DEV Community: Dafin Edison J

10 metres or 30 metres? Pick the sprint test distance before you pick the stopwatch

Dafin Edison J — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 08:00:19 +0000

Ask ten coaches how far their sprint test is and you will hear 10 m, 20 m, 30 m, 40 m and "whatever fits on the field".

The distance is not a detail. It decides what the test is actually measuring. Pick it on purpose, write it down and keep it.

What each distance tells you

10 m is almost all start. The first few steps, how hard the athlete pushes out, how quickly they get off the line. Most team-sport efforts in football, rugby, hockey and cricket between the wickets are short bursts like this.

20 m is still acceleration, but the athlete is a few strides further into the run. It is a good middle choice when you want one number for a squad that plays a field sport.

30 m to 40 m adds the later part of acceleration, when athletes keep building speed. Sprinters and anyone whose sport has longer runs get more from this one.

None of these is the "right" test. The right test is the one that matches what your athletes do in their sport.

One run gives one time

A timing gate setup with a start phone and a finish phone gives one time for the whole distance, from start to finish. It does not give split times. A 30 m run does not also tell you the athlete's 10 m time.

So if you want both numbers, run them as two separate tests: a few reps at 10 m, then move the finish phone and run a few reps at 30 m. Treat them as two different results, not one.

When you change the distance in the app, Timing Gates reminds you to move the finish phone. Move it, measure the new distance with a tape, and do not trust paces or painted lines you did not measure yourself.

Keep longer tests for good conditions

The longer the distance, the more the setup has to go right. The finish phone has to stay still on the finish line, the athletes have to cross in good light, and nobody can wander through the finish view.

If your session is in the evening or the light is poor, a shorter test you can trust is worth more than a longer one that misses reps.

Write it down and never change it

Once you have chosen a distance, it is part of the test. A 20 m time in March and a 25 m time in May cannot be compared, and neither can a 20 m time from a standing start and one from a crouch.

Write down:

The distance, measured with a tape
The start position (standing, two-point, three-point)
The surface and the footwear
The number of reps and the rest between them

Then use the same card every testing day. In Coach Mode each time saves to the athlete you pick before the rep, so the history on their page stays on one distance as long as your card does.

A simple plan for a squad

Field sports: 10 m and 20 m, three reps each, the 10 m first
Sprinters: 30 m, three reps with full rest
Testing alone: one distance only, so the session stays short and your setup stays the same

The setup, briefly

Two phones. The start phone goes right next to the start line and plays the start cue from its own speaker. The finish phone sits still on the finish line. The second phone can be another Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop through the web app. Timing Gates time one athlete at a time.

It is practice-grade start and finish timing: one time per rep for the whole distance, no split times, not a fully automatic timing system. It is built for tracking your own athletes over weeks and months, and for that the most important thing is that the distance never changes.

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

Set up your squad the night before test day, not on the track

Dafin Edison J — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 05:55:07 +0000

The worst part of most testing days is the first twenty minutes. Athletes are warm and waiting. The coach is typing names into a phone, asking someone how to spell their surname, finding a charger and trying to remember who runs first.

By the time the first rep goes, half the warm-up has worn off.

None of that has to happen on the track. Almost all of it can be done the night before, in about ten minutes.

Put every athlete in the Squad tab

Turn on Coach Mode in Profile and add the whole group in the Squad tab before the session. Use the name the athlete actually answers to, and keep it the same every time. "Rahul K" this week and "Rahul" next week becomes two athletes with half a history each.

If two athletes share a first name, add an initial now, not when they are both standing in front of you.

Free coaches can add as many athletes as they need. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app, so you can do this on a laptop at home if that is easier.

Have body weights ready for jump athletes

If the session includes a jump test, the app asks for the athlete's body weight once, the first time they are picked for a jump. It is saved on that athlete's page after that, so jump power uses the right weight for every athlete instead of the coach's own.

Get the weights in advance. Asking a squad to step on scales one by one in the middle of a jump test is slow, and guessed weights make the power numbers meaningless.

Write the order down

Two orders matter: the test order and the athlete order.

Test order: least tiring first. Reaction or jumps before sprints, sprints before heavy lifting. Use the same order every testing day so fatigue is the same each time.

Athlete order: decide who goes first, second and third, and keep that rotation. In a sprint test the rotation is also the rest. With five or six athletes, each one gets a few minutes between reps without anyone checking a watch.

Put both on one card or one note on your phone.

Know the first test for each athlete

Anyone new to the group has no earlier result, so their first test is a baseline, not a best. The app treats it the same way: an athlete's first result is never tagged as a new best.

