There may be no industry impacted more by wearable tech than the fitness industry. Wearable devices are the hot new item in the tech world right now and sports and fitness experts are using them to take an analytical approach to training, game-day performance, recovery and injury prevention.
The latest wearable athlete sensor to hit the market, the BSX Insight, is the world’s first lactate threshold sensor for athletes. By measuring lactate threshold, along with traditional endurance metrics like heart rate, cadence, pace, and calories, BSX Insight provides an unprecedented look at an athlete’s fitness profile — all from a single device that pairs with sports smartwatches.
The ability to monitor lactic acid levels in real-time is a huge breakthrough. Industry experts report that training with lactate threshold can increase performance from 5% to 25% in elite and aspiring athletes.
Essentially, what measuring an athlete’s lactate threshold means is that you can measure their athletic horsepower, so to speak. Dustin Freckleton, BSX President and Co-Founder, explains that BSX Insight performs these “horsepower” measurements in real time and can tell an athlete when to step on the gas or ease up depending on their exercise goals and where they are in their workout:
“You can think of lactate acid as the exhaust that comes out of a car. The harder we step on the gas, the more of it is produced. Similarly for athletes, the harder we train the more lactate acid is generated. Lactate threshold tests are a representation of the lactic acid bulid-up that occurs during exercise. “
Typically, to measure all of these biometrics an athlete would need multiple devices or testing methods that are not wearable or easy to use. But as this video with Freckleton explains, knowing the lactate threshold is easy to measure with the Inisght and is a major stepping stone for the fitness and athletic worlds:
Insight represents the next generation of wearable tech by going beyond just passively tracking activity to actively transforming it. It is also the first and only wearable smart sensor on the market to sync at the same time with both ANT+ and Bluetooth 4.0—which means more flexibility when athletes are training on the go and want to check stats on their watch.
Insight “looks inside” muscles during exercise to measure an athlete’s bio signals and determine how hard they are working, compared with how hard they should be working to reach their goals. Communication with a sports watch lets the athlete know, in real-time, whether to increase intensity of the workout, slow down, or even take a break. This type of real-time feedback can be extremely valuable for an athlete to mentally fight past the burn and reach their target.
It’s also important to note that BSX Insight can be used during training as well as on race day. This is a valuable capability for those who put so much effort into training because when race day comes they will be able to get the most out of every mile by knowing exactly when to speed up or slow down to achieve the time they want. No more guesswork in trying to mentally calculate how much gas is left in the tank and when to push for the finish line.
Be sure to check out the BSX Insight KickStarter page if you are interested in getting your hands on this new fitness wearable.