How to Use Wearable Technology to Track Training and Recovery

March 30, 2018

Don Moxley is an exercise physiologist and the Sports Scientist for the Ohio State University Wrestling Team.  With a passion for teaching and coaching, he specializes in fitness and athletic assessment, training, and performance optimization.  Under his guidance, the OSU team won their first-ever National Championship in 2015, and individuals on the team have gone on to win national titles and Olympic medals.  His strategy involves analyzing Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and other biomarkers in order to plan personalized training and recovery regimens for his athletes.

Don is here today with Dr. Tommy Wood to discuss using wearable technology to track readiness, improve resilience, and prevent overtraining and injuries. He shares the powerful impact of psychological stress, sleep, and recovery on athletic performance, and also reveals the key performance indicators for world-class wrestling, as well as the devices and assessment strategies he uses for his own athletes.   

Here’s the outline of this interview with Don Moxley:

[00:00:16] Ohio State Wrestling Team, Sports Scientist.
[00:00:25] Elite HRV podcast.
[00:00:49] Podcast: Optimal Diet and Movement for Healthspan, Amplified Intelligence and More with Ken Ford.
[00:01:00] Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC).
[00:03:19] Bob Bartels, Edward Fox.
[00:03:53] Kevin Akins.
[00:04:03] Louie Simmons, Westside Barbell.
[00:04:28] Ted Lambrinides Hammer Strength.
[00:04:42] Steve Bliss, National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
[00:06:16] Human Performance Center at Columbus State Community College.
[00:06:38] HealthFirst, Polar.
[00:07:35] Applying technology to exercise science.
[00:09:13] Wrestling overview.
[00:09:56] Weight cutting.
[00:12:16] Long term athlete development model.
[00:13:51] Tom Ryan.
[00:14:14] Velotron, CompuTrainer.
[00:14:37] Pelatonia fundraiser.
[00:15:45] Zephyr bioharness.
[00:16:33] Overtraining syndrome.
[00:17:31] Readiness, Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences (RMSSD).
[00:20:11] Functional Movement Screening
[00:21:15] Raouf “Ron” Gharbo.
[00:21:35] Firstbeat system.
[00:21:54] Resting nighttime RMSSD predicts success.
[00:22:46] Polar Team Pro Shirt.
[00:23:02] AccuroFit.
[00:23:18] Omegawave. Podcast: How to Measure Readiness to Train, with Val Nasedkin.
[00:24:19] Effect of emotional stress on physiology.
[00:27:30] Talent but no resilience.
[00:28:13] Study: Prochaska, James O., and Wayne F. Velicer. "The transtheoretical model of health behavior change." American journal of health promotion 12.1 (1997): 38-48.
[00:31:00] Study: Marshall, Simon J., and Stuart JH Biddle. "The transtheoretical model of behavior change: a meta-analysis of applications to physical activity and exercise." Annals of behavioral medicine 23.4 (2001): 229-246. Podcast: How to Create Behaviour Change, with Simon Marshall, PhD.
[00:31:53] Elite HRV.
[00:32:09] HR transmitter sampling at >200hz; Polar monitors (H7, H10), Ouraring.
[00:33:40] Tracking and improving sleep.
[00:36:02] Book: The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don’t, by Nate Silver.
[00:36:14] Wearable data systems: Zebra, Catapult.
[00:37:26] Factors that correlate with athletic success.
[00:41:37] Parasympathetic, sympathetic.
[00:43:54] Parasympathetic co-stimulation.
[00:46:06] Subjective questions.
[00:49:22] Faster buy-in.
[00:50:24] Female athletes.
[00:51:07] Managing the athlete's stress response.
[00:52:22] Observing coaches.
[00:53:14] Best practice for athlete and coach.
[00:55:07] Find Don: donmoxley@gmail, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, about.me.