For those who don’t know, the Tendo is a device which you can use to measure the peak/avg. velocity of your lifts. This is a video showing it in action: - YouTube
Being an engineer, I figured I’d try to build one myself and it turns out you can make one for under $200. This is a video of my (very) rough prototype: QuantifiedSpeed Weightlifting Analyzer V1 - YouTube
I figure other people might be interested in a more refined version of this, so I wanted to ask if anyone else would be interested in paying ~$300 for a product like this?
[quote]OlympicLifter wrote:
For those who don’t know, the Tendo is a device which you can use to measure the peak/avg. velocity of your lifts. This is a video showing it in action: - YouTube
Being an engineer, I figured I’d try to build one myself and it turns out you can make one for under $200. This is a video of my (very) rough prototype: QuantifiedSpeed Weightlifting Analyzer V1 - YouTube
I figure other people might be interested in a more refined version of this, so I wanted to ask if anyone else would be interested in paying ~$300 for a product like this?[/quote]
My only issue would be finding a way to set it up so that there is no risk of dropping the plates on it when you do snatches or clean and jerks and dropping the bar… That was an issue I had with my old tendo unit.
I’m glad that there’s interest in this! Personally I’ve always had the bad habit of grinding out slow reps at the end of sets, but with the objective feedback of a device like this I’ve found it’s a lot easier to stay strict.
Another thing I’m excited to try is more objectively measuring fatigue/overtraining. For example, starting each session w/ a light-ish hang snatch and if the speed drops X% below baseline do a recovery-style workout instead of ending up poorly performing my regular workout.
CT, regarding setup I’m pretty certain a wireless version of this could be made as well. In my research I came across the MyoTest (http://downloads.myotest.com/documents/pro-en.pdf) which is a product aimed more at periodic performance testing/lab research rather than every-workout use. Since originally I just wanted to build this for myself I just went with the simplest system that would work, but I could see building a wireless version for the final product. In your opinion, would a wireless version be convincing enough for strength coaches who already owned a few tendo units to replace them with this product?
We do have the Myotest at the gym. You know, I never actually used it because quite frankly it is too complex. For me, anything that takes more than two steps to set up (install the device, press “start”) can throw me out of my zone. I personally had the cheaper Tendo unit (not the one with the computer program) which measured speed and power. What I liked was that you simply installed it and pressed start.
A more complex version that gives detailed info such as the force curve and power curve is fine for testing purposes, but I personally would pick simplicity over super detailed for training purposes.
A wireless version would be a lot better than the simpler Tendo unit. But one thing that I liked with the Tendo unit, even the cheaper one, is that it gives you both peak velocity and peak power. To calculate the later you had to enter the weight used on the barbell (or bodyweight if measuring a vertical jump for example) so with the weight, velocity and distance travelled it is quite easy to have a power measurement. From my experience, power output might be more important than speed for training purposes.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
We do have the Myotest at the gym. You know, I never actually used it because quite frankly it is too complex. For me, anything that takes more than two steps to set up (install the device, press “start”) can throw me out of my zone. I personally had the cheaper Tendo unit (not the one with the computer program) which measured speed and power. What I liked was that you simply installed it and pressed start.
A more complex version that gives detailed info such as the force curve and power curve is fine for testing purposes, but I personally would pick simplicity over super detailed for training purposes.
A wireless version would be a lot better than the simpler Tendo unit. But one thing that I liked with the Tendo unit, even the cheaper one, is that it gives you both peak velocity and peak power. To calculate the later you had to enter the weight used on the barbell (or bodyweight if measuring a vertical jump for example) so with the weight, velocity and distance travelled it is quite easy to have a power measurement. From my experience, power output might be more important than speed for training purposes.[/quote]
This is really great feedback CT!
Not sure if you noticed, but the display in my prototype is actually an android tablet. I had the idea that going beyond just realtime lifting feedback, a device like this could automatically record your data as well, sort of like an online weightlifting journal. The main problem I have with my current written journal is that it’s too hard to tell looking back exactly what training programs worked/didn’t work. I figure if this data is online automated analysis could probably provide better insights.
Beyond that, I thought that coaches would benefit even more from a system like this, since as hard as it is to analyze my own training it must be 10x as hard to manage 10 athletes…
Do you feel like this could help coaches better manage their athletes training? Or is it not really an issue and would most likely take away from the simplicity of the product?
I was going to start a seperate thread on this - www.pushstrength.com
I don’t know if the link will post, but it’s called push strength. It’s still in testing, but it looks pretty interesting. I think Mike Robertson has a unit or two to test.
I’m not sure what ever happened to your own tendo unit OlympicLifter? did you end up making some? do you sell any? i would be interested to buy a few if you’re still making these. thanks, nikboa