DEV Community: Dafin Edison J

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.

One phone, one clip, a sprint time you can post

Dafin Edison J — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 06:26:05 +0000

Most sprint videos on Instagram look fast and say nothing useful. The athlete blurs past the camera, the clip ends, and nobody knows the time. Coaches who want a number usually need two phones set up as start and finish gates. That works. It is also more gear than a quick session with one phone.

Race Clock is SpeedTrackr's free single-phone timing tool. You film the sprint with your phone's camera, import the clip, mark the start frame and the finish frame, and get an estimated time for the whole distance. You can also export a video with a SpeedTrackr-branded clock overlay that ticks and freezes on the time, ready for Instagram or a reel.

It is live on the web app and on Android. There is no charge for the core tool. Free forever means the timing and the share video stay available; it is not a trial that ends later.

How it differs from Timing Gates

Timing Gates remain the accurate practice-grade option. Two devices become start and finish gates: the second device can be an Android phone, an iPhone, or a laptop. That setup is still what you want when you need a practice start-to-finish time without scrubbing a video.

Race Clock is for the day you only have one phone, or you want a clip you can post. It is not a fully automatic timing system. It does not add split times. You mark the whole distance only, from start to finish.

How to film so the mark is fair

Put the phone opposite the middle of the run, as far back as you can, so both the start and the finish stay in frame. Keep it still. Side-on is the goal. A phone parked only at the finish often cannot see a long start, and a bad angle warps the time more than a single frame ever will.

Pick the start frame at first movement and the finish frame when the torso crosses the line. Step frame by frame if you need to. Normal 60 fps video is fine for a whole-distance time; steady higher frame rates give you finer marks when your phone records them.

Read the number as a practice estimate from video, not as a race gun time. First movement is earlier than a start signal, so these times run faster than a competition clock. That is fine for comparing the same athlete to themselves if you film and mark the same way each week.

Save the result when you want a record. On Android, Race Clock history sits in its own Clock tab, separate from Timing Gates, so you do not mix video times with gate times. When you coach a group, turn on Coach Mode on the web app or on Android and save each run to the right athlete from the Squad tab.

A simple first session

Mark 20 m or 30 m on the track or field.
Set one phone opposite the middle, far enough back to see both lines.
Film three runs. Import each clip into Race Clock.
Mark start and finish. Keep the best time.
Export one share video if you want the clock overlay on Instagram.

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.

Two phones and Timing Gates still give you the better practice time. One phone and Race Clock give you a time and a postable clip when that is what the session needs.

Film the feet: how to record a vertical jump you can compare every week

Dafin Edison J — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 07:28:53 +0000

Most jump videos are filmed for the athlete's face. The phone is held at chest height, the camera follows the body up, and the feet leave the frame right when they matter most. That clip looks good on Instagram. It is not much use for measuring a jump.

Jump height from video comes down to two moments: the frame where the feet leave the floor and the frame where they touch it again. The time in between is the time in the air. The longer the athlete stays up, the higher they jumped. So the camera's real job is to show the feet and the floor clearly at both of those moments.

That is how the SpeedTrackr vertical jump tool works. You film the jump, or import a clip you already have. You step through the video frame by frame, mark take-off and landing, and get the jump height. It is not live analysis on the camera screen. You record or import first, and the result comes after.

Normal 60 fps video works. Slow motion is the most precise option when your phone has it, because there are more frames to choose from around take-off and landing.

Here is a filming setup you can repeat every week.

Put the phone down. Rest it on a bench, a box or a tripod rather than holding it. A moving camera makes it harder to see the exact frame the feet leave the floor.

Keep it low. Around knee or shin height, side-on to the athlete, a few steps away. You want both feet and the floor line in the frame for the whole jump.

Film from the same spot each time. Mark it with tape if you can. Same side of the athlete, same distance, same light.

Then keep the jump itself the same.

Pick one version and stick to it. Hands on hips and a jump with an arm swing are different tests. Both are fine. Mixing them week to week is not.

Land the way you took off. If the athlete tucks their knees or lands with bent legs, they stay in the air longer on the video than the height they actually reached. Ask for straight legs at take-off and at landing.

Do three jumps and keep the best. One jump can be a bad one. Three gives you a fair look at what the athlete has today.

Mark the same way every time. Take-off is the first frame with the feet clearly off the floor. Landing is the first frame they touch it again. If you mark one jump loosely and the next one strictly, the number moves even when the athlete did not.

Read the athlete against themselves. Jump height is most useful as a trend for one person. Their first saved result is a baseline, and the question each week is whether they are jumping higher, holding steady, or dropping off.

If you want jump power as well as height, the app asks for the athlete's body weight once when you pick them for a jump test, so the power figure belongs to that athlete and not to the coach holding the phone.

