Bar Path Tracking: Useful or a Waste of Time?
I get asked a lot what bar path app I use, and my answer is: none. I want to explain why because it’s not just because I’m some Luddite curmudgeon, and it’s important for you guys to understand the limitations and drawbacks.
There’s a lack of accuracy that makes the resulting data minimally valuable. Not only must the camera be aligned perfectly at the lifter’s side to track the path accurately, but because the app is tracking an end of the barbell, any rotation of the athlete, which happens in nearly every lift, corrupts the path and magnifies or changes whatever motion is occurring at the center of the barbell where it actually matters.
This means you’re creating an inaccurate bar path, and then using that inaccurate path to evaluate a lift, meaning the resulting interpretations and actions are inaccurate and likely improper. You’re investing valuable time and energy into something that’s not only inaccurate but potentially misleading.
The simplest example is that rotation in the trunk or hips during the pull is going to make the end of the bar move forward or backward relative the center of the bar, depending on what side is being observed; that means the path can suggest that the bar is too far forward when it’s not, or that it’s staying close when it’s actually moving away. The only part of the bar that matters with regard to path is the center—which you can’t see for the entire lift from the side.
But, you weep defensively, even if it’s not perfectly accurate, it still gives me an idea of what the bar is doing!
Sure—it gives you the same level of accuracy that simply watching a lift from the side does. The difference is that doing it without a bar path app is quicker, easier and always free.
Moreover, most actual bar path issues are so obvious they can be seen even from an oblique angle. If divergence from the ideal is so minimal that you need that level of technology to observe it, it’s arguably not anything you need to be worrying about.
My suggestion is to view lifts most often from an oblique angle closer to profile than front—if on video, watch it in slow motion. This allows you to see the end of the bar, the center of the bar, the position of the body at any point, and how the bar and body interact the entire way through the lift—in other words, unlike with just a bar path, you can watch the entire bar-body system from start to finish to see what’s going wrong, when and why. Only then can you determine effective corrections.
Listen: use bar path apps if you want. Just be aware of what you’re doing, the degree of accuracy, how you’re interpreting what you’re seeing, and whether or not you’re actually achieving the results you believe you are, or just distracting yourself with shiny bobbles and trinkets while making no meaningful progress.
There’s a lack of accuracy that makes the resulting data minimally valuable. Not only must the camera be aligned perfectly at the lifter’s side to track the path accurately, but because the app is tracking an end of the barbell, any rotation of the athlete, which happens in nearly every lift, corrupts the path and magnifies or changes whatever motion is occurring at the center of the barbell where it actually matters.
This means you’re creating an inaccurate bar path, and then using that inaccurate path to evaluate a lift, meaning the resulting interpretations and actions are inaccurate and likely improper. You’re investing valuable time and energy into something that’s not only inaccurate but potentially misleading.
The simplest example is that rotation in the trunk or hips during the pull is going to make the end of the bar move forward or backward relative the center of the bar, depending on what side is being observed; that means the path can suggest that the bar is too far forward when it’s not, or that it’s staying close when it’s actually moving away. The only part of the bar that matters with regard to path is the center—which you can’t see for the entire lift from the side.
But, you weep defensively, even if it’s not perfectly accurate, it still gives me an idea of what the bar is doing!
Sure—it gives you the same level of accuracy that simply watching a lift from the side does. The difference is that doing it without a bar path app is quicker, easier and always free.
Moreover, most actual bar path issues are so obvious they can be seen even from an oblique angle. If divergence from the ideal is so minimal that you need that level of technology to observe it, it’s arguably not anything you need to be worrying about.
My suggestion is to view lifts most often from an oblique angle closer to profile than front—if on video, watch it in slow motion. This allows you to see the end of the bar, the center of the bar, the position of the body at any point, and how the bar and body interact the entire way through the lift—in other words, unlike with just a bar path, you can watch the entire bar-body system from start to finish to see what’s going wrong, when and why. Only then can you determine effective corrections.
Listen: use bar path apps if you want. Just be aware of what you’re doing, the degree of accuracy, how you’re interpreting what you’re seeing, and whether or not you’re actually achieving the results you believe you are, or just distracting yourself with shiny bobbles and trinkets while making no meaningful progress.
