How to test reaction time off the start signal with one phone in the SpeedTrackr app, and how to read the number
Most sprint testing starts the clock when the athlete moves. That leaves out a piece of the start: the gap between the signal and the first movement.
That gap is reaction time. It is small, but on a short sprint it is part of the race, and it is one of the few things you can practise every day without a track, a partner or any equipment.
Here is how that works in the SpeedTrackr app.
Open Reaction, set the phone so it can see you in your start position, and get set. The phone gives the start signal and measures how long it takes you to move off it. A session is three reps, and your result is in milliseconds.
That is the whole setup. No second phone, no cones, no space beyond where you stand. It is why reaction is the easiest test to repeat.
Repeating it is the point, because a single rep tells you very little. Reaction time moves around from rep to rep and from day to day. Sleep, focus, a loud room or a slightly different stance will all show up in the number. So the habits below matter more than any one result.
Keep the setup the same. Same spot, same phone position, same start stance, same volume. If you change the setup, you are testing the setup, not the athlete.
Test at the same point in the session. After the warm-up and before hard sprint work is a good default. Reaction after a heavy lifting block is a different test.
Do not guess the signal. If you start moving before you hear it, you are training anticipation, not reaction. A clean slow rep is more useful than a lucky fast one.
Use the best of the three reps for the day, and read the trend over weeks, not one day against the next. A bad Tuesday is not a lost week. A slower trend over two or three weeks is worth a look.
Your Home screen shows your personal record in every test, reaction included, with the date it was set. A best from the last week is marked NEW.
If you coach a group, turn on Coach Mode. Coach Mode is on the web app and on Android. Add athletes in the Squad tab, or type a name when you save a result. Each athlete gets one page with their records, progress and every result. Reaction is a good one for a squad because each athlete can do their three reps in under a minute while the next one gets ready.
The Android app is on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedtrackr.reactionpro
On an iPhone or a laptop, use the web app: https://www.speedtrackr.com/auth/login
There is no native iPhone app. iPhone users use the web app.
Try it at your next session, straight after the warm-up. One spot, one stance, three reps. Save the best one. That is your baseline, and the number to beat next week.
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