For everyone else, look at the Squad tab the night before. It shows when each athlete last tested and how many results they have. If someone has not tested since the last block, you know their result tomorrow is the one to compare against that.

Get the phones ready

Charge both phones fully. A timing session with the screen on and the camera running uses a lot of battery.

Update the app on every Android phone you will use, so both gates are on the same version. If the second gate is an iPhone or a laptop, it uses the web app, so it only needs a reload.

Pack the tripods or whatever keeps the phones still, a tape measure and markers for the lines. The finish phone should sit still on the finish line, not in someone's hand.

On the day

Set up the gates before the athletes arrive. The start phone goes right next to the start line and plays the start cue from its own speaker. Measure the distance with the tape. Pair the phones and run one practice rep yourself.

Then when the warm-up ends, the only job left is to pick the athlete before each rep, so every time lands on the right athlete's page.

Timing Gates time one athlete at a time, from start to finish. It is practice-grade start and finish timing: one time per rep for the whole distance, no split times, not a fully automatic timing system. It is built for tracking your own athletes over weeks and months.

The checklist

The night before:

Every athlete in the Squad tab, with a name that will not change
Body weights for anyone doing a jump test
Test order and athlete order on one card
A quick look at who tested last block and who is new
Both phones charged and updated, tripods, tape and markers packed

On the day:

Gates set up before the athletes arrive
One practice rep through the gates
Pick the athlete, run the rep, next athlete

The test itself takes the same time either way. What changes is whether your athletes spend the session running or waiting.

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

Warm up the same way every test day, or your sprint times will not compare

Dafin Edison J — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:11:11 +0000

Two athletes run a 20 m test. One did ten minutes of drills and three build-up runs. The other jogged one lap and chatted. The second athlete is slower by a tenth. Did they get slower, or did they just warm up less?

You cannot tell. That is the problem with a warm-up that changes every test day.

Most coaches keep the distance, the lines and the start the same. Fewer keep the warm-up the same, and it moves a sprint or jump result as much as anything else in the session. Too little and the first reps are flat. Too much, or too long before the test, and the athlete is tired or cold again by the time it is their turn.

So I use one warm-up for every test day and write it down.

The warm-up, about 15 minutes

Raise the temperature, 3 to 4 minutes. Easy jog, skips, side shuffles. Nothing hard.
Move the joints, 3 to 4 minutes. Leg swings front to back and side to side, walking lunges, hip openers, ankle bounces.
Sprint drills, 3 minutes. A-march, A-skip, fast feet, straight-leg bounds. Short, quick, two or three lengths each.
Build-up runs, 3 to 4 minutes. Three runs of about 30 m at roughly 60, 75 and 90 percent effort, walking back between them.
One practice start, under the real cue. The athlete sets up exactly as they will for the test and goes on the same start signal. This is the rep that tells you everything is ready.
Two to three minutes of walking rest. Then the first test rep.

That is it. Same order, same number of drills, same build-ups, every time.

Why each part is there

The jog and mobility work get the athlete warm and loose without tiring them.

The drills and build-ups are what actually prepare the legs for a fast effort. Skip them and the first test rep often becomes a second warm-up, which wastes one of your best attempts.

The practice start matters more than it looks. It rehearses the stance and the cue, so the first real rep is not the first time the athlete hears the signal today.

The rest at the end lets them recover from the build-ups before the test.

Before a jump test

Keep the same first part, then swap the sprint work for a few jumps: three easy countermovement jumps, two at about 80 percent, and one near-maximal. Rest two minutes, then test. If you are testing drop jumps, do one or two easy drops from the box you will test from.

If the test day has several tests

Do the full warm-up once at the start. Then give each station a short top-up: one or two build-ups before sprints, a couple of jumps before jumps. Run the tests in the same order every time, least tiring first, so the warm-up and the fatigue are the same for each test from one block to the next.

How I fit the phones in

I set up the timing gates before the athletes arrive, so the warm-up is not spent fiddling with phones. The start phone sits right next to the start line and plays the start cue from its own speaker. The finish phone is on the finish line, still, not hand-held.

The practice start in step 5 goes through the gates. If both phones catch it, the setup is ready and the first test rep counts. If something is off, you fix it now, not after an athlete has already spent their best rep.

Timing Gates time one athlete at a time from start to finish. The second phone can be another Android phone, or an iPhone or laptop on the web app. It is practice-grade start and finish timing, made for tracking your own athletes over time.

