Integration Spotlight: PUSH

Kinduct’s Athlete Management System is integrated with over 50 world-leading wearable, assessment, and data collection technologies, turning rich data into powerful insights. To highlight some of these partnerships, we’ve created the Integration Spotlight Series. In this instalment, we feature PUSH, a real-time velocity based training (VBT) solution.

When and how did PUSH get their start in the industry? 

PUSH got its start in 2013, when our founder, Rami Alhamad, identified a lack of measurement tools to help answer common questions in the weight room. After validating the need with the strength coaching staff at the University of Toronto, he set out to build a team that could help deliver on the promise of a world-class wearable monitoring training solution that’s flexible and easy to use.

Can you describe what velocity based training (VBT) is? 

Velocity based training (VBT) is a strength and power training methodology in which the primary focus and feedback is the measured velocity of a lift in order to monitor training, fatigue, and make more informed decisions. This is in addition to load/weight which is commonly used in the traditional percentage-based approach.

What are the benefits of tracking your athletes’ movements and progress through VBT? 

Implementing VBT allows for precise prescription and appraisal of workloads, thus increasing training efficiency. This can be extremely valuable to the everyday coach, allowing them to automatically adjust programs for common occurrences such as fatigue, injury, and training age while continuing to target a specific training adaptation.

It also gives the coach more methods of assessment such as measuring improvements in speed and power instead of just chasing load. For example, improvements of 0.05 m/s correlate to a 2-2.5% increase in strength.

Who should be collecting velocity based data with PUSH and why? 

Because of the wide variety of applications which include objective instantaneous feedback on performance, data collection, paperless programming, informed decision making, and even adding objective feedback to evaluate coaching cues, any coach at any level could benefit from implementing VBT.

The upside of using a system like PUSH is, with the versatility of measurement abilities, training now becomes testing and doesn’t require a separate setup or lab day.

What makes the PUSH Pro System (portal, band, and app) special? 

The benefit of the full PUSH Pro System is simple and seamless integration between programming, training, data collection, and reporting. It becomes a one-stop shop for all training and testing needs for all ages and stages of strength and conditioning.

What other sources of data do you find interesting to compare/contrast against VBT data? 

Data gathered during training can be used in many forms, but the coupling of objective (i.e. velocity, load, reps, time) and subjective data (i.e. questionnaires, RPE, soreness maps) can provide coaches with a holistic view of performance.

You can find out more information about PUSH on their website, www.trainwithpush.com..