Force Plates: What Are they?
So we see you have these force plates, but what are they?
Force plates are like a large sensitive scale. They help detect changes in athletic qualities such as power, speed, and strength just like a scale can detect changes in weight. But before we dive into what they detect and how we use them, let’s take a step back to see how they work.
Have you ever wondered how a bathroom scale works? Scales in themselves detect force also. Our universal measurement of “weight” is actually related to force. When you step on a scale, it detects how much “standing force” you are acting on the pressure sensors on the bottom of the scale, and gives you a number reflected in pounds.
Force plates work the same way! They are extremely sensitive bathroom scales that give us more information on how our force changes as we move. With force plates we can squat or jump to give us an indication of how we can accelerate our body against gravity. Depending on the performance test we choose, the results give us implications on power, strength, speed, and change of direction qualities in response to training or competition stress. It can even tell us about any asymmetries that might be present from side to side in the body. This is pretty cool and useful because most sports, and our success in performance, is predicated on an athlete’s ability to accelerate and decelerate the body in multiple planes of motion.
Force plate testing and monitoring are a big part of how we manage our athletes from week to week, season to season, and year to year. Over time the data helps us to compile a profile documenting the athleticism of each individual. We also use that data to guide current and future programming, and even as a tool to return athletes to performance after an injury!
Whether you train with us or not, this information helps give you specific insights to how your athleticism changes over time, and in turn will help you make better decisions in your training blocks. Come check us out, and ask more about our force plate assessments!