Coaches are always on the lookout for the next best investment in order to get their athletes performing at the highest level. Leading sports teams around the world have picked Exerfly as their strength and conditioning equipment of choice because of its innovations using motorized technology to achieve eccentric overload. We’ve recompiled the features and benefits of our motorised option as well as how it has driven Memphis Grizzlies Director of Performance Chris Chase and former Olympian, Power Physiologist & NTC Strength and Conditioning Manager Angus Ross’ athletes to success.

Exerfly's Motorized Technology

Exerfly’s revolutionary motorized technology gives users the option to train supramaximally using eccentric overload. Eccentric overload happens when the motor is used to provide more energy to the flywheel speed in the eccentric phase of a movement. The energy boosted through the flywheel during the eccentric phase is based on how much energy the athlete is producing during the concentric phase. For example, if an athlete sets their eccentric overload boost to 20%, the flywheel will be given 20% more energy in the eccentric phase of a movement than it had in the concentric phase. The flywheel will spin faster and the user will get an eccentric overload.

The optional motorized technology can be used with either the Exerfly Platform or Exerfly Rack-Mount. Through the Exerfly app, athletes simply select their desired eccentric overload (between 1-80%). Once on the machine, the equipment will beep several times, warning the athlete the machine is about to start. The beeps will speed up, and once the athlete is in position, the motorised technology will kick in during the eccentric phase with the selected overload.

Eccentric Overload Training

Eccentric overload training has been highly favoured against traditional free weights as they have resulted in greater improvements in both eccentric and concentric force, muscle power and muscle hypertrophy in healthy subjects. It has been proven to leads to faster muscle adaptations in trained athletes, better suiting them for fast, explosive movements. Eccentric overload training has been seen to show promising results in rehabilitation, concretely in u treating tendinopathies.

Featuring industry-leading motorised technology, Exerfly allows athletes to push themselves to new levels, which are almost impossible to achieve otherwise. Now, athletes can add a resistance boost of up to 80% in the eccentric phase of a movement, allowing users to achieve greater eccentric overload for even better results in both the concentric and eccentric phases.

Chris Chase

Chris Chase, sitting in his fifth year as the Director of Performance for the Memphis Grizzlies, was initially drawn towards Exerfly because there was a need of setting up and send out fitness workouts for players during lockdown and tracking their progress remotely. Chris was also interested in having equipment that he could take on the road, could set up anywhere, did not require a lot of storage and could provide his athletes high forceloads when training. Chris wanted a piece of equipment that could mimic basketball programming, such as replicate hops and jumps. There was also a need to diversify the training menu, as key goals had to be met in order for Chris to understand his athlete’s KPI’s in terms of performance.

With Exerfly, Chris discovered the benefits of isoinertial training and the Memphis Grizzlies were able to train with a lot more force and significantly less weight than conventional training equipment. Additionally, flywheel training supplied his athletes high forceloads at quick speeds, and these movements were easily transferred to the court. Chris was able to keep his team training at the same rhythm- from those who were playing over 30 mins a game, to the bench reserves- during lockdown, in-season and off-season.

Chris was able to replicate real sports movements at a higher level with Exerfly’s motorised equipment, and was able to monitor key performance metrics such as eccentric peak forces that could allow him to track the progress of his players. Chris was able to work on his athlete’s hip-knee-ankle flexions dynamically, whilst still catering for it in an easy and trainable way. In dealing with specifically male adult population being subjected to tedious forces when competing in the NBA, Chris recognised Exerfly’s motorised equipment as a valuable piece.

Exerfly’s motorised technology is fun and accommodating to resistance, meaning it offers a much lower barrier of entry for athletes who are not used to descending into athletic positions. It is a new, exciting way to train and it provides a different stimulus and feeling than conventional training, that is challenging and very fun for athletes. Players are able to perform exercises and variations from the first day they use Exerfly’s motorised equipment because they can incorporate movements and workouts they are already familiar with . Athletes  who are not proficient at descending into an athletic position have limited areas of mobility which Exerfly is able target and eccentrically orient their pelvis in a way that allows them to descend properly. For Chris’ players, the rhythm created by Exerfly’s motorised equipment allows for more unloading and descending into something that replicates the feeling of performing a high intensity jump.

Angus Ross

Angus Ross, Olympic bobsledder and Power Physiologist & NTC Strength and Conditioning Manager at High Performance Sport New Zealand, relied on Exerfly for eccentric overload training when overseeing shot put champion Tom Walsh’s journey to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. After training with the equipment, Angus found eccentric training as more efficient and effective in developing strength as opposed to lifting heavy weights. When using Exefly’s motorised technology, the three-time world champion Walsh was subjected to a change in speed and tempo during his exercises, where his muscles were challenged and pushed to a higher level.

For Angus, the main drawing point for Exerfly was that concentric exercises could not be performed fast and heavily simultaneously. “In contrast the unique stimulus that eccentric training provides is to allow high muscle tensions and high speed to be trained at the same time – which is in turn leads to different muscular adaptations ” explains Angus.

Traditional strength training is known to depress fast twitch muscles, even in mild excess, which can be detrimental to a thrower’s performance as they need to be as explosive as possible. Angus discovered that with eccentric training, especially high speed eccentric training, the fast twitch muscles were actually enhanced. “Eccentric is a relatively unique training stimulus and a great way to help develop fast twitch muscles and improve contractile speed,” adds Angus.

Summary

Leading sports trainers and coaches around the world have seen significant improvements in the results of their players' performance when incorporating eccentric overloading in their training routine using Exerfly’s motorised technology. These results are quantified by the Exerfly app which receives 4000 data points per second via the in-built sensor within the equipment, which gets translated into precise workout metrics for effortless accountability. Trainers are able to monitor their athletes’ progress remotely and can customise and share personalised workout plans for their players to follow.

Eccentric overloading has quickly been recognised as playing a key role in improving sports teams athletic performance and preventing musculoskeletal injuries, which is why Exerfly has been approached by the world’s leading coaches for it’s revolutionary motorised technology. If you’re a trainer looking to elevate your team’s athletic results, book a free consultation with us and we'll customise the perfect training solution for your athletes.