If you coach a squad, turn on Coach Mode and pick the athlete before each rep, so every time lands on the right athlete's page. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app.

Write it down

Put the warm-up on one card or in your notes: the five steps, how long each takes, and how long the rest is before the first rep. Use that card every test day. When a time goes up or down, you want to know it was the athlete, not the warm-up.

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

Countermovement jump, drop jump or hops: pick the jump test that answers your question

Dafin Edison J — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 03:00:38 +0000

"Let's test the jump" sounds like one test. It is really three.

A countermovement jump, a drop jump and a set of hops all end with an athlete in the air, but they ask different questions. If you pick the wrong one, you get a clean number that does not tell you what you wanted to know.

Here is how I choose.

Countermovement jump: how high can they get?

Stand tall, dip, jump as high as you can, land. No box, no rush.

This is the test for plain jump height. The athlete has as much time as they like to load, so it shows how much force they can put into the ground when time is not the limit. It goes up when strength and power training is working.

Use it for most athletes, most of the time. It is easy to coach, easy to repeat, and the simplest number to compare from one block to the next. If you only run one jump test, run this one.

Drop jump: how fast do they turn landing into take-off?

Step off a box, land, and jump straight back up with as little time on the ground as possible.

The number that matters here is not height alone. It is RSI, the reactive strength index: jump height divided by ground contact time. A high RSI means the athlete gets a lot of height out of a short contact. That is the quality sprinters, jumpers and court athletes rely on every time a foot hits the ground.

Use it for athletes whose sport is full of quick contacts, and for athletes in a plyometric block. Two cautions. Keep the box height the same each time you compare, because RSI changes with the drop. And do not give it to someone who cannot yet land a drop jump well; the countermovement jump is enough for them.

Hops: how stiff and springy are the ankles?

Quick, repeated hops on the spot, knees fairly straight, bouncing off the balls of the feet.

Hops give RSI too, but from a different movement: short, fast contacts driven mostly by the ankles. It suits sprinters and anyone working on ankle stiffness, and it needs no box at all.

How I decide

Team sport athlete, general strength and power phase: countermovement jump.
Sprinter, jumper or court athlete in a plyometric block: drop jump RSI, from one fixed box height.
Working on ankles or foot contacts, or no box available: hops.
Not sure: countermovement jump. You can add a reactive test later.

Pick one main test for the block and keep it. Running all three every testing day takes time, tires the athlete, and gives you three numbers to argue about instead of one clear answer.

How I measure them with a phone

All three come from video. I prop a phone low and side-on so the feet and the floor are in frame, film the jumps in the SpeedTrackr Android app or film with the normal camera and import the clip, then mark take-off and landing. The countermovement jump gives jump height. Drop jumps and hops give RSI. Normal 60 fps video works; slow motion is the more precise option. It is film or import, then results, not live analysis.

For drop jumps on Android, you enter the box height first, so RSI results are kept with the box they came from.

If you coach a squad, turn on Coach Mode and pick the athlete before each test. Each athlete's body weight is saved, so jump power is worked out with the right weight, and their jumps sit on their own page next to their sprint and bar speed results. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app.

The short version

Countermovement jump for height. Drop jump for how fast they use the ground. Hops for the ankles. Choose the one that matches the question, keep it for the whole block, and compare like with like.

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

How often should you retest? Less often than you think, and on a calendar

Dafin Edison J — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 02:55:00 +0000

Once coaches start testing with a phone, the next mistake is testing too often. A 20 m sprint every Monday sounds keen. In practice most of the week-to-week change is noise: sleep, a heavy session two days ago, wind, a slow warm-up. You end up reacting to numbers that are not telling you anything.

Testing too rarely has the opposite problem. Nobody remembers the last result, the setup has changed, and the comparison is gone.

Here is how I space tests out now.

Test when the training should have changed something

Speed and jump height do not move in a week. They move over a block of training. So I test at the end of a block, usually every four to six weeks, and again at the start of the next one if there was a break in between.

That gives each test a question to answer. Did the last block of sprint work make this athlete faster over 20 m? Did the plyometric block raise their jump or their RSI? A weekly test cannot answer that. It only tells you how the athlete felt that day.

Put test days in the calendar

I pick the test days when I write the block, not when I feel like checking. A testing week at the end of the block, same weekday, same time of day, same place.

Writing it down in advance does two things. Athletes come in fresh because they know a test is coming. And you stop the habit of grabbing a quick time whenever the session has a spare ten minutes, which is how sloppy, uncomparable numbers get into your records.