For a group, turn on Coach Mode. It works on the web app and on Android. Save each jump to the right athlete from the Squad tab, or by typing their name when you save the result. Every athlete gets their own page with records, progress and every result.

A simple way to start this week:

Tape a spot on the floor for the phone, low and side-on.
Choose one jump version, hands on hips or arm swing.
Film three jumps per athlete and save the best.
Repeat from the same spot next week and compare.

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.

A jump video is only as good as what it shows at take-off and landing. Film the feet, keep the jump the same, and the height you save this week becomes a number worth beating next week.

Mean or peak: read the bar speed that matches the lift

Dafin Edison J — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 07:27:10 +0000

Bar speed is only useful if you read the right number. A lot of coaches start velocity based training (VBT), film a set, see a list of figures, and then compare a back squat to a power clean as if they were the same kind of rep. They are not, and the number that tells you the truth is different for each.

There are two numbers worth knowing.

Mean velocity is the average speed of the bar over the whole upward part of the rep, from the bottom to lockout. Peak velocity is the single fastest moment the bar reaches during that upward part.

Use mean velocity for strength lifts. In a squat, bench press or deadlift, the athlete has to push the bar the whole way. The hard part is often the middle, where the bar slows down. Mean velocity captures that whole effort. If the average speed of a set at the same weight drops week to week, something changed: fatigue, sleep, or the weight is heavier for that athlete today than it looks on paper.

Use peak velocity for Olympic lifts. In a snatch, clean or jerk, the athlete is trying to make the bar move as fast as possible for a short moment and then get under it. What happens after that moment is the catch, not the pull. An average over the whole movement mixes the pull with the part where the athlete is dropping under the bar, so it hides what you care about. Peak velocity shows how fast the athlete actually got the bar moving.

That is how SpeedTrackr's barbell velocity tool reports it. You film the set, or import a video you already have, and you get bar speed in metres per second for every rep. Strength lifts show mean velocity. Olympic lifts show peak velocity. It is not a live readout while the athlete lifts. You record or import, the video is analysed, and then you read the results.

A few habits make those numbers worth comparing.

Film from the same spot every time. Same side of the bar, same distance, the whole bar path in frame. A different angle each week makes it harder to trust a small change.

Compare the same lift at the same weight. A clean at 60 kg and a clean at 80 kg will not have the same peak velocity, and they should not. The app treats the first set at a new weight as the baseline to beat, so the comparison stays fair.

Watch the set, not only the best rep. Within a set, the drop in speed from the first rep to the last tells you how much fatigue the athlete is building. If the bar slows a lot by rep three, the set has done its job.

Use the personal record for context, not as a target every session. Home shows each athlete's best bar speed with the date it was set. Some days the bar will be slower, and that is useful information, not a failure.

For coaches with a group, turn on Coach Mode. It works on the web app and on Android. Each filmed set can be saved to the right athlete in the Squad tab, so every athlete's bar speed history sits on their own page instead of in someone's camera roll.

A simple way to start this week:

Pick one strength lift and one Olympic lift you already train.
Film one working set of each from a fixed spot.
Read mean velocity on the strength lift and peak velocity on the Olympic lift.
Repeat the same weights next week and compare.

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

For 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.

Two lifts, two numbers. Read mean velocity when the athlete has to grind the bar the whole way, and peak velocity when the job is to make the bar fly for a moment. Once you match the number to the lift, the bar speed starts telling you something you can coach.

A missed finish should not cost you a rep

Dafin Edison J — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 12:23:57 +0000

Every coach who has timed sprints with phones knows the moment. The athlete runs a good rep, crosses the line, walks back, and there is no time. Now you have a choice. Run it again and add fatigue to the session, or skip it and lose the data.

A rep with no time is not only annoying. On a testing day it costs you the freshest efforts, and with a squad of fifteen it eats the session. Most of these misses can be prevented, and the ones that still happen should at least tell you what went wrong.

Here is a simple routine for fewer lost runs with SpeedTrackr Timing Gates in the Android app, plus what it now does when the finish is borderline.

Check the line before anyone sprints. Put the finish phone on something steady at the finish line, not handheld. Make sure there is enough light on the line and nothing busy in the background, like people walking past. Then tap TEST THE LINE and walk across once. The finish phone tells you out loud whether it saw you. That one walk takes a few seconds and saves the first real rep.

Put the finish phone at the distance you set. If you change from 10 m to 20 m, move the finish phone. The app reminds you when you change the distance. If the finish phone sees a time that is too fast to be real, it tells you instead of staying silent. Nearly always, that means the finish phone is not at the set distance.

