Every golfer has had the day at the driving range where everything seemed to be going right. The drives were long and straight, the irons all made solid contact and all was good with the world. The next time at the course, things didn’t work out so well. So what changed?
K-VEST is a product that answers that question. Simply, how does your body move and affect how the ball is hit. Using two sensors, one on the thoracic spine – the mid-back – and the other under the sacrum on the pelvis, K-VEST compiles a kinematic sequence that illustrates how the body is moving.
The online demo shows a 3D model of a body moving in real-time with professional golfer, Adam Kmak. He goes through a variety of exercises showing how the sensors create spreadsheets worth of data. A new feature for K-VEST is the ability to compare multiple swings. Adam has a personal database with all of his recorded movements and he can use that to create averages and standard deviations that point him to the necessary training.
That is just one part of the equation. The next is changing that movement for the better. When the body hits the specific points detailed by the training, the screen lights up green, a chime is heard, and a rep is counted. Biofeedback is using an audio cue to create muscle memory and is the basis of what K-VEST, and parent company K-MOTION, does.
Michael Chu is the CEO of K-MOTION and believes biofeedback will have a big role to play in the future of sports training. “In 10 years and beyond you could imagine a world where every person that is mastering a movement or rehabbing from injury is using some type of biofeedback,” he said. “Get us the movement information and we will give you the best way to get you to the right spot.”
K-MOTION is already working with professionals in a variety of sports. In addition to renowned golf instructors and PGA Tour pros, multiple MLB teams have approached K-MOTION to attempt to improve their player’s consistency.
Golden State Warriors assistant general manager Kirk Lacob is interested in the sensors to improve defense, because just one Draymond Green isn’t enough. While K-MOTION can, and does, put sensors on the arms and hands. Lacob was only interested in the spine because, as he told Chu, “once you nail the core, everything else follows.”
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While biofeedback has applications in a variety of sports, after golf, baseball is likely the next destination. Baseball was an early-adopter of sabermetrics, and biofeedback is a natural extension. Front offices calculate OBP, WHIP, SLUG, WAR and a host of other acronyms that paint a picture of a player’s performance.
“We have the outcome data, we have the body data,” Chu said. “What is your body doing when it is going well, what is it doing when you’re in a slump?”
K-MOTION is not trying to turn every baseball player into a perfect medium. Cody Bellinger’s data will be much different than Jose Altuve’s, but that’s not a bad thing.
“There is no perfect stance or way to move, we just isolate the player and determine how the results change based on body movement,” Chu said.
It can be refined further to pinpoint what exactly Bellinger is doing when he takes a high fastball into the right field bleachers. Compare that data with his body movement on a pop-up and patterns will emerge that can allow for specialized training.
In addition to high-level sports performance, biofeedback has practical applications on the other side of the spectrum: people with limited mobility in physical therapy. The ranges are adjustable and give rehabbing patients a constant measure of improvement. Physical therapy is a long process. Having statistics can show patients that they are regaining flexibility in the hip, one degree at a time.
K-MOTION also wants to take a page out of the CrossFit playbook and create training leaderboards. They would judge how quickly fitness athletes gets their bodies in correct spots for complex exercises. A common thread between all athletes is a love for competition. This makes training another chance to be number one.
While this product is expensive — nearly $2,500 for the two-sensor system and access to the software — it’s a price many professionals consider a bargain in the world of biofeedback. In the future Chu imagines a world where everything requiring precise movement of the body is directly tied to quantifiable metrics.