Not every number needs a test day

Some numbers come from training itself, and these can be checked every session.

Bar speed is the obvious one. If you film or import your working sets, you already get mean velocity for every rep. You do not need a separate test to see whether the bar is moving well. The trend shows up from normal training.

Reaction is quick enough to do in a warm-up, but I do not read anything into one day. Reaction times move a lot from session to session. I look at the best over a few weeks, not today against yesterday.

Sprint times, jump height and RSI are different. They need a proper warm-up, full effort and the same setup each time, so they get a test day.

A simple calendar that works

Every session: bar speed from filmed or imported working sets.
Warm-up, a few times a week if you like: a short reaction test, best of the reps.
End of each training block (every four to six weeks): 20 m sprint with phone timing gates, countermovement jump, and drop jump RSI if the athlete does plyometrics.
After a long break or an injury: a fresh baseline before you compare anything.

Use the roster to see who is overdue

With a squad, the hard part is not the test. It is knowing who missed it. One athlete was sick on test day, another joined halfway through the block, and a month later you realise they have no result at all.

In SpeedTrackr I turn on Coach Mode and keep every athlete in the Squad tab. It shows when each athlete last tested and how many results they have, so the ones who missed the testing week stand out. I can catch them at the next session instead of finding the gap at the end of the season. When an athlete beats an earlier result, the Squad tab tags it as a NEW BEST. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app.

The tools behind it are simple. Two phones become start and finish gates for the sprint. The second phone can be another Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop on the web app. It is practice-grade start and finish timing: one time for the whole distance, no split times, not a fully automatic timing system. Jump height, RSI and bar speed come from video you film or import and then mark, not live analysis.

The short version

Test speed and jump at the end of each block, on days you planned. Let bar speed come from training. Read reaction over weeks, not days. And check the roster so nobody slips through.

Fewer tests, done the same way each time, tell you more than a number every Monday.

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

Three sprints, real rest: how many reps a sprint test needs

Dafin Edison J — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 03:37:47 +0000

Most sprint tests I see go wrong in one of two ways. The athlete runs once and that one number becomes the result. Or the athlete runs eight times with thirty seconds between reps, and the test turns into conditioning.

Neither tells you how fast the athlete is today. One rep can be a bad start. Eight short-rest reps measure how tired they are getting.

Here is the version I use with phone timing gates.

Two or three reps, all-out

For a 20 m test, I time two or three reps per athlete. Every rep is a full effort from the same start position. No "just a practice one" that gets timed and then argued about later. If a rep is a warm-up, it is not timed.

Three reps is usually enough to get a fair best. If the first two are close, the third often adds nothing, and that is fine. You can stop at two.

Rest like you mean it

The rest between reps matters more than the number of reps. For a short sprint I give a few full minutes of walking rest between reps, and longer for older or stronger athletes who clearly need it.

Rushing the rest is the easiest way to ruin a test. The second rep looks slower, and you cannot tell whether the athlete is slower or just not recovered.

With a squad this solves itself. Run the athletes one after another down the same lane. By the time the last athlete has gone, the first one has had their rest.

Keep the best, not the average

I take the best rep as the test result. The average punishes an athlete for one slipped start, and a slipped start says nothing about speed.

The best rep is also what you compare next time. Same distance, same start, same surface, same number of reps, same rest. If any of those change, the comparison is weaker.

Stop when the times fall

If a rep is clearly slower than the one before it, after proper rest, the athlete is done for the day. Do not chase a better time with a fourth and fifth rep. A fall in speed on a fresh test usually means fatigue, a tight hamstring, or a bad day, and none of those get better with more sprints.

The same goes for any rep that looks wrong: a stumble, a false start, an athlete who pulls up. Note it, do not count it, and decide whether the athlete should run again at all.

How I set it up

Two phones become the start and finish gates in the SpeedTrackr Android app. The second phone can be another Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop on the web app. It is practice-grade start and finish timing: one time per rep for the whole distance, no split times, not a fully automatic timing system.

Before the session, make sure every Android phone is on the latest version from Google Play, so the start and finish phones pair without trouble.

If you coach a group, turn on Coach Mode and pick the athlete before each rep. Every time then lands on that athlete's page. The Squad tab shows when each athlete last tested and tags a NEW BEST when they beat an earlier result, so after a test day you can see who improved without reading through every rep. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app.

The short version

Two or three all-out reps. A few minutes of rest between them. Keep the best. Stop when the times drop. Do it the same way next time.

It is not complicated, but it is the difference between a sprint test you can compare week to week and a set of numbers that just tells you who was tired.

