{"id":3278,"date":"2016-04-19T10:34:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T15:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/for-wisconsin\/?post_type=campus_story&p=3278"},"modified":"2016-04-19T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-19T15:34:08","slug":"uw-spinoff-tracks-weightlifter-safety-performance","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/uw-spinoff-tracks-weightlifter-safety-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"UW spinoff tracks weightlifter safety, performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Members<\/a>
Members of the UW-Oshkosh Titans football team, shown in action against Finlandia University last September, will be testing WeightUp monitors to count reps and test for proper form in their weightlifting routines. PHOTO \u00a9 UW-OSHKOSH INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Madison startup company that is only 14 months old has installed computerized monitors to track weightlifting by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh football team. The company that developed and built the monitors, WeightUp Solutions<\/a> of Madison, was founded by Daniel Litvak, who is now a computer science senior at UW\u2013Madison.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Litvak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are trying to get athletes to understand that we want them to move the bar with as much intent and speed as they can,\u201d says Steve Brown, UW-Oshkosh strength and conditioning coach, who will be testing the WeightUp system through the end of the year. \u201cNot just to lift it, but to lift it fast and straight. This will selectively recruit certain muscle fibers to maximize force production.\u201d<\/p>\n

WeightUp embeds a computer chip, a location-finding device, and a Bluetooth transmitter into an elastic band. With one band on each forearm, the device can signal the bands\u2019 location to a nearby tablet computer to show the location, direction and speed of the lifter\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

The result, Litvak says, is a unique weightlifter monitoring system that not only counts reps \u2014 acting like a \u201cteam snitch\u201d to ensure that athletes meet the coach\u2019s requirements \u2014 but also can detect sloppy form that can undermine the strength training benefits of lifting or even cause injury.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The WeightUp monitoring system not only counts reps \u2014 acting like a \u201cteam snitch\u201d to ensure that athletes meet the coach\u2019s requirements \u2014 but also can detect sloppy form. PHOTO: WEIGHTUP SOLUTIONS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Litvak had the epiphany behind WeightUp while watching lifters record their repetitions on paper. Having co-founded Fetch Rewards<\/a>, a grocery shopper\u2019s app in 2013, Litvak was flabbergasted. \u201cAs an entrepreneur and a computer science major, there was no better word than \u2018dumb\u2019 for that,\u201d he says. \u201cI started looking at how you could digitize record-keeping, to get a better picture of what was actually happening, and at the same time encourage proper form.\u201d<\/p>\n

In conversations with gym owners, personal trainers and football coaches, Litvak asked about \u201cpain points\u201d in the weight room, using startup lingo for \u201cproblems we might solve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Automatic rep counters already on the market do little beyond counting and cannot detect how the lifts are changing over the training session, Litvak says. \u201cUnless the lifter says, \u2018I was getting tired on the second set,\u2019 you are not going to get that information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Form matters in lifting, says longtime lifter Pete Chulick, WeightUp co-founder and electrical and computer engineering grad student who focuses on software. \u201cIf you squat with your back hunched, you can throw out your back, and we can detect that,\u201d says Chulick. \u201cWe are doing a lot more than just counting reps, and that\u2019s why coaches are excited about this system.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WeightUp<\/a>
WeightUp embeds a computer chip, a location-finding device, and a Bluetooth transmitter into an elastic band. The device can signal the band\u2019s location to a nearby tablet computer. PHOTO: WEIGHTUP SOLUTIONS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Initially, Litvak considered putting monitoring devices on weight machines, but then shifted to \u201cwearables,\u201d elastic wrist bands containing micro-computers and sensors that \u201cspeak\u201d via Bluetooth to an Android tablet. As Litvak worked through successively more presentable designs, he faced a key marketing decision. \u201cWe knew we had cool technology, and we had some traction with consumers, gyms, trainers, football teams and medical providers, but we didn\u2019t know who would want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oshkosh trial will be focused on the football team, says Brown. \u201cIf I\u2019m looking to experiment, the sheer number in the football program allows us to get a good sample size.\u201d<\/p>\n

WeightUp\u2019s advantage over the existing system stems from its use on two bands, Brown says. \u201cFrom an injury-reduction standpoint, you can see if one arm or leg is stronger than the other. That helps us dig a little deeper into how we are training, and enables us to correct deficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enabling a coach, or a lifter, to get instant access to records is another benefit of the WeightUp system, Chulick says. \u201cI\u00a0 have a three-inch binder with all my workouts for the past five years, but I don\u2019t know if the trends are good or bad \u2014 can\u2019t see progress. With our system, you can just press a button and see the whole record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/a>
Pete Chulick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWeightUp is a wonderful example of the UW\u2013Madison\u00a0 entrepreneurial ecosystem coming together to help a gifted team launch a startup,\u201d says Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship<\/a> on campus. \u201cThe team brings together experiences from the Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Bootcamp<\/a> and other parts of campus, such as the Internet of Things Lab<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

With smart watches offering fitness tracking, WeightUp is racing to market, and it already employs six part-timers from the UW\u2013Madison Computer Sciences Department<\/a>. In the startup world, as in lifting, speed matters, Litvak says. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to do okay. In this business, you either hit a home run, or you go out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Madison startup company that is only 14 months old has installed computerized monitors to track weightlifting by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh football team. The company that developed and built the monitors, WeightUp Solutions of Madison, was founded by Daniel Litvak, who is now a computer science senior at UW\u2013Madison. \u201cWe are trying to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[103,94],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-3278","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-madison","institution-uw-oshkosh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/3278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=3278"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=3278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}