían's progress over time. This exercise is an excellent indicator of upper body strength and endurance development, showcasing improvements in Rían's overall fitness and performance.
- Stability - Plank: The plank exercise is a fundamental stability exercise that engages the core muscles, including the abdominal muscles, lower back, and shoulders. In Rían's workout, the Output Sports stability feature is leveraged to measure and track the plank exercise accurately. The platform provides setup instructions and guidelines, ensuring proper execution and alignment. By regularly performing planks and tracking progress, Rían can improve core strength and stability, leading to enhanced overall performance.
- Slams, Swings & Throws - Medicine Ball Slam: Med ball slams are dynamic and versatile exercises commonly used in circuit training for general strength and fitness development. These exercises engage multiple muscle groups, providing a full-body workout while improving explosive power and energy system development. In Rían's workout, med ball slams serve as an effective way to round off the training session, ensuring a well-rounded and comprehensive approach to athletic development.
By incorporating these exercises into Rían's workout routine and utilizing the advanced features of Output Sports, Rían can target specific muscle groups, optimize performance, and track progress effectively. The platform's data-driven approach empowers both Rían and his coach to make informed decisions, enhancing training outcomes and fostering continuous improvement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our Workouts feature empowers coaches and athletes to streamline and optimize training sessions. With customizable programming, precision prescriptions, and efficient program building, Output Sports maximizes training potential. By utilizing this comprehensive solution, coaches can tailor workouts to athletes' specific needs, unlocking their full potential.