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

Let your warm-up bar speed pick today's working weight

Dafin Edison J — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:33:20 +0000

The program says 100 kg for three sets of five. You walk in after four hours of sleep and a long day. The program still says 100 kg.

Most of us lift it anyway, grind through it, and call it discipline. Sometimes that is right. Sometimes it just means the day you were flat turns into a week you are sore.

There is a simpler way to decide. Your warm-ups already tell you how the day is going. You only need to measure one of them.

The idea

At a weight you know well, your bar speed is fairly steady from week to week. On a good day the bar moves a bit faster than usual. On a flat day it moves slower.

So pick one warm-up weight, measure how fast you move it every session, and let that number nudge the working weight up, keep it where it is, or bring it down.

You are not chasing a perfect formula. You are comparing you today with you on a normal day.

Pick your check weight

Choose one weight from your normal warm-up, heavy enough to mean something but light enough that it never tires you. For a squat with a 100 kg working weight, something around 70 kg works.

Use the same weight every session for that lift. If the check weight changes, the comparison is gone.

Film it the same way every time

Prop the phone side-on at bar height, still, with the plates and the whole bar path in frame. Do not hold it. Film the set in the SpeedTrackr Android app, or film it with the normal camera and import the clip afterwards. The app then gives bar speed for every rep in m/s.

For squats, bench and deadlifts, read the mean speed. Two or three reps is enough. Do them with the same intent every time: controlled down, as fast as you can up.

Build your normal

For the first two or three sessions, just record. Do not change anything yet. The first set at a new weight is shown as the baseline to beat, which is exactly what you want here: a number that says what normal looks like for you at that weight.

After a few sessions you will have a rough normal range. Write it down. For example, 70 kg usually moves somewhere around the same speed, give or take a little.

Read it before the working sets

Now each session you do the check set and look at the best mean speed.

Faster than your usual range: today is a good day. Do the planned weight, and if the plan allows it, add a small jump.

Inside your usual range: do what the program says.

Clearly slower than your usual range: keep the plan's sets and reps but take some weight off, or cut a set. Do not test a max.

The rule I use is to change the load in small steps and only when the speed is clearly outside the normal range. One slightly slow rep is not a bad day. A whole check set well below normal usually is.

Pair it with the set itself

The check set tells you where to start. During the working sets, the speed of the reps tells you when to stop. If the bar slows a lot inside a set, that set is done, even if there are reps left on the plan.

Together they replace a lot of guessing with two simple questions: how fast did the warm-up move, and how much did the set slow down?

Keep it comparable

Same lift, same check weight, same depth or range of motion, same camera spot. Do the check set at the same point in your warm-up, not after something else has already tired you.

If you coach a group, turn on Coach Mode and pick the athlete before each set, so every check set lands on the right athlete's page. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app. Each athlete gets their own normal range, because their check weights and speeds are their own.

One last thing. This is a phone filming a bar, read from video. It is a practical way to compare an athlete with themselves on the same setup, which is all you need to decide whether today is a push day or a hold day.

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

Which box should you drop from? Run a box ladder and let RSI answer

Dafin Edison J — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:48:13 +0000

Most people pick a drop-jump box the same way: whatever is in the corner of the gym. Then they do every drop jump from it for months.

The box height matters more than that. Drop from too low and there is not much to react to. Drop from too high and the athlete sinks into the ground, sits there, and comes off slowly. Somewhere in between is the height where they hit the floor and leave it fast and high. That is the height worth training from, and it is different for different athletes.

You can find it in one session with a phone and a few boxes.

What RSI tells you

RSI, reactive strength index, compares how high the athlete jumps with how long they spend on the ground. High and quick gives a big number. Low or slow gives a small one.

So when you raise the box, you are asking one question: does the athlete still get off the ground quickly, or does the extra height start to cost them?

The setup

You need three or four box heights. For example 20, 30, 40 and 50 cm. Measure them, do not guess.

Prop the phone low and side-on, still, with the box, the landing spot and the athlete's whole body in frame. Do not hold it. Film each drop, or film with the normal camera and import the clip afterwards.

Normal 60 fps video works. Slow motion is the most precise option.

Same instruction every rep: step off, do not jump off, land and go up as fast and as high as you can.

The ladder

Start at the lowest box. Three drops, full rest between them.

Move up one box. Three more drops.

Keep going until the last box, or stop earlier if the landings get heavy and the heels crash down. A drop the athlete cannot control is not a test result.

