In the current digital world, sports are all about numbers. You want to be the best, fastest, quickest, and score the highest.
With this level of competitiveness, it is only fair that athletes are investing more in training tech.
In fact, experts today believe that it is less about the actual talent, and more about the way they train and the money they invest. Maybe this is the reason why developed countries generally perform better in athletic competition compared to underdeveloped or developing countries.
However, now that technology has improved, training equipment has become simpler, portable, easier to carry, accessible, and much cheaper.
Cheaper?
Yes, you have read it right. Now, thanks to advanced technology, athletes can train by using smart gadgets that cost just a few bucks. You might be wondering how that’s possible.
Keep reading as we look at the use of smart equipment for athlete training.
What Is Smart Equipment?
The idea of smart equipment is simple. In fact, most of us have smart equipment lying around in our houses.
Smart equipment, or commonly known as smart devices, are electronic devices that are connected via the internet. The best thing is that these devices do not require fast internet. Instead, they can be connected easily through 5G, cellular, and even satellite internet, allowing them to be used in any part of the world.
While these devices are small and serve a specific function, their functions can be extended beyond their basic capabilities with the use of the internet. Generally, these devices are designed to offer peak convenience, efficiency, and productivity.
Through these devices, you can simply automate tasks, measure performance, track body movement, and look for ways to optimize the outcome. These devices mainly use Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make this possible.
Here are some of the main features of smart devices:
- Use of the Internet: Most smart equipment has IoT features. They are connected via the internet and can communicate with other devices. These devices can receive input and can also offer output.
- Multiple Features: Smart devices are designed with multiple features that generally extend beyond their basic need. For instance, features like remote control, voice control, and data processing are quite common.
- Smart Senses: Most smart devices come with smart sensing capacity and have an awareness of changes in the environment. This change can be as simple as a shift in temperature or something as basic as a change in light intensity. With each change, these devices respond as programmed.
- Autonomy: Smart devices are generally programmed, but they are able to perform tasks independently with minimal input from the user.
- Data Processing: Since smart devices have sensors and are connected, they constantly gather data and process it. This data is later used for boosting the performance and offering better insights.
Best Smart Equipment to Try
The biggest misconception is that smart equipment is limited to health trackers or basic gadgets that we wear on a daily basis. In reality, smart equipment can be household appliances with IoT features. Moreover, connective office supplies and even house appliances also come under smart equipment.
Some of the smart equipment that can be used for athletic training include:
Fitness Trackers
As one of the most widely used and well-known smart devices, smart watches offer a wide range of functions. These functions are not just limited to telling the time and basic communication, but also offer most of the features that you get in a smartphone.
Fitness trackers are a close relative of smart watches, but they mainly focus on health. Through these trackers, you can track the level of activity, health data, and other details.
Hydration Sensors
Hydration sensors are perfect for athletes involved in heavy-duty exercises and training. For instance, marathon runners, cricket players, professional cyclists, and even F1 racers. All these individuals find very little time to stay hydrated during the game.
With the help of smart hydration sensors, athletes can stay alert about their level of hydration. Apart from this, hydration devices are perfect for preventing dehydration and boosting the performance of athletes as a result.
High-Tech Clothing
High-tech clothing is ideal for athletes who get involved in extensive exercise, especially during training. The basic idea behind high-tech clothing is close monitoring of bodily changes. With the help of smart shirts, athletes can monitor heart rate, body temperature, breathing rate, and overall steps, through real-time data.
This data can help in early diagnosis of the issues that are common in athletes, like Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Smart Shoes and Insoles
For athletes, comfortable shoes play a very important role. This is the reason why shoes for athletes are quite expensive and designed after a lot of care and research. Smart shoes and insoles take athletic shoes to another level by equipping them with advanced features. These shoes don’t just help in tracking the stride but can also help in measuring the distance covered, the pace of running, as well as the overall movement of the foot.
Although there are countless other options as well, for this article, we will mainly focus on fitness tracking, smart watches, and other health-based appliances.
How Smart Equipment Can Help With Athlete Training
Athletes training for competition are usually trained by coaches. These coaches record every detail of their performance, help them get better, and offer them tips to reach their ultimate potential. However, the only issue is that coaches charge a hefty amount of money.
For amateurs with no sponsorships, who want to prepare for competition, professional training is unaffordable.
This is where wearable technology can help. Most of the smart wearables today come fitted with sensors, data processing tools, as well as tracking tools. They work just like coaches, or at least offer precise data that can help anyone train an athlete.
Apart from this, smart equipment has performance optimization features, injury prevention features, training features, and more.
Here are some of the best ways smart equipment can help with athlete training:
- Wearable tech is perfect for performance monitoring, which eventually helps track your fitness, including health details like heart rate, speed, distance, and even sleep patterns. These simple details can help users optimize their daily routine accordingly.
- Smart gadgets come fitted with sensors, which are ideal for tracking, monitoring, impact control, performance data, and other details. All these essentials will eventually help with performance optimization.
- Detailed data is ideal for athletes and coaches as they help with performance monitoring and keeping an eye on progress. Since wearable gadgets offer all these details, they can work best for training.
- Smart equipment now has AI features, so performance analysis is much easier. Moreover, it can also help with full customization of the training plan.
- AI programs within smart gadgets help in volume adjustment, controlling intensity, and boosting recovery, which means it offers better control to the user.
- For most athletes, injury is one of the biggest issues. However, wearable tech helps in not just injury prevention, but also early detection by monitoring signs like fatigue, overwork, and potential weakness.
- For daily trainers, impact monitoring is very important as it can help in mitigating the risk of any potential issue due to high-intensity workouts. With the help of wearable gadgets, impact can be monitored, so the issue can be adjusted.
- Every athlete has to go through a performance analysis where the weaknesses are identified, and later, a customized plan is crafted to cover all the weaknesses. Wearable gadgets can keep this record throughout the training, making sure the results are accurate.
- While coaches and trainers take time to offer feedback, smart equipment takes a few seconds, which only helps in improving the performance and overall progress faster.
- Recorded data by tech-smart equipment can help athletes not just train safely, but also help them monitor details that are often overlooked.
FAQ’s
What popular equipment is popular among athletes?
For training, athletes use equipment like smart watches, fitness watches, smart training equipment, smart weight machines, and gym equipment.
How can smart gym equipment make workouts fun and effective?
Smart fitness equipment uses AR and VR features for creating a more immersive workout experience that further simulates real-world scenarios and offers interactive training sessions.
