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Can Nexus Bring Wearable Tech to CrossFit?

June 18, 2018 by
instagram.com/trainwithnexus
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Some background.

Fitness trackers actually date all the way back to the early 80’s with wearable heart rate monitors. But they didn’t really start becoming in vogue until the mid – 2000s.

In 2006, Nike and Apple released Nike+iPod, a whole line of shoes with a branded pedometer inside the sole that paired with your iPod to track speed, distance and calories. This technology and the running community that came with it grew into the single largest online running community on the planet, amassing millions of users globally which is still thriving today.

So what about CrossFit?

In the CrossFit industry, companies like Beyond the Whiteboard, Athex, and Wodify have developed software to manually record and track your workouts in a similar fashion.

But where Nike+ and these softwares differ is 1). Performance data is automatically recorded through wearable technology, and 2). Because of that, you can access mid-workout performance data like speed and pace changes, not just your overall score.

CrossFit is a different ball game entirely, and here’s why.

The scenario: Your overall Fight Gone Bad score has improved from six months ago, but you don’t know exactly why, other than you did more reps. You can’t analyze your work-to-rest ratio, transition time, or drill down your increase or decrease over rounds. Some apps don’t even record round-by-round scores just the total.

One way to do get this type of data would be to manually count and record it; something top coaches in CrossFit do with their elite athletes. Another is to build wearable technology that can process your performance rep-by-rep and log it for you. But as you already know, CrossFit is infinitely more complex than running with dozens of different movements, time domains, and workout types.

In comes Nexus.

At the Central Regional, Nexus unveiled some new tech, which they believe can solve this problem. Their wearable technology — the PUSH band — is actually developed by their parent company, which has contracts with the Seattle Seahawks, Oklahoma Thunder, Irish Rugby Union and so on.

The PUSH band is a small monitor placed inside of a compression sleeve worn on your arm and Lucas Parker was on hand at the Central Regional demoing it.

“It does a pretty good job of counting reps in real time,” Parker said. “When the athlete is doing burpees it knew to move to burpees.”

Lucas demoed two separate 30 second WODs and NEXUS’ app was able to break down total reps completed, work-to-rest ratio, and a handful of other interesting stats.

So how do I buy one?

That’s the million dollar question, or rather $299 question. They’re available in limited quantities for pre-order (shipping out in July) and once we get our hands on one we’ll give you a full video demo.

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