I have never heard of it, but I knew someone here would know something.
Do they recycle the transmitter after it is crapped out?
The pill and the transmitter is for real…
The NCAA schools are trying to fund using them. Here is a snipit from the Vikings camp…
The temperature monitoring technology, called the CorTemp Ingestible Core Body Temperature Sensor, is made by HQ Inc. of Palmetto, Fla. Each pill costs $30 or $40, said Susan Smith, the company’s director of sales and marketing. The sensors that go with it are about $2,400, she said.
Heat pillThe pill was invented in the late 1980s by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C. It was intended to monitor the body temperatures of astronauts in space. Now it’s used in a variety of settings, in medical research, by firefighters, in animals, and to measure the internal temperature of industrial machines and highways, Smith said.
And in the wake of some heat-related deaths of athletes in recent years, the company has been marketing it to college and professional sports teams.
Heat pill sensing deviceJerry HoltStar Tribune"It’s exciting that this technology has been brought into the sports field," said Vikings head trainer Chuck Barta. “I think a lot of NFL teams could end up using it.”
The silicon-coated pill contains a telemetry system, a microbattery and a quartz crystal temperature sensor. Once inside the gastrointestinal tract, the crystal sensor vibrates at a frequency relative to body temperature. It transmits the information with a magnetic signal to a hand-held recorder that stores the information. The readings also can be downloaded to a computer. A trainer waves an electronic wand close to a player to read the signal from the crystal sensor.
J
Why does it matter if the sled alters his sprint mechanics at all? He isn’t going to be in open field that often. Chances are he’ll have to break tackles and/or juke to before he gets a chance to use perfect sprinting form in the open field. Proper sprint mechanics don’t apply when hitting or breaking tackles either. If you overuse any training method then you’ll begin to have problems. I think the sled (running or walking) with heavy weight is a good idea for a football player, though maybe not so good for a sprinter.
Wuf~
I agree, and usually use sleds and uphill running early in the training cycle. beside for altering mechanics slightly, it increases ground contact time.
If used early during a GPP / Early Accel period, this isn’t a factor. In fact, both methods are a good way to get the proper accel angles without needing maximal force output…
Does this make sense? I cannot get a huge lean due to it being early in the season and me not generating huge forces yet, so I just change the angle of the ground…
Now, in team sports, as you can see, most of the gains many of the gains made are in spite of the training employed, and these guys are so strong that the poor running form is many times overcome by relative strength levels.
The prime example again returns to Archuletta. He was not only strong, but his elastic / reactive qualities were amazing. He ran like a sissy in Indy… but he clocked a sweet 4.41 or so…
An example of a very powerful man trained to absorb and produce force extremely efficiently… the rest is icing.
But, from a sprint standpoint, with every 100th of a second counting, I would stay away from many of the devices out there. I agree with you that after the very early initial GPP / drive phase, mechanics are just too important to mess with. Thsi would include ground contact time, and strike of the foot (either in front of / behing COG), and hip height.
Hip height is a huge one I didn’t address because in team sports you usually keep your hips mack in order to cut quickly… as a sprinter they drive forward much earl;ier and are carried high… a sled often prevents this from happening…
J
Yoda~
Well said. The only issue is that in order to burst, only the first few steps are muscled…
So run all you want with a heavy sled. After the first two steps you will be muscling the run, I will be bounding it…
I do agree that trying to run for very short distances with a very heavy sled might make you more able to break through arm tackles and the like…maybe…but again, most of that isn’t strength, it is power… and is done at a much faster rate than running with a sled.
Who should use a sled is the big men… when they lock up on another man to drive them, they use strength… just like the sled.
So if you want to be good at moving furniture, drag the heavy sled.
Here is a great example: you know who looks like ke drags a sled ALOT? Alstott. He is a big strong guy, for sure…
In fact he is so strong that he Muscles the run… He definitely doesn’t bound and gallop.
That is the firing pattern you are training when you drag a heavy sled… to muscle the run.
I cannot believe I didn’t use this example earlier.
Jumanji,
Well put. He’s probably not going to have to lock up with someone that long and his time would be better spent training his reactive ability. Thanks for your intelligent responses.
Yoda~
No problemo. Now, to give you props, if he was a little skinny legged twirp, we might lock him up in the sled because muscle is what is needed… I know this makes sense to you…
BTW, in your avatar the view must be great…
You look like a big dude…
I’m about 190. I played football in high school, now I’m a cheerleader. Go figure. Love it though.