In the SpeedTrackr Android app, you pick the box height before you mark the jump. Then you mark take-off and landing frame by frame, and the app gives RSI. Because every result is saved with its box height, RSI is compared box by box. A drop from 40 cm is never judged against one from 30 cm.

Reading it

Take the best RSI at each box and put them side by side.

Usually RSI holds or climbs for the first box or two, then starts to fall as the ground contact gets longer. The box just before it falls is a good height to train from for now.

If RSI is already falling from the lowest box, start lower. If it is still climbing at the top, the athlete can handle more, but there is no need to chase it in the same session.

Two athletes in the same squad can land on different boxes. That is the point of running the ladder for each of them instead of setting one box for the whole group.

Keep it comparable

Use the same boxes, the same surface and the same camera spot when you repeat it. Run it fresh, near the start of a session, not after sprints or heavy lifting.

Repeat the ladder every few weeks. If the best box moves up, or RSI at the same box goes up, the athlete is handling more.

If you test a squad, turn on Coach Mode and pick the athlete before each jump, so every drop lands on the right athlete's page. Coach Mode works in the Android app and on the web app. Each athlete's body weight is saved once, so jump results are right for every athlete, not just the coach.

One last thing. This is a phone and a set of boxes, marked by hand from video. It is a practical way to compare an athlete with themselves on the same setup, which is what you need to pick a box.

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

No coach, no partner: how to test yourself with two phones and a tape measure

Dafin Edison J — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:14:29 +0000

Most testing advice assumes there is a second person. Someone fires the start, someone holds the stopwatch, someone films the jump.

A lot of athletes train alone. If that is you, the usual fix is to skip testing and guess. You do not need to. Every test in SpeedTrackr can be run by one person, as long as the phone does the job the partner used to do.

This is how I set up a solo session.

Before you start

Leave Coach Mode off. With it off, the app treats you as the athlete, so every result is saved as yours and the questions it asks talk to you ("Did you cross the finish line?") instead of to a coach.

Bring a tape measure, something to prop a phone against, and a second phone if you want sprint times. The second device can be another Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop.

Reaction: let the phone count you in
Reaction time off the start signal needs one phone. The problem on your own is that you have to tap start and then get into position.

In the Android app, turn on Solo Athlete Mode in the Reaction tool. When you tap start, you get a 10-second countdown, then the start sequence. That is enough time to put the phone down, get set and wait for the signal.

Do three reps and look at the best and the spread, not one number. Reaction moves a lot from rep to rep and day to day, so one fast rep tells you less than three steady ones.

Jump: the phone is your partner on the floor
Jump height and RSI come from video, so the only thing you need is a phone that stays still.

Prop it on the floor or a low bench, side-on, with your whole body and feet in frame. Start recording, step into place, do your jumps, then stop. Or film it with the normal camera and import the clip later.

In the app you mark take-off and landing, and it gives jump height, or RSI for drop jumps and hops. Normal 60 fps video works. Slow motion is the most precise option.

With Coach Mode off, jump power uses your own body weight, so keep the weight in the app up to date.

Sprint: two phones and a 10-second walk
This is the test people think needs a partner. It does not.

Put the start phone at the start line and the finish phone at the finish line, side-on to the lane, both fixed in place, not in your hand. Measure the distance with the tape. Pair the phones.

On the Android start phone, turn on Solo Athlete Mode in Timing Gates. Tap start, and you get a 10-second countdown to reach the start line. Then the phone calls the start, and the finish phone records when you cross.

Two things to know:

The clock starts on the start signal, so your time includes how quickly you react to it. That is fine for comparing yourself week to week, as long as you always start the same way.

It is practice-grade start and finish timing. There are no split times and it is not a fully automatic timing system. It tells you whether you got faster on the same setup, which is what a solo athlete needs.

If you use two Android phones, keep both updated to the latest version from Google Play before a session, so they pair.

Give yourself full rest. Two or three good reps beat six tired ones.

Bar speed: film the set, read it after
Prop the phone side-on, still, with the whole bar path in frame. Film the set, then let the app read it, or import a clip you shot with the normal camera.

You get bar speed for every rep in m/s after the set: mean velocity for squats, presses and deadlifts, peak velocity for Olympic lifts, and velocity loss across the set. It is film or import, then results, not live analysis while you lift.

Use the same load as your last test day if you want to compare. The first set at a new weight is shown as the baseline to beat.

The order, and what to write down

Reaction, jump, sprint, lift. Least tiring to most tiring, so no test ruins the next one.

