Virtual Reality And Wearable Tech Are Revolutionizing Human Performance
By Ben Barone
Human beings have altered their realities to enhance performance for thousands of years. At the Pentathlon of the Ancient Olympic Games, the Greeks played flute music during long jump attempts because they found it helped the jumpers better establish cadence and coordinate their movements.. Today’s athletes can regularly be seen listening to pregame tunes to hone their focus and boost energy moments before a competition.
Today’s wearable tech uses big data analytics to glean actionable insights on enhancing human performance. Wearable device companies such as Catapult, Zephyr, and Motus have recently received approval to record player data during professional league practices and games. Athletes are being monitored on everything from speed to heart rate to 3D biomechanics. Acquiring player data throughout the season allows coaches like Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll to continuously monitor player workload and adjust the intensity of training loads based on his players’ unique data profiles. Technology has given these elite athletes a new competitive advantage.
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One virtual reality company, Strivr, has seen immense success revolutionizing an age old practice: watching film.
Strivr places a 360-degree camera next to NFL quarterbacks during practice to allow the player to later replace physical repetitions with mental ones. One of Strivr’s biggest supporters, Arizona Quarterback Carson Palmer, says the technology helps him get more comfortable with his opponent’s defensive formations and which offensive plays will be most effective. After practice he heads home to put on a headset and run through hundreds or thousands of plays, watching the flow of his offense through his own virtual first person perspective. Palmer can also shift the camera behind him to view the mechanics of his footwork or to analyze the different angles of his arm on specific throws. This provides a huge advantage to the now outdated practice of watching film, as VR training has shown a greater learning advantage over video training.
Athletes aren’t the only ones using virtual reality for performance enhancement. DARPA has invested more than $20 million into a three room virtual reality system in Boston. The rooms are outfitted with physiology sensors that monitor a soldier’s brain waves, heart rate and more in order to better understand how stress impacts their effectiveness in combat.
We are on the cusp of an exciting evolution in human performance training. Virtual reality, wearable technology, and biometrics will continue to evolve together to provide better analysis of the mind/body system and a more effective approach to improving performance under pressure.
Ben Barone is the Founder and CEO of Coretex Performance.
