Physical demand of seven closed agility drills

Better position for the wearable sensor to monitor badminton sport training loads

This study purposed to identify the better accelerometer location for monitoring badminton sports training load by investigating the correlation between internal (HR, training impulse [TRIMP]) training load and external (acceleration, player load [PL]) training loads measured from 5 different body locations. Twelve college-level badminton athletes wore a HR transmitter belt and five accelerometers fixed on both hands, legs, and lower back while performing continuous three-minute training of four badminton skills including backhand serve (BS), net shot (NS), footwork training (FT), and jump smash (JS). Results showed PL at the five locations were significantly related to TRIMP (r = 0.570-0.843, p < 0.05), in which PL at lower back has highest Pearson (r = 0.843) and partial (r = 0.366) correlated to TRIMP (p < 0.05). Base on the stepwise multiple regression, PL at lower back and racket hand explained 88% of the variance of TRIMP (R2 = 0.879). In conclusion, lower back is an idea location for accelerometer to monitor overall external training load in badminton if considering one accelerometer location, while combining PL at the lower back and racket hand can predict 88% of the variation of the internal training load.

Trends Supporting the In-Field Use of Wearable Inertial Sensors for Sport Performance Evaluation: A Systematic Review

Recent technological developments have led to the production of inexpensive, non-invasive, miniature magneto-inertial sensors, ideal for obtaining sport performance measures during training or competition. This systematic review evaluates current evidence and the future potential of their use in sport performance evaluation. Articles published in English (April 2017) were searched in Web-of-Science, Scopus, Pubmed, and Sport-Discus databases. A keyword search of titles, abstracts and keywords which included studies using accelerometers, gyroscopes and/or magnetometers to analyse sport motor-tasks performed by athletes (excluding risk of injury, physical activity, and energy expenditure) resulted in 2040 papers. Papers and reference list screening led to the selection of 286 studies and 23 reviews. Information on sport, motor-tasks, participants, device characteristics, sensor position and fixing, experimental setting and performance indicators was extracted. The selected papers dealt with motor capacity assessment (51 papers), technique analysis (163), activity classification (19), and physical demands assessment (61). Focus was placed mainly on elite and sub-elite athletes (59%) performing their sport in-field during training (62%) and competition (7%). Measuring movement outdoors created opportunities in winter sports (8%), water sports (16%), team sports (25%), and other outdoor activities (27%). Indications on the reliability of sensor-based performance indicators are provided, together with critical considerations and future trends.