Then note the two things the app cannot know: the surface and the time of day. On your own, nobody else will remember that last month was on grass in the evening.

Your results stay in your History, and Home shows your best in each test with the date. Next time, beat that, on the same setup.

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.

Reaction, jump, sprint, lift: the order of a testing session

Dafin Edison J — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 04:47:50 +0000

Most bad test results are not bad athletes. They are tests done in the wrong order.

If a squad does heavy squats and then a 20 m sprint, the sprint time tells you how tired their legs are, not how fast they are. If they sprint six times and then do jumps, the jump height is measuring the sprints. Each test only means something if the test before it did not use up what it measures.

So when I test a group in one session, I run the tests from least tiring to most tiring. This is the order I use with SpeedTrackr, and why.

Warm-up, then reaction

After a normal warm-up, start with reaction time off the start signal. It costs almost nothing physically and it is the test most affected by attention, so do it while athletes are fresh and focused, not after they are blowing hard.

One phone is enough. Three reps each, and the app saves every result to the athlete.

Jumps

Next, countermovement jumps, then drop jumps if you use them.

Jumps come before sprints because a few jumps barely tire anyone, but a set of sprints changes how high people jump. Film from the side, phone low and still, whole body and feet in frame. Best of three.

The first time an athlete is picked for a jump test, the app asks for their body weight once and keeps it for that athlete, so jump power is right for everyone, not just for the coach's own weight.

Jump height and RSI come from the video you record or import. You mark take-off and landing. Normal 60 fps works. Slow motion is the most precise option.

Sprints

Then the sprint. Two phones as start and finish gates: an Android phone, plus an iPhone, a laptop or a second Android phone as the other gate. It gives practice-grade start and finish times. There are no split times.

Keep the distance, the start position and the phone positions the same as the last testing day. Give full rest between reps. Two or three reps each is enough. More than that and the last rep is a fatigue test.

Bar speed last

Lifting goes last because it is the most tiring, and nothing after it needs to be fresh.

Film each set from the side, phone still, whole bar path in frame. The app gives bar speed for every rep in m/s after the video: mean velocity for squats, presses and deadlifts, peak velocity for Olympic lifts, and velocity loss across the set. This is from filmed or imported video, not live analysis on camera.

Use the same load as last time if you want to compare. The first set at a new weight is shown as the baseline to beat.

Keeping a squad organised

The order matters more when there are twelve athletes, not one.

Turn on Coach Mode in Profile. It works on the web app and on Android. In the Squad tab, add the athletes before the session, or type a name when you save a result. Every result lands on that athlete's page, with their records, progress and every result in one place.

Run one station at a time and move the whole group through it before the next test. It is slower than rotating stations, but every athlete does every test in the same order, with the same rest, so the numbers are comparable to each other and to next month.

On Android, you can export the whole squad's results as one Excel workbook at the end: a summary tab of best, latest and change per athlete, then a tab per tool.

What to write down that the app cannot know

Two things I always note: the surface and the time of day. A morning test on grass and an evening test on a track are not the same test. If those change, I say so next to the results instead of pretending the numbers moved on their own.

The short version

Reaction, jump, sprint, lift. Least tiring to most tiring. Same order, same setup, same rest, every testing day.

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.

Update both phones before your next sprint session

Dafin Edison J — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 04:03:34 +0000

If you time sprints with two phones, this is the one thing to do before your next session: open Google Play and update SpeedTrackr on every Android phone you use as a gate. Start phone and finish phone. Yours and your athletes'.

Here is why, in plain terms.

Timing Gates work because the start phone and the finish phone talk to each other through a server while you run. That server has moved. The old one shuts down on 23 October. The latest Android version and the web app already use the new one. Older Android versions still point at the old server, so on 23 October they lose Timing Gates.

There is a catch that shows up before that date. An old phone and an updated phone are on different servers, so they cannot pair with each other at all. The same goes for an old Android phone and the web app. If one phone in the pair is updated and the other is not, the session will not connect. That is not a bug in your setup. It is two phones on two servers.

What to check, phone by phone

Android start phone: update from Google Play. The What's New note says Timing Gates are on a new server.
Android finish phone: update it too. Both phones need the new version, not just one.
iPhone or laptop as the second gate: there is no app to update. It runs in the browser, so reload the SpeedTrackr web app before you pair.
Athletes who time themselves on their own phones: tell them now, not on the track.

Do it the day before. Updating two phones on a cold track while a group waits is a bad warm-up.

What else comes with the update

The same update changes how a missed run is explained. It does not change how the camera spots the athlete. Detection is the same as before. What changed is what you see when a run does not get a time.

