A recent publication in the Scientific Journal of Sport and Performance highlights the transformative impact of digital weight on enhancing athletic performance. This could be because of the ability to utilise AI to train eccentrically, which is difficult to do without the help of another person.
How is Emerging Tech Enhancing the Benefits of Eccentric Training?
Resistance training is widely used by many facets of the population with the goal of enhancing athletic performance, preventing injuries, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. As the fitness industry continues to develop within mainstream culture, new technologies are integrating with long-established resistance training modalities (e.g. free weights, machines, body weight) to augment training, convenience, efficiency, and accessibility to developed fitness regimens.
Those who use these novel technology-driven machines have claimed to demonstrate their potential for improved training results through continual maximal load-bearing movements and heightened eccentric resistance.
What did the study involve?
The study is believed to have been the first of its kind, with the aim to determine the effects of incorporating connected adaptive resistance exercise (CARE) in the form of the Vitruvian Trainer + into a training regimen with collegiate basketball players on lower body performance metrics.
32 participants (aged 18-26) with collegiate basketball experience trained thrice weekly for 6 weeks with a periodised training program that included CARE. The study was randomised 1:1 and blinded to an intervention group (n = 16; where the CARE used accentuated eccentric loading (AEL)) or an active control group (n = 16; where the CARE did not use accentuated eccentric loading (ACTL)).
Standard anthropomorphic measures along with one repetition maximum (1-RM) back squat, vertical jump height, and peak power were assessed prior to and following completion of the training regimen.

What did the study show?
Both groups demonstrated significant increases. The findings of the present study demonstrate that CARE training can induce the same benefits associated with other conventional eccentric overload training regimens but to an even larger degree among elite male basketball players.
With notable improvements across jump height, lower-body peak power, and muscle strength, the efficacy of CARE training warrants consideration for being implemented in eccentric overload training protocols and regimes.
About Vitruvian:
Vitruvian, one of Australia’s most successful fitness tech companies, has hit some major milestones lately. Bear Grylls, Bill Murray, Kevin Bacon, F1 trainer Michael Italiano, lots of elite sporting teams (see below), and Amanda Bisk are among the people who train with Vitruvian.
Vitruvian is an innovative connected fitness company that was founded in Perth and launched in 2020. They are now found in over 20 countries!
The founder Jon Gregory was a high-frequency derivatives trader who forged a successful business ahead of the curve when electronic trading tools were first emerging. An applied physicist by education, Gregory’s expertise in building complex algorithms that analyse behaviours and respond favourably to certain conditions laid the perfect foundation for his next solution.
The innovative, smart connected-fitness machine operates by smart algorithms that constantly respond to the way you move.

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