Use JUST TESTING for setup runs. When you are checking the setup after starting, tap JUST TESTING on the no-detection card so that run does not count as a missed race. Keep your real reps clean.

When the finish camera only half sees the athlete, confirm it. This is the newest change on Google Play. Before, a finish the camera only partly saw could end up as a miss. Now you get the athlete's photo and the time, and you confirm it. If the photo shows your athlete crossing the line, you keep the rep. No rerun, no extra fatigue.

When there is still no time, read the reason. A run with no time now says why and how to fix it, with a picture of the setup. Fix that one thing before the next athlete goes. Do not just press go again and hope.

Cancel from the start phone when a rep goes wrong. A false start or a slip happens. Cancelling the run from the start phone no longer shows a "camera saw nobody" card, so the screen stays clear for the next rep.

A short testing day routine, then:

Steady finish phone, good light, quiet background.
TEST THE LINE, walk across once.
Finish phone at the distance you set. Move it if you change the distance.
Setup runs marked JUST TESTING.
Half-seen finish: check the photo, confirm the time.
No time: read the reason, fix it, then run.

A few product facts so nothing gets oversold. Timing Gates gives a practice-grade start-to-finish time. The second gate can be an Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop. There are no split times and it is not fully automatic timing (FAT) for meets. Coach Mode works on the web app and on Android, so each time can be saved to the right athlete in the Squad tab.

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

For 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.

The goal on testing day is simple: every good rep gets a time, and every missed one tells you what to fix. Spend two minutes on the line before the first sprint, and the athletes spend their best efforts on reps that count.

Improved, held or dropped: the three answers a retest should give you

Dafin Edison J — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 03:42:30 +0000

A coach retests a squad of twenty. Afterwards there is a pile of numbers: sprint times, jump heights, RSI, bar speeds. The question everyone actually cares about is simpler. Compared with last time, did this athlete get better, stay the same, or get worse?

That is three answers, not twenty numbers. Improved, held or dropped.

In the SpeedTrackr Android app, each athlete's page in Coach Mode now shows this. For every test, the page says whether the athlete improved, held or dropped since their last session. Here is how to use those three answers well.

Start with a baseline, not a verdict. An athlete's first result in a test has nothing to compare with. It is the baseline. The second session is the first one that can say improved, held or dropped. Do not read anything into week one beyond "this is where we start".

Improved means the athlete beat their last session in that test. Good. Now check that the test was the same: same distance, same start, same surface, same point in the session, same box height for drop jumps, same load for bar speed. If the setup changed, the improvement may be the setup. If it did not, write down what the athlete has been doing and keep doing it.

Held means the result sits close to last time. Coaches often read this as "nothing happened". It is often the best result in a hard training block. If the athlete is in a heavy week, carrying fatigue, or coming back from a knock, holding their sprint or jump means they are coping with the work. Held across three or four sessions in a row, during a block meant to build speed or power, is the time to ask whether the programme needs a change.

Dropped means the result is worse than last session. One drop is a question, not a problem. Ask the boring questions first. Did they sleep? Did they test after a lifting session instead of after the warm-up? Was it windy, wet, or a different surface? Did the finish phone move? A single dropped result with an obvious reason can be noted and left alone. Two or three drops in a row, with the same setup, are worth a conversation with the athlete.

Read the squad, then the athlete. Scan the athlete pages after a testing day. If most of the group improved, the block is working. If most held during a hard week, that is expected. If one athlete dropped while everyone around them improved, that athlete is the one to talk to this week. The three answers let you find that person in a minute instead of after an evening with a spreadsheet.

Keep each test comparable with itself. The trend only means something if the tests match. For drop jumps, the Android app has you pick the box height before you mark the jump, and RSI is compared box by box, so a jump from a 40 cm box is not judged against one from a 30 cm box. For sprints, keep the same distance and the same lines. For bar speed, compare the same lift at the same load.

Use one test per quality. You do not need every test every week. Pick one for speed (a 10 m or 20 m sprint with Timing Gates), one for reactive strength (drop jump RSI), and, if you lift, one bar speed check at a fixed load. Fewer tests, done the same way each time, give cleaner answers.

A few product facts so nothing gets oversold. Timing Gates gives a practice-grade start-to-finish time. The second gate can be an Android phone, an iPhone or a laptop. There are no split times and it is not fully automatic timing (FAT) for meets. Jumps and bar speed come from video you film or import, and the results come after the analysis, not live on camera. Coach Mode works on the web app and on Android, and you add athletes in the Squad tab or by typing a name when you save a result.

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

For 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.

After your next retest, do one thing before you look at any single number. Go through the squad and sort each athlete into improved, held or dropped. Then spend your time on the dropped list and on anyone who has held for too long. That is where the coaching is.