When the Android finish phone misses because the line was too dark, the athlete looked too small in the frame, or it saw nobody, the start phone now shows you what the finish camera saw. You get the actual picture next to your setup picture. A dark frame tells you to face the light or move the phone. A tiny athlete tells you the phone is too far from the line. You fix the setup instead of guessing.

The second change is for times that come out too fast to be real. That usually means the distance in the app does not match the distance on the ground: the cones say 30 m, the app still says 20 m. Instead of throwing the run away, the app now asks if the distance was wrong and offers YES, SET THE REAL DISTANCE. You enter the distance you actually ran and keep the rep.

Neither change makes a bad setup good. They show you what went wrong so the next rep counts.

What has not changed

Timing Gates are still practice-grade start and finish timing. No split times. Not a fully automatic timing system. The second gate can still be an Android phone, an iPhone, or a laptop. Coach Mode still works on the web app and on Android, so each run still saves to the right athlete in the Squad tab.

A two-minute checklist for Monday

Update SpeedTrackr on every Android phone you time with.
Reload the web app on any iPhone or laptop you use as a gate.
Pair the two devices once at home to make sure they connect.
On the track, run one test of the line before the first real sprint.

Android app on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedtrackr.reactionpro

iPhone or laptop: use the web app at https://www.speedtrackr.com/auth/login

There is no native iPhone app. iPhone users use the web app.

Update both phones this weekend and your next session starts on the first rep, not on troubleshooting.

Post the set, not a screenshot of the number

Dafin Edison J — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 03:44:03 +0000

A screenshot of "0.62 m/s" tells nobody anything. Was it a squat or a clean? Rep one or rep six? Did the bar slow down across the set? The number is real, but on its own it is just a number on a phone.

The video is where the story is. So in SpeedTrackr the share video does the explaining for you.

How it works

You film the set, or import a clip you already have. The app analyses it and gives you bar speed for every rep in m/s. That part happens after the video, not live on camera.

Then you export the share video. On that video, a card sits over the lift. During each rep, as the bar travels up, the bar speed on the card counts up with it. When the bar reaches the top, the number locks on that rep's result. It lands on exactly the same value the app gave you on the results screen, so the video and the app never disagree.

The label matches the lift. Olympic lifts show PEAK VELOCITY. Squats, presses and deadlifts show MEAN VELOCITY. That is the same rule I use when reading bar speed: peak for the fast lifts, mean for the strength lifts.

The end of the set

After the last rep, the video holds on a summary card for a couple of seconds: best rep, average, and velocity loss across the set. You see every rep's bar path on screen while the summary fades in.

Two details I care about here.

A single-rep set shows one number. No velocity loss. You cannot lose speed across a set of one, so the app does not pretend you did.

If you trim the clip right after the last rep, it still ends on the summary. The card is held on the last frame, so you do not need to leave dead time at the end of your footage.

Things that used to look wrong and now do not

If you delete a rep, say the walkout got picked up as a rep, it is gone from the video too. It is not drawn and not numbered.

Loads keep their decimals. 22.5 kg shows as 22.5 kg, not 23.

Long sets show "REP 3/12" instead of a row of dots, and a rep without a usable number shows a dash and stays out of the stats.

Jumps get the same treatment

The jump share video works the same way. Before take-off the card shows a dash, so the result is not spoiled in the first frame. Air time counts up in real seconds while the athlete is in the air. On a drop jump or hop, ground contact counts up too. The number locks on landing, in the same unit the results screen headlines: inches for a countermovement jump, RSI for drop jumps and hops.

The end card depends on the jump. A countermovement jump shows height and air time. A drop jump shows RSI, contact time and height. A hop series shows best RSI, average RSI and drop-off.

As with bar speed, the jump result comes from video you record or import. Normal 60 fps works. Slow motion is the most precise option.

Why this is worth doing

For an athlete, a clip with the number on it is proof of the work, and it is easy to send to a coach.

For a coach, it is the fastest way to show an athlete why a set ended. Watching the number drop rep by rep makes velocity loss obvious in a way a table does not.

For a gym or team page, it is content that actually says something: the lift, the load, the speed, the summary. No guessing.

A simple routine for your next session

Film from the side, phone still, whole bar path in frame.
Analyse the set and check the rep count. Delete any walkout or false rep.
Export the share video and check it ends on the summary card.
Send it to the athlete, or post it with the load in the caption.

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.

Next time a set goes well, post the video with the numbers on it, not a screenshot.