By Alexander Germanis
It may be hard for many of the younger generation to believe, but there was a time when televisions were much smaller, much heavier, the picture was far less defined, and one had to fiddle with antennas in order to pluck the staticy signal from the air.
Clocks only had hands, and one had to know how to “read” time. Music was playable on magnetic tape or when a needle coursed along grooves in a vinyl disc. Pictures and movies were all shot on celluloid film. Things have changed. Nearly every aspect of our daily lives has moved from analog to digital.
“It’s the digital age; it is incorporated in everything,” confirms Dr. Joseph Norris of McLean County Orthopedics and founder of Method Sports Performance. “It’s in our cars, we even carry it with us when we go to the bathroom”
Other than the readouts on treadmills and the like, the doctor says there is still one place where the digital age has not quite reached: the gym. “I don’t know why it hasn’t gotten there yet,” he laments. That is why Dr. Norris and his colleagues have taken it upon themselves to digitize exercise.
The first step in digitizing exercise is taken through collecting vast amounts of data — data collected from numerous individuals’ metabolic fingerprints. As described in the previous articles of this series, the metabolic fingerprint is a unique number arrived at through a correlation of one’s heart rate range and the rate at which one’s body produces lactate during physical exertion.
Once this data is collected, other vital aspects of proper exercise fall into place. “It all comes full circle,” Dr. Norris confirms. “Once we have the ability and the tools to administer, prescribe, and then collect data, we then have the data to change if something is working dramatically better than another — with lower injury rates and better performance. We know what works best because we will track it over time and then give you that information in the form of better protocols — what we would call ‘best practices.’”
Dr. Norris is already implementing some of those best practices into his own fitness regimen. Subjecting himself as a guinea pig of sorts, he has already witnessed the difference. “My workouts have shortened by 12 minutes to an average of about 45 minutes a day,” he states. “My performance has doubled. Less time with more results is what everybody wants, but now we can prove it with real data.”
That biometric data will be collected for each individual via a wearable device that Dr. Norris says is in the works. “We have an engineer who has the sensor that will detect lactate,” he explains.
While a digital exercise wearable may not sound like a new concept to some, the doctor elucidates the key difference. “Not to kick sand on anything that’s out there now, but to monitor how many times your arm swings gives you no relevant, useful data; it simply gives you an ability to compete,” he says. “But, we will ultimately have a wearable that detects things that show real evidence: heart rate, temperature, lactate, and your metabolic fingerprint real-time throughout a day, which can then be tied into your diet.”
The goal is to negate the need for a traditional wrist-worn wearable and get more accurate data from other parts of the body. “Maybe an earpiece,” Dr. Norris postulates, “because the blood in the ear is very easy to detect.” As the earpiece could be part of an earphone, he surmises, there would be a considerable convenience factor for all those people who already listen to music while working out.
“The scientifically driven model is more than having digital tech to go with it,” the doctor adds. “We will digitize exercise so it’s not only incorporated into things we already use, but so it will be useful in how we gather information on how to change our exercise in the right way, how to prevent injury, and to maximize performance. It’s where we are going for the future — for the next 10 to 20 years.”
To learn more about how the metabolic fingerprint is going to be applied to the digital age, please read “Clockwork Precision in Athletics, Part 7” in next month’s issue of Healthy Cells Magazine. If you missed the previous articles in this series, you may read them online at www.HealthyCellsBN.com, or contact Cheryl at 309-664-2524.
Method Sports Performance, developed by Dr. Norris and Dr. Newcomer, is now open as part of the Integrated Center for Wellness. Method Sports Performance offers a science-based approach to improving the performance of athletes of all ages. For more information, you may visit their website www.themethoddifference.com, or contact Dr. Norris at joseph.norris@themethoddifference.com.