Global Positioning Systems or simply GPS, have been rising in popularity in team field sports for over a decade. This wearable provides context to strength and conditioning coaches, sports scientists, athletic trainers, and sport coaches to understand and detect fatigue and fitness on a deeper level.
Small devices often worn in sleeves or undershirts contain the device that monitors the player’s every move. GPS reveal the training load of each athlete including distance run, intensity of sprints, and the overall workload on each individual over the course of a match.
With this information, strength and conditioning coaches can make better recommendations for future training and regeneration methods based off the load of one athlete to another. Declines in performance over the course of a match often indicate fatigue, or possible injury that should be noted. With this information, coaches can design and implement individualized training based off specific skill positions.
With recovery being such an important topic with today’s athletes, it’s crucial to be able to understand the variables provided. Just as in strength training, GPS data can be summed up in terms of volume, intensity, and density. Total distance is the easiest way to see total volume. Intensity is looking at total distance, but at high speeds which will clearly show the difference between a jog and high acceleration sprint. Density will simply show average speed over the course of the match, which will be important in looking at the demands of different skill positions.
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For example, a recent study in American football found that linebackers and defensive backs essentially covered the same amount of distance over the course of the game, however the defensive backs displayed significantly more maximum accelerations/decelerations during that time. This type of information is valuable when designing position specific physical conditioning and recovery time.
Understanding the variables is the first, and most important step when acquiring GPS for your athletes. Just as any piece of equipment purchased, you must understand what is being measured. The challenge is recognizing that information in order to improve training and recovery of the athlete.
Takeaways:
- Coaches can use GPS data to plan individualized conditioning and recovery.
- GPS data can indicate overall team fitness levels, and even injury.
- It’s important to use data to drive decisions, not just collect and converse.
Phil Wagner is the Founder and CEO of Sparta Science. Sparta Science is on a mission of creating an Evidence Based Training system for athletes to become healthier and perform at a more sports specific level using the scrutiny of technology used in medicine with patients.