In the past, the athlete who put in the most training time and worked the hardest was the one who gained the edge. Now, with access to technology and data, it’s the athlete who trains the smartest who gains that edge. The phrase ‘less is more’ is starting to ring true in athletic training and no one is taking that more to heart than Sparta Science. Dr. Phil Wagner, founder and President of Sparta Science, explains that the point of technology is to do less, better.
“Technology should be used to cultivate habits, which may mean eliminating some habits that aren’t helpful or are detrimental and building other habits which aren’t always just lifting – it could be sleeping habits, conditioning, or spending more time in the sport and less time training,” he says.
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Dr. Wagner opened Sparta Performance in 2008 as a training facility that uses technology to build evidence based training. He met some software engineers who saw the opportunity to build out a massive database from machine learning and thus was born the software product. Putting a training facility under the same roof as a software company allows for data to be collected during the workout and compared to the database in real-time, giving coaches the ability to make that data actionable and personalize the workouts.
Sparta Science uses two Kistler Force Plates installed under the floor to measure the ground reaction to force. Then, utilizing the database that has been built over the years, they develop a Movement Signature for each athlete to give context to the force plate measurement and calculate and prioritize needs to develop an objective training program so athletes can train more efficiently and avoid injury.
With a focus on personalization, the program also takes into account Movement Signature and the needs of the particular sport the athlete is training for. Dr. Wagner told me they take an approach of personalized medicine and look at a sample size of one. “In looking at individuals over time and seeing their trend as the dictator for the threshold, we create new analytics for every single athlete.”
Fitness trends today fit this model as well. No longer is there a one-size-fits-all approach to fitness. You decide whether CrossFit or Yoga, Barre or Spinning, or good old-fashioned running is best for you and tailor your fitness program to your needs. “This is where the data can finally become useful,” explains Dr. Wagner. “You need the database and machine learning to evaluate what’s best for one person. The danger is when you start focusing on the hardware, like the force plate, or a specific movement because it worked for one person, but it may not for another.”
Sparta Science is unique in that they’ve combined a training facility with a software company. But they are also unique in that they separate those two pieces, allowing organizations to purchase the database and force plate technology to create the Movement Signature and give them the framework to create plans. Sparta will give these organizations the tools they need and show them what has been proven to be the best plans for various needs, but ultimately they decide which plan to use.
Where Sparta really stands out, though, is in the investment they make in their coaches, both the coaches at headquarters in Menlo Park, CA and the coaches in the organizations that use their software. The most successful coaches are successful because of the trust their athletes have in them – to provide the right data and statistical analysis and to prescribe the right training program. Sparta has developed a rigorous training for the coaches and detailed progression of what they need to accomplish with each phase, similar to the athletes’ training plans. Coaches must be able to sprint at a certain speed to know what it takes for the athlete to achieve a goal, but they also must know how to gain the athlete’s trust.
To achieve this, they focus on three areas in training their coaches: Tactical, Technical Expertise, and Emotional Intelligence. Tactical works on how you coach a movement – making sure the athlete uses the right form for each move and being able to correct that. Technical Expertise ensures the coach understands the data and technology, including troubleshooting and optimizing usage of the data. The third is Emotional Intelligence, which Dr. Wagner says is the most important piece that’s often forgotten about. He further explains, “you may have all the content in the world and have the best graphs to visualize that content, but without cultivating the relationship, conveying the enthusiasm and intelligence to the athlete, none of that matters.” The Sparta coaches spend as much time studying fitness science as relationship development.
Another opportunity Sparta has to set itself apart is in the work they do with younger athletes. The technology and data gives objective, verified results that high school and collegiate athletes can use to share with coaches and recruiters. Technology will help coaches sift through results and have a true understanding of what those results mean, potentially squashing some of the unfounded assumptions that have been created in collegiate recruiting.
Technology is often used to add things, but Sparta is utilizing data and technology to train smarter and train the body to be more efficient. Strip away what you don’t need and focus on the training that will help you more. Sometimes less really is more.